🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm reposting the FAQ about two weeks earlier than I said I would
because it's grown by about 40% since I last posted, and incorporates
much new material that people have asked about and contributed.

Enjoy,
Marc

--
Marc Andreessen
Software Tools Group
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--> Epoch Frequently Asked Questions
      (or at least Occasionally Wondered-About Questions)
    Maintained by Marc Andreessen (marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu)
    Last Modified 21 March 1992.

=== REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE ===

Unless otherwise attributed, information below is based only on Yours
Truly's use and experience with Epoch and is by no means guaranteed to
be correct, complete, or even coherent.  If it works for you, great;
if it doesn't, let me know, but there are no guarantees.

=== MORE REALLY IMPORTANT NOTES ===

In the answers that follow, I assume at least a little familiarity
with GNU Emacs Lisp (elisp).  Suggested resources that could be
considered prerequisites for material in this FAQ are the GNU Emacs
and Epoch manuals (available online within Epoch; hit C-h i), the GNU
Elisp manual (available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu
(18.71.0.38) as /pub/gnu/elisp-manual-1.03.tar.Z), and the
gnu.emacs.help FAQ (available from pit-manager.mit.edu (18.172.1.27)
in /pub/usenet/gnu.emacs.help).

Many of the answers given herein apply only to Epoch 4.0 (and also may
only apply to 4.0 beta level 0 or later).  When I know about them,
3.2'isms and 4.0-alpha'isms are mentioned also.

Additions or corrections to the questions and answers herein are very
welcome; send mail to marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu.

The latest version of this file will be always available via anonymous
FTP to ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.20.50) as /outgoing/marca/Epoch.FAQ.

=== EPOCH AND GNU EMACS ===

-->  What is Epoch?

Epoch is an adaptation of GNU Emacs with lots of additional support
for features made possible by the X11 windowing system.  These
features include multiple editing windows, arbitrary colors and fonts
(fixed-width and proportional), selectable zones per buffer with
arbitrary display styles (font, color, underline, stipple, pixmap), an
optional separate minibuffer window, improved keyboard and mouse
handling, full 8-bit character set support, and more.

Epoch, like GNU Emacs, is very customizable; much of this FAQ
describes ways to customize Epoch for specific purposes.

--> What is the latest version of Epoch?

The latest version is 4.0 beta version 1.  Previous versions still in
use by some people include the 4.0 alpha levels and beta version 0,
and version 3.2.

Epoch 4.0b1 is based on GNU Emacs 18.58, which is the most recent
version of GNU Emacs.

--> What are the differences between the various versions of Epoch?

Important differences between 3.2 and 4.0-alpha (besides bug-fixed)
include:

1.  Based on 18.57 GNU Emacs.  [3.2 was based on 18.55.]
2.  Completely rebuilt display code: now supports proper proportional
    fonts.
3.  Changes from attributes to styles.
4.  Minibuffer can now be in its own window (traditional Epoch) or in the
    same window as the epoch screens (traditional GNU Emacs).
5.  Mouse maps now based on Ken Laprade's mouse package.
6.  Selections rather than cut-buffers (but cut-buffers still work).
7.  Runs on more platforms.

[From initial announcement of Epoch 4.0a0.]

Important differences between 4.0-alpha and 4.0-beta include:

1.  Includes code to build ASCII version of GNU Emacs 18.57.
2.  Support for sharing lisp directory between Epoch and GNU Emacs
    18.57 installed elsewhere.
3.  "Buttons" became "zones".
4.  Performance enhancements.

[From 4.0-beta README.]

Important differences between 4.0b0 and 4.0b1 include:

1.  Based on 18.58 GNU Emacs.
2.  Bugfixes for graphical zone support.
3.  Epoch no longer reads $HOME/.Xdefaults on its own; it assumes
    that Epoch resources are available in the X server's resource
    database.  (This is ICCCM-compliant behavior, which makes Epoch
    more like other programs).

[From 4.0b1 README.]

#3 above has caused some trouble for people moving from 4.0b0 to
4.0b1.  Previous to 4.0b1, Epoch would always extract its X default
resources from the user's .Xdefaults file by hand; this is no longer
the case.  If Epoch 4.0b1 isn't picking up resources like previous
versions did on your system, prior to starting Epoch do this:

xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xdefaults

This makes the X server's database pick up and maintain all of the
resource definitions found in $HOME/.Xdefaults.

A second problem is that Epoch 4.0b1 uses the first word in the
command that executed Epoch to search the X resource database for
Epoch resources.  Thus, if you invoke Epoch with the name:

epoch-4.0.1

...Epoch will use the string 'epoch-4.0.1' to search the resource
database, thus missing the resources specified by the name 'epoch'.
The workaround is to use the '-rn' command-line option like so:

epoch-4.0.1 -rn epoch

[From Martin Boyer (mboyer@ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca).]

