RE: [Axiom-developer] Hypertex and pty

[Page, Bill]

Waldek,

On Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:55 AM you wrote:
> 
> Vanuxem Grégory wrote:
> > ... 
> > See http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/189GraphicsDoesNotWorkOnDebian
> > 
> 
> I see, I am not the first with this problem.  Concerning the patch:
> while technically it seem to work (I tested a slight variation of
> it), it has many problems:
> 
> 1) the patch duplicates code (my variation avoids duplication)
> 2) on Linux there is 'openpty' library function which is smart
>    enough to try first '/dev/ptmx' and if needed fall back to
>    legacy pty's. 'openpty' also handles extra issues (like 
>    changing access rights to legacy pty's) -- we probably should
>    use it.
> 3) in general 'openpty.c.pamphlet' is messy and the patch from
>    wiki only adds to this mess
> 

I think is would be a worthwhile for someone knowledgeable (you?)
to spend some time to improve openpty. Using the standard Linux
openpty library sounds like a good idea. Axiom's replacement for
readline - a program called clef - requires this interface so
standardizing openpty should help improve the ability to build
on non-standard linux platforms. Unfortunately, as far as I know
pty is available on Windows. :(

The pty interface is also an important way for an external program
to reliably interact with the whole group of Axiom processes started
by sman (the normal 'axiom' command) instead of just AXIOMsys. This
is important for programs  like TeXmacs, the Axiom Wiki and Sage.
With the exception of Sage, currently these external programs are
limited to only using pipes, Pipes do not work properly when combined
with another external shell such as the X-windows virtual frame
buffer. Having Axiom work reliably with a standard interface such
as Expect for example, would make it much easier to offer Axiom
graphics embedded in these alternate user interfaces.

My experience so far with Sage, which uses the Expect interface,
is that Axiom's pty interface does not always do what one "expects"
... :) Maybe standardizing the pty interface will help.

Regards,
Bill Page.