From anders.nejdel at gmail.com  Sun Jan  8 13:34:12 2012
From: anders.nejdel at gmail.com (Anders Nejdel)
Date: Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:34:12 -0000
Subject: [Xcircuit-dev] Sudden crash of xcircuit on mac os x lion
Message-ID: <43851608-4A85-4FF5-8944-1F073ED5AA48@gmail.com>

Hello

I wonder if you know about some new error when running xcircuit on mac os x lion. 
I have used xcircuit since lion got out but have never had any issues with xcircuit. 
A few days ago, however, xcircuit started crashing. When I run the command in terminal i get the following message:

xcircuit
Abort trap: 6

I have tried to reinstall everything and it doesn't work, so i guess it has to do with some kind of apple update (maybe?)

Anyone that know o this issue or how to fix it? 

From fmiser at gmail.com  Wed Jan 18 17:48:29 2012
From: fmiser at gmail.com (Fmiser)
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:48:29 -0600
Subject: [Xcircuit-dev] Crash, and upgrade
Message-ID: <20120118194829.398c3571.fmiser@gmail.com>

I am running a self-compiled xcircuit on Debian Lenny.

$ xcircuit --version
XCircuit version 3.6 revision 39

Today it failed to start.  I see the drawing window, and the tcl
(?) console shows up for a moment.  Both then disappear.

$ xcircuit
unable to alloc 4294967104 bytes
Aborted

Passing it an existing file to open results in the same error.
$ xcircuit drawings.ps
unable to alloc 4294967104 bytes
Aborted

Since it isn't the latest version, I downloaded and compiled
3.7.27.  I did the compile dance.  It installs and runs.

But....

Now when I try to insert a point in a line using the "i" key it
crashes.  The terminal I ran it from simply reports
"Segmentation fault".

Ideas?  Ways to get a more verbose output?  Help??

--  Philip


From fmiser at gmail.com  Mon Jan 23 23:52:50 2012
From: fmiser at gmail.com (Fmiser)
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:52:50 -0600
Subject: [Xcircuit-dev] Library change.
Message-ID: <20120124015250.f26e5c16.fmiser@gmail.com>

I just compiled version 3.7 and discovered the change in
libraries from my old 3.6.39.

So it seems I now have 6 full pages of libraries that I
can't use.  Is there an automated way to convert?  Or am I
missing something in xcstartup.tcl?  

Initially I just copied the paragraph from my old install:
  set tdir /home/Templates-and-such/xcircuit-libraries/
  xcircuit::library 1 load $tdir/equipment.lps
  xcircuit::library 2 load $tdir/physical.lps

Then I tried copying the style in the default file:
  set tdir /home/Templates-and-such/xcircuit-libraries/
  library 1 load $tdir/equipment.lps
  library 1 load $tdir/physical.lps

Xcircuit launches without error with either - when I press "L",
I only see the first library page (called "generic") and the
user library.

--   Philip

From fmiser at gmail.com  Thu Jan 26 01:56:33 2012
From: fmiser at gmail.com (Fmiser)
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:56:33 -0600
Subject: [Xcircuit-dev] Upgrade grief and a bug
In-Reply-To: <20120124015250.f26e5c16.fmiser@gmail.com>
References: <20120124015250.f26e5c16.fmiser@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20120126035633.512067cc.fmiser@gmail.com>

I just compiled version 3.7 to upgrade from my 3.6.39.

The change in libraries caused me a bit of grief.  I think I
have worked through most of the changes (I can get to my
library objects!) - but I'm still not sure how to put a newly
created (m) object into an existing library.  Clues would be
appreciated, but I imagine I'll figure it out. *smiles*

However, there are other problems.

In 3.6.39, when moving either one object or a selected group
of objects, the objects became un-selected as soon as they
were set down.  With 3.7.27 a single objects still works this
way - but a selected group stays selected after moving.  Is
this a feature?  If so, is there a way to get the former
behavior back?

Finally, I found a real bug - probably.  Anytime I try to
insert a point on an existing line (using "i") xcircuit
crashes.  The terminal I ran it from simply reports 

Segmentation fault

The keys "d" and "e" work normally. "p" doesn't cause a crash,
but I don't normally use it so I don't know if it is behaving or
not. 

$ xcircuit --version
XCircuit version 3.7 revision 27

$ uname -srvmo
Linux 2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP Thu Mar 26 01:08:11 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

Debian Lenny (5.1)

--   Philip


From fmiser at gmail.com  Thu Jan 26 11:24:42 2012
From: fmiser at gmail.com (Fmiser)
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:24:42 -0600
Subject: [Xcircuit-dev] Troubles and bugs
Message-ID: <20120126132442.18d1b43c.fmiser@gmail.com>

Tim,

I tried sending this to the list, but it seems to have not gone
through.  I'm sending it again and also CC'ing you directly
_  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  
I just compiled version 3.7 to upgrade from my 3.6.39.