--> How can I get Epoch?

Epoch is available via anonymous FTP to cs.uiuc.edu (128.174.252.1) in
pub/epoch-files/epoch.  The main file of interest is
epoch-4.0b1.tar.Z.

According to Simon Marshall (S.Marshall@sequent.cc.hull.ac.uk):

Like GNU & X11 stuff, epoch is available in the UK from
uk.ac.ic.doc.src (00000510200001).  You can log on; there's help to
tell you the different ways of getting source.  Epoch is in
/gnu/epoch.

--> What's the difference between Epoch and GNU Emacs version 19?

To quote directly from the GNU 'status' file (obtained via anonymous
FTP to prep.ai.mit.edu (18.71.0.38) as /pub/gnu/status):

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emacs 18 maintenance continues for simple bug fixes.  Version 19
approaches release, counting among its new features before and after
change hooks, source-level debugging of Emacs Lisp programs, X
selection processing, including CLIPBOARD selections, scrollbars,
support for European character sets, floating point numbers,
per-buffer mouse commands, interfacing with the X resource manager,
mouse-tracking, lisp-level binding of function keys, and multiple X
windows (`screens' to emacs).

Thanks go to Alan Carroll and the people who worked on Epoch for
generating initial feedback to a multi-windowed emacs.  Emacs 19
supports two styles of multiple windows, one with a separate screen
for the minibuffer, and another with a minibuffer attached to each
screen.

A couple of other features of Version 19 are buffer allocation, which
uses a new mechanism capable of returning storage to the system when a
buffer is killed, and a new input system--all input now arrives in the
form of Lisp objects.

Other features under consideration for later releases of Version 19
include:

** Associating property lists with regions of text in a buffer.
** Multiple font, color, and pixmaps defined by those properties.
** Different visibility conditions for the regions, and for various
   windows showing one buffer.
** Hooks to be run if point or mouse moves outside a certain range.
** Incrementally saving undo history in a file, so that recover-file
   also reinstalls buffer's undo history.
** Static menu bars, and better pop-up menus.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epoch currently supports much of the new functionality of GNU Emacs
v19, including some features that apparently won't be immediately
available in GNU Emacs v19 (notably, associating property lists with
regions of text, and multiple fonts/colors/pixmaps defined by those
properties).

=== CONFIGURING EPOCH ===

--> How can my .emacs file deal with both GNU Emacs and Epoch?

An easy way to handle both GNU Emacs and Epoch within the same .emacs
file is to define a variable 'running-epoch' as follows:

(defvar running-epoch (boundp 'epoch::version))

Then, the rest of your .emacs file can look liks this:

(if running-epoch
  (progn
    ... [Epoch-specific code here] ...
))

...[Emacs code here]...

(After this, when I refer to 'your .emacs file', read that as 'the
Epoch-specific portion of your .emacs file', under the assumption that
you have both general and Epoch-specific parts as detailed above.)

If you have a large amount of Epoch-specific code it may be better to
put it in a separate file (e.g., "epoch-specific.el"), possibly
byte-compile it, then load it from your .emacs file like so:

(if (boundp 'epoch::version) (load "epoch-specific"))

--> What if I want to have separate sections for Epoch 3.2 and 4.0 in
my .emacs file?

The variable 'epoch::version' is a string that contains the current
Epoch version ID.  For instance, evaluating epoch::version under
Emacs4.0b0 (the first beta level) gives:

"Epoch 4.0 Beta Patchlevel 0"

A simple way to determine if version 4.x is running is to do something
like this:

(string-match " 4" epoch::version)

This will result in 't' if the string " 4" is a substring of
epoch::version (as would be the case when epoch::version is "Epoch 4.0
..."), and 'nil' otherwise.

--> How can I configure Epoch to support full 8-bit character sets?

The variable 'ctl-arrow', which is a buffer-local variable, controls
how control characters are displayed.  By setting this variable to
something non-nil and non-t, you get full 8-bit characters.  To get
8-bit characters in all buffers, put this in your .emacs file:

(setq-default ctl-arrow 'foo)

=== WINDOWS ===

--> How do I get the minibuffer back at the bottom of my edit window?

Start Epoch with the command-line option '-nm'.  Alternately, in your
general .Xdefaults file, specify:

epoch.nonlocal.minibuf: False

(These techniques only work in Epoch 4.0 and later.)

--> How do I stop the windows from automatically raising upon entry?

