FAQ of Install xfig on Windows

This page lists the frequently asked questions about installing xfig on Windows.

I got the error message "xhost: cannot open display"
Please start the X server before you start the cygwin bash window, because the xhost command in the .bashrc file requires X server to open the display
How to set environment variables in Windows NT/2000/XP since it does not have autoexec.bat?
Please refer the instructions here.
When running xfig within bash, it gives a message "Can't open display:"
Check whether you have set the environment variable DISPLAY: type the command echo $DISPLAY, you should get localhost:0
After xfig starts, it complains this message: Either you have a very old app-defaults file installed (Fig), or there is none installed at all. You should install the correct version or you may lose some features. This may be done with "make install" in the xfig source directory.
This could happen if you update cygwin after you installed xfig. Xfig installs and uses an app-defaults file /etc/X11/app-defaults/Fig, while it looks for this file from /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults. Therefore, it creates a symbolic link app-defaults under /usr/X11R6/lib/X11 which links to ../../../.././etc/X11/app-defaults. However, when Cygwin/XFree86 installs, it creates a real directory /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults (not a symbolic link) for Mwm. Thus xfig will fail to create the symbolic link since the directory with the same name already exists. You can run the following commands to remove the app-defaults directory while preserving its files:
```
cd /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
mv app-defaults/* /etc/X11/app-defaults
rm -r app-defaults
```
and run the following command (or reinstall xfig) to create the symbolic link:
```
ln -s ../../../.././etc/X11/app-defaults app-defaults
```
I created the XFree86 shortcut as described. However, nothing happens or some error messages pop up when I click this shortcut.
You need to check the error message by manually start XFree86. Open a cygwin window, and type the command startx. If you run Windows NT/2000/XP, you can set the Screen Buffer Size of the Properties of the cygwin window to a large number (say, 1000) so that you can view the output of startx. Here are some possible reasons:
1. Used a space in your home directory name (i.e., "My Documents" does not work).
2. Saved the text files (.xinitrc, .profile, etc) in HTML format instead of plain text format.
In XFree86, the fvwm window manager does not bring a window to the front when I click it
Check whether your CapsLock, NumLock, or ScrollLock are turned on. They must be turned off for fvwm to function correctly. Please check the fvwm faq for more information.
When I start xfig, it said a file (e.g., libICE.dll, cygpng2.dll, or something else) is not found.
There are two possible reasons of this error. (1) This file is not in the path. (2) This file is not installed. Therefore, we need first to look for this file in the system. Run this command to search this file:
```
cd /
find . -name <the name of the file you are missing> -print
```
If you found this file, then run "echo $PATH" to check whether the path is listed in PATH. If not, append it to the path in the .profile file.
If you cannot find this file, you need to install it. Search this file on Setup Package Search and you can find the package it belongs to. Then run cygwin setup to reinstall this package.
XFree86 shows strange fonts when using with Windows Remote Desktop
This may happen when you use remote desktop to connect to your Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000 server or Windows NT Server Terminal Edition. The reason is DirectDraw does not work well when the screen resolution changes. You should start XFree86 in the smallest screen resolution that you want to use, and specify XFree86 to use Windows GDI instead of DirectDraw by giving the "-engine 1" option. This option can be specified as an option when you run startx. It must be after "--". For example, if your target for starting XFree86 was:
```
d:\cygwin\bin\sh.exe startx
```
You should change it to:
```
d:\cygwin\bin\sh.exe startx -- -engine 1
```
If the target was:
```
d:\cygwin\bin\sh.exe startx -- -emulate3buttons
```
You should change it to:
```
d:\cygwin\bin\sh.exe startx -- -emulate3buttons -engine 1
```
My xfig was installed and runs fine. But how to use it?
Please do what I usually do: read the manual, ask on the comp.text.tex newsgroup, or Google it.
I have a foreign keyboard. How to config it?
Please read http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~goal/index.php3?jump=xfree#modmap.
xfig 3.2.4 cannot export to other formats
If you downloaded xfig 3.2.4 between Dec.24, 2002 and Jan. 5, 2003, you were downloading a version without fig2dev. This has been fixed. Please download again now.
XFree86 shows strange images after start (such as this)
Your DirectDraw has problem. Please use the "-engine 1" option as described in this FAQ No.8
I cannot use keyboard to input anything in windows opened by xfig (e.g., file save, file open, edit, etc), although I can use mouse button to paste into it.
If you experience this problem after you updated cygwin, this problem could be caused by the xfig coming with cygwin. You could redo the step 5 of the installation page to overwrite the wrong xfig file.
startx: Command not found
You either didn't install X11 or didn't set the path correctly. startx should be in /usr/X11R6/bin in a cygwin window (or d:\cygwin\usr\X11R6\bin in a dos window). If you can find startx there, it means you didn't setup the path correctly. Otherwise, you didn't install X11 correctly. If you didn't install X11, please reinstall cygwin, and make sure you have selected the X11 package as "Install" instead of "Default".
xfig: Command not found
It's possible that you didn't install xfig while installing cygwin. If installed correctly, xfig should be in /usr/X11R6/bin or d:\cygwin\X11R6\bin. Redo the step 5 of the installation page to install xfig.

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