The change in libraries caused me a bit of grief.  I think I
have worked through most of the changes (I can get to my
library objects!) - but I'm still not sure how to put a newly
created (m) object into an existing library.  Clues would be
appreciated, but I imagine I'll figure it out. *smiles*

However, there are other problems.

In 3.6.39, when moving either one object or a selected group
of objects, the objects became un-selected as soon as they
were set down.  With 3.7.27 a single objects still works this
way - but a selected group stays selected after moving.  Is
this a feature?  If so, is there a way to get the former
behavior back?

Finally, I found a real bug - probably.  Anytime I try to
insert a point on an existing line (using "i") xcircuit
crashes.  The terminal I ran it from simply reports 

Segmentation fault

The keys "d" and "e" work normally. "p" doesn't cause a crash,
but I don't normally use it so I don't know if it is behaving or
not. 

$ xcircuit --version
XCircuit version 3.7 revision 27

$ uname -srvmo
Linux 2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP Thu Mar 26 01:08:11 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

Debian Lenny (5.1)

--   Philip

From fmiser at gmail.com  Tue Jan 31 23:04:31 2012
From: fmiser at gmail.com (Fmiser)
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 01:04:31 -0600
Subject: [Xcircuit-dev] Troubles and bugs
In-Reply-To: <4F257415.9060702@multigig.com>
References: <20120126132442.18d1b43c.fmiser@gmail.com>
	<4F21B10F.1010301@multigig.com>
	<20120126180717.ee524ccb.fmiser@gmail.com>
	<4F257415.9060702@multigig.com>
Message-ID: <20120201010431.57265638.fmiser@gmail.com>

> > Philip wrote:
> >
> > Anytime I try to insert a point on an existing line (using
> > "i") xcircuit crashes.

> R. Timothy Edwards wrote:
>
> Okay, I just tracked down the problem and fixed it.

I just compiled and installed.  Works!!

But doing so pointed out an annoyance (for me).  Is there a way
to avoid having to muck around in /usr/local/lib every time I
install?  When I "sudo make install" xcstartup.tcl gets
overwritten.  I did figure out I could put my library setup in
~/.xcircuitrc - but unless I comment out the library setup in
xcstartup.tcl I get the content of both.  And it's not that I
don't like your libraries!  *smiles*

Is the list really down?  I'm not seeing any new archive
content.  The last one I see is your post on 2011-09-04 stating
the list is back up...

Then while I'm dreaming....

Is it possible to anchor to a page corner rather than the
center?  I used a title block box that should always be all
the way in the corner.  I sure like the new ability to
manually add a "bounding box" and enter a horizontal or
vertical size and have the output scaled - but if I don't get
the bounding box aspect just right, the title box on that
page doesn't match the others.


And, I'm still struggling with libraries, in particular
the dialog box that opens for creating an object ("M") and
saving a technology page.  If my cursor has to cross any other
window, the text entry field is cleared.  I work around this
when creating an object by typing the fully qualified name
with the "::".  Just a slight annoyance.

However, the same behavior occurs when I'm trying to save a
technology page.  I will choose "write all" from the menu and
often I have to choose "force" because the technology page I
just changed isn't listed.  (Sometimes I don't have a "force"
button.  I haven't figure out the when or why).  With the
"force" dialog open, if I just click on "write", I get "Error,
file name required" - I _think_ from the library page trying
to save. (technology page?  So far my libraries each consist
of one technology.  Call it holdover from the old
way. *smiles* )

I have found that I can click on the white box with a dash
("-") that is next to each of the library/technology I can
save them one at a time and the (necessary) full path to the
file is filled in - except if my cursor has can't move from
the "force" dialog to the "write" dialog the text box is
cleared.  

My choice then is to cancel and try again, and again, and
again, until the window manager (openbox), or whoever, happent
to place the "write" dialog so it intersects with the "force"
dialog so I can move my cursor without clearing the text
field.  Or by using copy/paste (I depend on "tab" to spell my
path names...) to fill in the path since there isn't a
"browse" option.

Is this normal behavior?  Would it be hard to provide a browse
function to the technology write dialog box?  Or am I just
doing something wrong (again)?

Anyway, after all that complaining, I still think Xcircuit is
the top program for doing this type of drawings.  I use
inkscape, gimp, qcad, and bricscad pretty heavily (and others
not so heavily) and xcircuit requires less attention than any
of the others thereby leaving my brain to think about the
_drawing_, not about how to do this action.  I'm even kinda
getting used to canceling the selection after a "select then
move".  Most of the time. *grin* It continues to be the
easiest, fastest, and most accurate draw application.  

Thank you.