The easiest way to do this, if you're running Epoch 4.0 beta (versions
0 or 1), is to specify the following in your .emacs file:

(setq auto-raise-screen 'minibuf)

If you're running a version of Epoch prior to Epoch-4.0b0, the
following code also works:

(setq auto-raise-screen nil)
(push (function (lambda () (raise-screen (minibuf-screen)))) 
  *select-screen-hook*)

Both of the above solutions still make the minibuffer raise when an
Epoch edit window is entered; if you don't want the minibuffer to
raise itself either, just do the following instead:

(setq auto-raise-screen nil)

--> How do I change the cursor?

Another noticeable change from GNU Emacs is the cursor glyph (which is
a pencil shape).  To change this to a more normal-appearing arrow
shape, put this in your .emacs file:

(cursor-glyph 68)
(cursor-glyph 68 (epoch::minibuf-screen))
(push '(cursor-glyph . 68) epoch::screen-properties)

(Note that you can specify a different cursor glyph for the
minibuffer, if you like.)

There are also X resources for the screen and minibuffer cursor
glyphs; equivalent to the above elisp code would be the following (in
your .Xdefaults file):

epoch.screen.cursor.glyph: 68
epoch.minibuf.cursor.glyph: 68

For either of these approaches, any valid cursor ID number will do; to
see the available cursors and their ID numbers, take a look at the
file /usr/include/X11/cursorfont.h.

(See below for details on how to customize the cursor glyph based on
the mode of a screen's initial buffer.)

--> How do I define edit screen attributes on a per-mode basis?  Or,
how do I make my C++ edit windows come up with 48 lines and a big
round dot for a cursor?

You can define styles for new edit screens created with
find-file-other-screen (which is, by default, bound to 'C-z 4 C-f' and
'C-z 4 f') based on the initial buffer's mode like so:

(setq epoch-mode-alist
  (append (list
      (cons 'c-mode
        (list
          (cons 'geometry "80x52")
          (cons 'cursor-glyph 94)))
      (cons 'LaTeX-mode
        (list
          (cons 'geometry "90x48")
          (cons 'cursor-glyph 58)))
      (cons 'c++-mode
        (list
          (cons 'geometry "80x48")
          (cons 'cursor-glyph 38))))
    epoch-mode-alist))

--> How do I iconify my entire Epoch session at once?

By default, 'C-z i' is bound to iconify-screen, which only iconifies
the current edit window.  To iconify everything, define a small
function iconify-everything in your .emacs file like so:

(defun iconify-everything () 
  "Iconify entire Epoch session at once."
  (interactive)
  (dolist (s (screen-list))
    (iconify-screen s))
  (iconify-screen 0)
)

Then bind it to a key sequence (e.g. 'C-z C-i') like so:

(global-set-key "\C-z\C-i" 'iconify-everything)

--> My workstation's screen area is overwhelmed by all the windows I
create in my Epoch editing sessions.  How can I squeeze more windows
into my working environment?

This is only a half-facetious question; there's only room on most
workstation screens (usually 1024x768 or 1280x1024 pixels in area) for
a couple of windows with decent-sized fonts.  To help alleviate the
discomfort, try the 'tvtwm' window manager.  (I sound like a
cough-drop commercial.)

Tvtwm, a superset of the twm window manager, allows windows to be
placed on a virtual root window that can be of any size (for example,
3000 by 3000 pixels).  This virtual root can be navigated via tvtwm's
'panner', a reduced-size overview of your entire environment.

Tvtwm can be found on your local comp.sources.x archive or in the
X11R4 and X11R5 distributions.  Try anonymous FTP to ftp.uu.net
(137.39.1.9) in /usenet/comp.sources.x.

=== COLORS AND FONTS ===

--> I want to be able to interactively select my foreground color.
How do I do this?

First, define a style for each of your desired foreground colors in
your .emacs file, like so:

(setq red-style (make-style))
(set-style-foreground red-style "red")

Then, define a short command 'goto-style' like so:

(defun goto-style (newstyle)
  "Set current buffer to a given font NEWSTYLE."
  (setq buffer-style newstyle)
  (redraw-display))

Next, bind commands to keys like so:

(global-set-key "\C-c1" (definteractive (goto-style red-style)))

This binds a command that changes the current foreground color to red
to the key sequence C-c 1.

--> I want to be able to switch fonts interactively.  How do I do
this?

To change fonts, you don't have to define new styles.  Just define a
short command 'goto-font', like so:

(defun goto-font (newfont)
  "Set current buffer to a given font NEWFONT."
  (font newfont)
  (redraw-display))

Then, bind commands to keys like so:

(global-set-key "\C-c1" (definteractive (goto-font "8x13")))

This changes the current edit window's font to "8x13" when the key
sequence 'C-c 1' is entered.

