[Xcircuit-dev] xcircuit new user feedback

[R. Timothy Edwards]

From: "R. Timothy Edwards" <tim at opencircuitdesign.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:25:57 -0700
To: Greg Warwar <warwar at vitesse.com>
CC: xcircuit-dev at opencircuitdesign.com

I'm resubmitting this email to the xcircuit-dev group because it
contains useful information about compiling XCircuit under RedHat
enterprise.  My first attempt to CC to xcircuit-dev got caught by
my own badly-specified spam filter. . .

Dear Greg,

 >   Here are a few observations I had on xcircuit.  You may already
 > know about these issues, and/or they may be related to my particular
 > system setup (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 release: 4.3.0-97.EL).
 >
 >   Anyway, please do not feel like you need to write back on any or
 > all of these issues.  I'm sure you are very busy.  I just thought
 > I should send these to you in case you weren't aware of some of them.
 >
 > 1. Compiling
 >    Version 3.4 compiles fine with no issues
 >    Version 3.6.81 and 3.6.84 require me to do the following
 >
 >      a. remove the "no-dist" option in Makefile.am
 >      b. Create a dummy file "ltmain.sh"
 >         (otherwise, when I do make, it complains it can't find this file)
 >      c. run aclocal, automake, autoconf
 >      d. now run .configure, make, make install

Definitely a RedHat issue, but I'll see if I can make it compatible.  This
is the first time I've heard of "ltmain.sh".  I'm glad you got it to compile.
I'm CC'ing this email to xcircuit-dev so that it will be in the mailman
search database where other people with similar setups may find it.

 > 2. Read Xcircuit File
 >    If I start up xcircuit without loading a file, then do
 >      File-->Read_Xcircuit_File     I get an "Application Error" pop-up window with the message
 >     "Error:syntax error in expression "$update==true"
 >   Also, I see a message at the bottom of the xcircuit window     "Error:No variable $XCOps(filter) in Tcl!
 >   If I close the popup and then try to load a file, I get another popup   with the message
 >   "Error:invalid command name ".filelist.techself.techselect"

This sounds to me like an outdated version of Tcl.  I seem to recall
that older versions didn't like the use of "true" spelled out.  You
can fix this by changing lib/tcl/wrapper.tcl: line 1460 from "true" to
"1".  The other errors are due to the procedure exiting before
completing.  The other solution is to update your version of Tcl/Tk
to 8.4 or better.  If there is a way to make the keyword "true"
backwardly-compatible with older versions of Tcl, I don't know what
it is.

 > 3. Text Label
 >    If I add a pin (Netlist-->Make_Pin),
 >    the label button turns red, and the rectangle at the bottom
 >    of the screen now shows "Pin Label Mode".
 >    If I then try to go back to adding text labels (Text-->Make_Label),
 >    I see the label button on the right turns back to Black, but the
 >    rectangle on the bottom still shows "Pin Label Mode".  If I add text
 >    to the drawing, they are pin labels rather than text labels.
 >
 >    I found that I could add the following to file wrapper.tcl
 >
 >     $m add command -label "Make Text" -command \
 >        {set XCWinOps($XCOps(focus),labeltype) "Text"; set \
 >        XCWinOps($XCOps(focus),labelimage) img_t; \
 >        $XCOps(focus).mainframe.toolbar.bt invoke}
 >
 >    just above the "Make Pin" command code, and it then adds
 >    a "Make Text" menu item in the Netlist menu that correctly
 >    functions.

Thanks for the bug fix;  I've added it to the distribution.

                     Regards,
                     Tim

+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Dr. R. Timothy Edwards (Tim)   | email: tim at opencircuitdesign.com    |
| Open Circuit Design, Inc.	 | web:   http://opencircuitdesign.com |
| 22815 Timber Creek Lane        | phone: (301) 528-9364               |
| Clarksburg, MD 20871-4001      | cell:  (240) 401-0616               |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+