OSX Leopard: Fixing X11.app for the Gimp
On our neverending bug journey though Leopard land, here we go with the next episode: X11.app in connection with the Gimp.
Apparently, Apple did not find time to test one of the (if I had to guestimate) most used X11 applications on the Mac with their newest version of X11. Therefore, X11 on Leopard crashes frequently with the latest Mac version of the Gimp image editing software.
Also, when you pick, say, the brush tool and move it over an image, the tool pointer sluggishly follows the mouse pointer around until, about 2 seconds later, they meet up again. This looks funny, but makes actually using the Gimp kind of impossible.
Fortunately, the bugs in the shipped version of Leopard can be resolved by installing upgraded versions of libX11 and Xquartz as described on the X.org Wiki. This worked flawlessly for me, but make sure to make a backup of the libraries before you replace them, in case something goes wrong.
By the way: Does anyone know how to remove the XTerm window that always pops up when X11.app starts?
(Thanks for the link, Jean Pierre!)
Update: The RC3 version of Gimp from gimp-app.sf.net seems to lead to problems, even after fixing X11 as described above. However, until the gimp-app guys release the stable version (currently: 2.4.1), there is a community build available from Nasendackel (German). Good job!
Try
defaults write org.x.X11_launcher app_to_run /usr/X11/bin/xprop(from: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071027071326229)
[…] « OSX Leopard: Fixing X11.app for the Gimp […]
You can change the command in /Applications/Utilities/X11.app/Contents/MacOS/X11 to run xlsclients with:
defaults write org.x.X11_launcher app_to_run /usr/X11/bin/xlsclients
(xlsclients would be a better choice since it doesn’t hit the filesystem or produce any output when you use it to launch the server)
For more info, please read “Leopard and X11″ at:
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=80171
I can’t even get Gimp to launch. It just sits there caching fonts and then it unexpectedly closes. I’ve updated X11 like you said above. Now, I’m not sure what to do next??
Stuart: I had the same problem, starting two days ago! But I just updated the blog post, because I found a site with a current (community) build of Gimp available. This fixes the problem for me, and as a side effect, it’s the current stable version too.
Sadly, that won’t work for me as I am on PPC (Powerbook G4 1.5GHZ). Oh, well. I guess I just wait.
For our English friends, i’ve created a blog dealing only with gimp.
http://www.wilber-loves-apple.org
We still seek for people doing some ppc builds.
I just wanted also to mention, that my build is exactly the same like gimp.app, because i’m using his build script. Thanks to Aaron
Ah, awesome! Thank you for your work
Christoph: Can the build process be automated (i.e. running a fully automated script)? And, do you need a PPC to do them or can you cross-compile?
(Or, how easy is it to compile a universal binary?)
Universal binary is difficult. if you want to help, i can give you a detail description, how to build it. then you can upload it on my server and i can fix it.
just send me an email at schroeder at nasendackel.de .
i’m off this evening, but i defiently will respond tomorrow