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I am surprised at the lack of response to all the xlib related question I've had on SO, is this because no one uses xlib directly anymore or is this the wrong place to ask these types of questions? Even if no one uses xlib directly, there must still be people the remember the bad old days and help with these questions, but it doesn't look like they are here...

Edit: What other places could I ask for xlib related help?

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try adding the x11 tag –  luser droog Dec 24 '11 at 2:12
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closed as not constructive by Bill the Lizard Jan 5 '13 at 3:43


6 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

No, XLib is certainly a valid topic here but I think your first contention is correct: almost nobody uses it anymore. I vaguely remember using it some fifteen years ago and I liken it to:

  • pulling out your teeth with a hammer.
  • trying to eat a pineapple without cutting it up first.
  • nailing jelly to a tree.
  • trying to train a domestic cat.

(Pick your favorite).

I suspect it's not the sort of question that'll be answered quickly by the PHP/Silverlight/.NET/Python groups who frequent this site. You may have to wait a few days until someone a little more knowledgeable about the subject matter notices it.

Sorry I couldn't help with the specific question (I assume you meant the polygon filler without stipple - if not, let me know which one (with a link) and I'll have a quick look).

Other places to ask for help:

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yeah that's the question I need help with now :) my favourite is pulling out your teeth with a hammer. Unfortunatly I have to do that on a regular basis because the sw I am working does all it's drawing using xlib and has it's own Window Manager (using open motif) –  hhafez Mar 5 '09 at 3:58
I went looking for a transparent color to put into the GC but this seems to be specific to the hardware (some Sun/HP terminals allow transparent colors when filling which will map through to the next layer down) so you'll have to check up on the capabilities of your Xserver to see if it's possible. –  paxdiablo Mar 5 '09 at 4:08
The pineapple, at least, is nice and sweet on the inside... Is it really the same? –  Arafangion Mar 5 '09 at 5:33
Personally, I liked the nailing of jelly to the tree. –  Programmdude May 30 '12 at 9:24
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Possible ways to get help for xlib:

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No, not so much. I did Motif as recently as 2003, but that's it. Most of that was getting replaced with a heavyweight Java Swing app at the time.

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Hello @John, can I write the Ubuntu lockscreen clone with Motif alone? –  spartacus May 20 '13 at 21:19
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I'm using it!

I wrote this with a friend... http://open.vitaminap.it/en/x_tile.htm

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I'm using X11 protocol directly (this is kind of similar to using xlib regarding to you question)

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I used xlib creating tk canvas items. http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TkLib/CrtItemType.htm

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