Frequently Asked Questions

• Where is the program I just installed?
• When I try to run a program from the command line, I get "tcsh: command not found: ****"
• I get an error that says: can't open library: /usr/local/lib/lib***.0.dylib"
• Why doesn't my keyboard work in XFree86?
• Nothing happens when I launch XDarwin, why doesn't it start?
• I just upgraded to Mac OS X 10.1 and now XFree86 always quits immediately. In the messages it says "assert failed on line 454 of darwinKeyboard.c!"
  
  Where is the program I just installed?
  
  Most packages here install applications in /usr/local/bin/. Even though this may seem an odd location, this is a standard place to put applications in unix. To start an application, you need only type its name and optional arguments on the command line.
  
  ncftp -u apex forked.net
  
  
  When I try to run a program from the command line, I get: tcsh: command not found: ****"
  
  This means your shell (the command line) is unable to find the program you are trying to run. The most common reason this happens is you do not have /usr/local/bin listed as a path your shell should search for applications. The quick fix is to type:
  
  /usr/local/bin/ncftp
  
  Unfortunately, typing the full path gets rather annoying after awhile. To fix it permanently you must edit your default PATH variable. See this post from the message board for instructions.
  
  If you don't know where the application is and can't find it in /usr/local/bin/ or Applications folder here are some tips:
  Run /etc/weekly from the command line then type locate ncftp or whatever the application is called.
  You can search the names of every file on your computer using find / -name ncftp
  
  If you still can't find it, perhaps it is called something else or its not even installed.
  
  I get an error that says: can't open library: /usr/local/lib/lib***.0.dylib"
  
  Most applications in unix include source code from libraries of other applications. When the applications are compiled by us, we have those libraries so the application works as it should. But that doesn't mean you have those libraries when you use the application. This is what creates the error and stops the application from working for you.
  To fix this, you must install the needed libraries. For example, if my error says it is missing libdl.dylib I need to install the dl library. If it says libiconv.2.0.4.dylib is missing, you would install the iconv library. You can find any other missing libraries on the Libraries page!
  
  Why doesn't my keyboard work in XFree86?
  
  This is a known problem that so far seems to affect only portables (PowerBook, iBook). The problem is that the kernel's keymapping (which XFree86 read to generate its own keymapping) sometimes is empty. As a workaround, you can tell XFree86 to load a keymapping from a file instead. Under Mac OS X, go to the XDarwin preferences dialog, check the "Load from file" checkbox and select the keymapping file to load. After restarting XDarwin, your keyboard should mostly work (see below).
  
  If you're starting XFree86 from the command line, you can pass the name of the keymapping file to load as an option, as in:
  
  startx -- -keymap USA.keymapping
  
  Side note: It appears that Mac OS X 10.1 will break the read-from-kernel method completely, and you must always use "Load from file".
  
  Nothing happens when I launch XDarwin, why doesn't it start?
  
  This usually happens when your .xinitrc isn't set up correctly.
  
  What happens is that the .xinitrc is run and for some reason terminates. xinit interprets this as "the user's session has ended" and kills XDarwin. Some common problems that lead to this:
  
  
• All apps are started in the background. Instead the last one must be started in the foreground.
  
  
• The app that should run in the foreground can't be found. This can happen when you give just the name without the path (e.g. xterm), but forget to set the shell's search path (environment variable PATH). Neither /usr/X11R6/bin nor /usr/local/bin are in the default path. If you are using tcsh (the default shell) follow these instructions.
  
  First, create a .cshrc file in your home directory.
  Place the following in the .cshrc file:
  
  setenv MANPATH "${MANPATH}:/usr/X11R6/man:/usr/local/man"
  setenv PATH "${PATH}:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin"
  
  After saving the file in Pico or vi, run the following command in the terminal window:
  source ~/.cshrc
  Go back into the terminal, if you're not already there, and type startx -- -quartz.
  (Instructions submitted by ShizChris, Thanks!)
  
  
• The app that should run in the foreground doesn't start or quits immediately for some other reason. There are many possibilities here, like missing libraries or missing configuration files. WindowMaker for instance requires that you run wmaker.inst once before using it.
  A good troubleshooting tactic is to launch Xfree86 from the terminal so you can see any error messages:
  
  startx -- -quartz
  
  
  I just upgraded to Mac OS X 10.1 and now XFree86 always quits immediately. In the messages it says "assert failed on line 454 of darwinKeyboard.c!".
  
  This is a known problem on 10.1. You must use the "Load from file" keymapping option since the default option, loading it from the kernel, doesn't work anymore. The setting is in the XDarwin Preferences dialog. Be sure that a file is selected (e.g. USA.keymapping) -- simply activating the check box may not be sufficient with some versions. If you can't get to the Preferences dialog because you disabled all splash screens, you can delete ~/Library/Preferences/org.xfree86.XDarwin.plist to get it back, then start XDarwin and go to the Preferences dialog while the splash screen is displayed. Alternatively, you can edit that file manually in a text editor to enable the keymapping option (UseKeymappingFile and KeymappingFile).
  
  If all else fails, you can run:
  
  startx -- -quartz -keymap USA.keymapping
  
  If it STILL doesn't work you'll at least get a bunch of diagnostic messages in the command line to help you sort it out.