x3270 Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a problem building, installing, or running x3270, please browse
through this file first.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

Am I allowed to use it?

Yes. Full copyright information is in the Lineage file, but the gist is that
anyone is free to use the code, but not to sell it. This was not clear in
earlier versions of x3270, but it is explicit here.

You are also free to modify it and to distribute it, provided you include the
existing copyright notices, and don't profit from it.

How can I tell if I'm running X11R4, X11R5 or X11R6?

This is defined in the header file . Assuming your X header files are in
/usr/include, you can find out with:

    grep XtSpecificationRelease /usr/include/X11/Intrinsic.h

(You may need to use a different path name if your header files are somewhere
else.)

If you are running X11R4, the answer will be:

    #define XtSpecificationRelease 4

If R5:

    #define XtSpecificationRelease 5

If R6:

    #define XtSpecificationRelease 6

FATAL ERRORS FROM 'make'

Make reports: Fatal error: Don't know how to make target `FontObj(3270)'.

This generally means that you are running X11R4, rather than X11R5 or X11R6.
The procedure for building x3270 under X11R4 is explained in the "Build"
document.

(Carefully note the differences in build procedures between Sun OpenWindows and
other operating systems -- or you'll end up back here anyway.)

Make reports: "Don't know how to make 3270.snf. Stop."

This is usually a symptom of running a hybrid X implementation -- one that is
based on X11R4 but uses some of the later font conventions. Assuming you have
already renamed Imakefile.R4 to Imakefile, what you need to do is to edit
Imakefile and change every occurrence of ".snf" to ".pcf". Then try again with
xmkmf.

FATAL COMPILE ERRORS

Undefined symbols on a Sun:

    _get_wmShellWidgetClass
    _get_applicationShellWidgetClass

This is a bug in Sun's X11 libraries, and can be corrected by obtaining patches
100512-02 and 100573-03 from Sun. As a short-term workaround, edit
Makefile.openwin; there is a line you can uncomment for just this purpose.

Undefined symbols on System V, Release 4

    _connect
    _gethostbyname
    _getservbyname
    _setsockopt
    _shutdown
    _socket

Network calls are in a separate library on SVR4 systems. You need to umcomment
the line in the Imakefile that begins "#EXTRA_LIBRARIES", then try again with
xmkmf.

COMPILER WARNINGS

My C compiler says you're calling an X function wrong.

For example, on SGI Irix 4.0.1 with X11R4:

    ccom: Warning: x3270.c, line nnn: Argument 5 Type Doesn't Match
     prototype description; prototype: pointer to unsigned int is different
     from actual: pointer to int
                0);
          -------^

The prototype arguments for XtVaAppInitialize in changed between X11R4 and
X11R5. x3270 uses the newer version, but will work just fine with R4. You can
ignore the warning. Other compiler warnings are indeed of interest and should
be reported.

WARNINGS FROM x3270

x3270 reports: "Warning: emulatorFont '3270' doesn't exist, using default font"

One of the trickier areas; x3270 uses its own fonts to replicate a life-like
IBM 3270. This is not fatal, however; x3270 can use any fixed- width X font. If
it can't find its own font, it defaults to "fixed".

The simplest probem to fix is that you haven't told your X server that there
are new fonts it can use. This is corrected with:

    xset fp rehash

If this doesn't help, it is possible that your X server font path doesn't
include the directory that the 3270 fonts were installed in. Run the command
"xset q". The output will include an entry like:

    Font Path:
      /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/

x3270's fonts are usually installed in /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc. If this (or
some variation on it) does not appear in the "xset q" output, you can try:

    xset fp+ /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/
    xset fp rehash

(Note that on Sun OpenWindows prior to version 3.3, the only directory in your
font path is usually /usr/openwin/lib/fonts, and there is no "misc" directory
to add to your path.)

SUBTLE PROBLEMS

x3270 isn't paying any attention to my keymap definition.

There are two likely causes for this problem: either x3270 isn't seeing your
keymap definition, or there is something wrong with the definition itself.

You can tell exactly which keymap and keymap modifiers x3270 is using with the
"About x3270" option on the "Options" menu. There is an entry labeled "Keyboard
map:" which lists the keymap(s) in effect. If yours is missing, there are a
number of possible causes:

   *  There is a hierarchy of places that x3270 looks for the keymap list, and
     the one you are assuming may not be the one it finds. In the following
     list, earlier objects override those below:
        o The -keymap swicth on the command line.
        o The definition of "x3270.keymap" in your .Xdefaults file.
        o The KEYMAP environment variable.
        o The KEYBD environment variable.
   * You may have modified your .Xdefaults file, but not yet re-read the
     database. You can either log off of X and start over, or you can run the
     command:

             xrdb $HOME/.Xdefaults

   * Beware that there are some subtle interactions between .Xdefaults and cpp
     on your system. On a sun4 for example, cpp defines the symbol "sun" as
     "1", so a keymap definition for "sun-k4" becomes "1-k4".
   * A keymap definition is in two parts, the name of the keymap and the
     definition of the keymap. The "x3270.keymap" resource controls the name of
     the keymap; then for each keymap type "x" there must be an additional
     resourced named "x3270.keymap.x". If this definition is missing, x3270
     will not recognize the keymap.
   *  One other cause of missed keymaps is the symbol "sun" defined by the C
     preprocessor. If you have an entry in your .Xdefaults file that looks
     like:

             x3270.keymap: sun-k5

     then use xrdb to read in the file, the symbol "sun" may be defined as "1"
     as the file is read. This turns the above into:

             x3270.keymap: 1-k5

     causing much confusion.