From tim.edwards at multigig.com  Thu Jan 26 12:01:19 2012
From: tim.edwards at multigig.com (R. Timothy Edwards)
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:01:19 -0500
Subject: [Xcircuit-dev] Troubles and bugs
In-Reply-To: <20120126132442.18d1b43c.fmiser@gmail.com>
References: <20120126132442.18d1b43c.fmiser@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4F21B10F.1010301@multigig.com>

Hello Philip,

> I tried sending this to the list, but it seems to have not gone
> through.  I'm sending it again and also CC'ing you directly
> _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  
> I just compiled version 3.7 to upgrade from my 3.6.39.
> 
> The change in libraries caused me a bit of grief.  I think I
> have worked through most of the changes (I can get to my
> library objects!) - but I'm still not sure how to put a newly
> created (m) object into an existing library.  Clues would be
> appreciated, but I imagine I'll figure it out. *smiles*

I switched from thinking about libraries as equivalent to files,
to thinking about libraries as groups of associated objects
that may or may not come from the same file.  So now objects
are grouped by technology, which is a prefix given to the
object name, like
			analog::capacitor

This allows one to create other files with more objects that
belong to the "analog::" grouping, and so forth.  In the
startup file, library pages are made like:

	library make Generic

followed by loading zero or more files onto that page:

	library 1 load generic.lps
	library 1 load analog.lps
	...

Now if you want to make a new object and have it saved with,
say, the generic.lps file (assuming you have write permission
to it), then when you do "m" to make the new object, and get
a pop-up window asking for a name, then you can give it the
name

	generic::myobject

If you don't supply the prefix, you'll get a blank prefix,
which (I could be wrong about this) can't be saved as a
library file but will be saved along with the drawing.
On a library page, you can edit the name of each object and
change the prefix, which will move it from one file to another
(if you do this, both files should be marked as changed, and
you should get a request to save both of them before exiting
the program).  The library page will hide the prefix for the
sake of a cleaner display, but will show the prefix if you
edit the name.

> However, there are other problems.
> 
> In 3.6.39, when moving either one object or a selected group
> of objects, the objects became un-selected as soon as they
> were set down.  With 3.7.27 a single objects still works this
> way - but a selected group stays selected after moving.  Is
> this a feature?  If so, is there a way to get the former
> behavior back?

It's definitely a feature.  I had a very poorly-defined set of
responses to different actions which sometimes left things
selected and sometimes didn't.  That sloppiness began to play
havoc with the "undo" function, particularly when grouping
actions together into a single "undo" record.  Since the area
selection, for example, is a single action in and of itself,
it works better to treat it as a monolithic action with its own
"undo" record, then treat the move as another monolithic action.
Well, I'm trying here to justify a largely arbitrary change.
I can tell you that I have never quite gotten used to the new
method myself, which is probably as good an indication as any
that it should be put back the way it was. . .

> Finally, I found a real bug - probably.  Anytime I try to
> insert a point on an existing line (using "i") xcircuit
> crashes.  The terminal I ran it from simply reports 
> 
> Segmentation fault
> 
> The keys "d" and "e" work normally. "p" doesn't cause a crash,
> but I don't normally use it so I don't know if it is behaving or
> not. 

Yes, I can duplicate the crash condition in both versions 3.7 and
3.8, and I will look into it.

						---Tim

+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Dr. R. Timothy Edwards (Tim)   | email: tim.edwards at multigig.com     |
| MultiGiG, Inc.                 | web:   http://www.multigig.com      |
| 2645 Zanker Road, Suite 101    | phone: (408) 514-1375               |
| San Jose, CA 95134             | cell:  (240) 401-0616               |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

From tim.edwards at multigig.com  Sun Jan 29 08:30:13 2012
From: tim.edwards at multigig.com (R. Timothy Edwards)
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:30:13 -0500
Subject: [Xcircuit-dev] Troubles and bugs
In-Reply-To: <20120126180717.ee524ccb.fmiser@gmail.com>
References: <20120126132442.18d1b43c.fmiser@gmail.com>
	<4F21B10F.1010301@multigig.com>
	<20120126180717.ee524ccb.fmiser@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4F257415.9060702@multigig.com>

Hello Philip,

>>> Anytime I try to insert a point on an existing line (using
>>> "i") xcircuit crashes.  The terminal I ran it from simply
>>> reports
>>>
>>> Segmentation fault

Okay, I just tracked down the problem and fixed it.  You should have
no more problems with the "insert" function.  I have not yet addressed
the selection/un-selection behavior issue.  Crash conditions have a
higher priority. . .
						Regards,
						Tim

+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Dr. R. Timothy Edwards (Tim)   | email: tim.edwards at multigig.com     |
| MultiGiG, Inc.                 | web:   http://www.multigig.com      |
| 2645 Zanker Road, Suite 101    | phone: (408) 514-1375               |
| San Jose, CA 95134             | cell:  (240) 401-0616               |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+