Re: The meaning(s) of $DISPLAY (was Re: Explanation of X implementations)
Re: The meaning(s) of $DISPLAY (was Re: Explanation of X implementations)
- Subject: Re: The meaning(s) of $DISPLAY (was Re: Explanation of X implementations)
- From: "Ambrose Li" <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:35:58 -0500
On 17/11/2007, Andrew J. Hesford <email@hidden> wrote:
>
> The point you're missing is that the user doesn't always want to use
> the X server just because it is available (via launchd) or already
> running (started either by the user or launchd). Checking $DISPLAY to
> determine the course of action circumvents the user, and that's not
> good. I'll give you a good example: when I log into remote machines
> and launch vim, it causes launchd to start X11, because vim was
> compiled with X11 support, and it is querying the display about
> something. This happens even though vim doesn't use X... it is purely
> textual. To avoid having my X server automatically start when I start
> vim, I have to explicitly tell vim not to use X. This is annoying and
> wrong.
>
> You'll think this is a case in your favor, but it isn't. Because the
> issue isn't that launchd is starting the server... it's that vim is
> checking for servers. Even if I already have X open for a legitimate
> reason (let's say I'm running an xterm), vim has no business looking
> for servers, because I didn't tell it to. Yes, it was compiled with
> support for X11. But until I launch it as gvim (which opens up a
> graphical window), it should stay the hell away from my X server.
This is a valid example, but apart from showing that vim is a bad
program (I can't stand it and never use it for other reasons), it also
shows how prevalent checking $DISPLAY is. It is simply the
convention.
As to whether an example is "in my favour", I was not arguing for
"my point of view". It was just pointing out an existing convention
that apparently has been overlooked, and "my views" are always
wrong anyway, so they don't matter.
--
cheers,
-ambrose
Yahoo and Gmail must die. Yes, I use them, but they still must die.
PS: Don't trust everything you read in Wikipedia. (Very Important)
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
X11-users mailing list (email@hidden)
This email sent to email@hidden