     The fix is to add the following line to the top of your .Xdefaults:

             #undef sun

If your keymap appears in the list, but doesn't seem to have any effect, the
causes are probably more subtle. Keymap definitions (X translation tables) are
an object of study in themselves; the O'Reilly books (volume 4 in particular)
are your best guide here, along with a thorough reading of the "Resources"
document.

The "Alt" key doesn't work.

If the "A" appears on the status line when you press the Alt key, but none of
the key mappings that use Alt seem to work (i.e., the APL keys), perhaps your X
server isn't configured with Alt as a modifier. Try the following xmodmap
command:

        xmodmap -e 'add Mod2 = Alt_L'

If this fixes the problem, you can add it to your .xinitrc file, so it takes
effect every time your start X.

x3270 is misbehaving on a certain application.

If x3270 produces a different display or interaction than a real 3270 or some
other emulator, it is entirely possible that x3270 is at fault. What you can do
to help debug it is to capture a trace of the session. The easiest way to do
this is:

    x3270 -trace

x3270 will create a trace file in /usr/tmp, which will contain a dump of all of
the data that x3270 sent or received, along with its interpretation. x3270 will
also pop up a window to view the file while it is being created; the title of
that window is the full pathname of the trace file. If you are familiar with
the 3270 Data Stream protocol, you may be able to figure out the problem
yourself; otherwise, after suitable editing to remove passwords and proprietary
information, you may send it in (see below).

I can't get Num Lock to work on my Sun keyboard.

If you are using a Sun OpenWindows X server, then the NumLock light should turn
on and off when you press the NumLock key. If it does, then there are two
simple steps to getting the keypad to work correctly with x3270:

   *  First, you need to issue the following xmodmap command:

         xmodmap -e 'keycode 105 = Num_Lock Mode_switch'

     The best place to put this command is in your .Xinitrc file, because it
     has to be run every time you start X.

   *  Second, you need to use the "sun-k4" or "sun-k5" keymap with x3270. These
     keymaps include mappings for the XK_xxx keysyms generated by the keypad.

If you are using an X server based directly on the MIT distribution (the
NumLock light does not turn on when you press the NumLock key), then you are
pretty much stuck; your server does not support NumLock. (However, you can get
the keypad to produce numbers by holding down the Shift key.)

There is no termcap entry for "IBM-3278-xxx"

If you log into a non-IBM host with x3270, your TERM variable will be set to
"IBM-327x", which is not especially useful for running programs like vi.

One solution is to set your TERM variable to "xterm" after you log in, and to
set the number of lines and columns to match the current x3270 model number
(this is done through the "stty" command or with environment variables,
depending on your system).

A second solution is to create termcap entries for the 3270 terminal types.
Here are some sample entries:

    I2|IBM-3278-2|x3270 Emulating 3278-2:li#24:tc=xterm:
    I3|IBM-3278-3|x3270 Emulating 3278-3:li#32:tc=xterm:
    I4|IBM-3278-4|x3270 Emulating 3278-4:li#43:tc=xterm:
    I5|IBM-3278-5|x3270 Emulating 3278-5:li#27:co#127:tc=xterm:

My screen isn't being drawn properly

There is a bug in certain versions of the Linux Mach32 X server, which causes
the x3270 screen to be drawn incompletely. The screen image can be restored by
iconifying and un-iconifying the window.

x3270 can be modified to work around this problem. An unfortunate side-effect
is that it will no longer be able to display APL characters, or line-drawing
characters with any of the 3270 fonts.

To rebuild x3270 to work around this bug, edit the Imakefile and add a line at
the top:

    EXTRA_DEFINES = -DBROKEN_MACH32

Then rebuild the makefile, the module "screen.o", and x3270:

    rm screen.o
    xmkmf
    make depend
    make

GETTING HELP

If you are still having a problem with x3270, feel free to send e-mail to Paul
Mattes, x3270@cnt.com. No guarantees are made about responses to particular
problems, but a patches are usually forthcoming in a few days. It will also get
you on an x3270 mailing list, where you can find out about new releases and bug
fixes.

When you send a question about x3270, please include the following information.
It makes it much easier to narrow down the problem.

  1.  The version of x3270 you are using, including all patches, e.g.,
     "3.1.0.0". This is displayed at the top of the "About x3270" pop-up.
  2.  What kind of machine you are running on, e.g., "Sun SPARC-10".
  3.  What operating system you are running, and what version, e.g., "SunOS
     4.1.3_U1" or "Irix 5.2". The "uname -a" command will usually provide this
     information.
  4.  What version of X Windows you are running, and where it came from, e.g.,
     "X11R6 built from the MIT distribution", or "Sun OpenWindows 3.0 as
     delivered with the machine".

Complaints, suggestions, requests for enhancements, and porting experiences are
also welcome. Code changes for bug fixes and enhancements are also welcome,
provided that you don't mind your code being placed (often anonymously) in the
public domain.