If the font you specify isn't valid for your X server (i.e. if the
font doesn't exist in a directory listed in your X server's font path
and in that directory's fonts.dir file), you will get this message in
your minibuffer:
 
Bad font name

Font names are ordinary X font names; for example, a
middle-of-the-road Helvetica font can be referred to as:

"*helvetica-medium-r-normal--14*"

The standard X client 'xlsfonts' will give you a list of the fonts
registered with your X server.  The standard X client 'xfontsel' lets
you interactively put together an X font specification based on
attributes (e.g., family, size).

--> How can I associate a certain foreground color with a given file,
so every time I load that file my foreground color is automatically
set?

You can easily do this by using GNU Emacs' ability to handle file
variables.  For example, if you have defined style 'red-style' to
specify a red foreground color, and want file 'foobar.c' to always
have the foreground color red, add this to the bottom of 'foobar.c':

^L
/*
Local Variables:
buffer-style: red-style
End:
*/

(Note that '^L' is a newline character; you can enter one in an edit
buffer by typing 'C-q C-l'.)

Then, whenever 'foobar.c' is loaded, the variable 'buffer-style' will
be set to 'red-style', and as a result the foreground color for that
buffer will be red.

--> How do I design my own really funky technicolor modeline?

Using the tried-and-true Learning By Example(tm) educational method,
I'll just give the elisp code I use to define my own customized
modeline:

;; Define styles for the modeline.
(setq cyan-style (make-style))
(set-style-foreground cyan-style "#6fcfef")
(setq red-style (make-style))
(set-style-foreground red-style "red")
(setq yellow-style (make-style))
(set-style-foreground yellow-style "yellow")

;; Make display-time display day and date also.
(setq display-time-day-and-date t)

;; Display time, day, and date in modeline.
(display-time)

;; List full filename, with path.
(set-default 'mode-line-buffer-identification
	     '(buffer-file-name ("%f") ("%b")))

;; This actually turns inverse-video _off_ for the modeline.
(setq mode-line-inverse-video t)

;; Set the modeline itself.
(setq default-mode-line-format
  (list red-style "--" 
        ;; Buffer name.
        yellow-style 'mode-line-buffer-identification 
        red-style "-" 
        ;; Buffer status (read-only, unchanged, changed).
        cyan-style "%*%*" 
        red-style "-" 
        ;; Position in buffer.
        cyan-style "%[%3p%]" 
        red-style "--"  
        ;; Current time.
        yellow-style "%M" 
        red-style "--("
        ;; Mode name.
        cyan-style 'mode-name 'minor-mode-alist "%n"
          'mode-line-process 
        red-style ")-%-"))

--> How do I replace the mouse region selection underlining with a
different style?

You can override the variable 'motion::style' with your own style,
like so:

(setq motion::style (make-style))

Now, you can set the various elements of this style as you please.
Several examples follow.

To have just the text foreground color change on mouse selection, do:

(set-style-foreground motion::style "yellow")
(set-style-background motion::style (background))

(Replace "yellow" with any desired X color name.)

To have the selected region appear as reverse video, try:

(set-style-foreground motion::style (background))
(set-style-foreground motion::style (foreground))

To have the selected region appear with an overlayed diagonal stipple
pattern, try:

(set-style-background motion::style "red")
(set-style-background-stipple motion::style
  (make-bitmap 4 4 "\167\273\335\356"))

Also note that, if you like, you can just modify the style bound by
default to motion::style instead of actually creating a new style.
The style bound to motion::style has default settings as follows:

(set-style-foreground motion::style (foreground))
(set-style-background motion::style (background))
(set-style-underline motion::style (foreground))

So, for instance, to get yellow underlining, you could just do:

(set-style-underline motion::style "yellow")

=== MENUS === 

--> Does Epoch support popup menus or menubars?

The base Epoch distribution does not support popup menus or menubars.

If you're running the window manager GWM (available via anonymous FTP
to export.lcs.mit.edu (18.24.0.12) in /contrib), you can use the Epoch
contrib 'wm-menu' package (found in the contrib directory in the Epoch
distribution) to have GWM provide menus that pass messages to Epoch.

You can also run a separate X client that posts a menu and have Epoch
(or for that matter, GNU Emacs) receive commands from it.  One example
of this technique is /gnu/emacs/buttons.tar.Z by anonymous FTP to
aix370.rrz.uni-koeln.de (134.95.132.2).

Another method uses xmenu or xmenu2, which are available at any
comp.sources.x archive.  (If you don't know of such an archive, try
anonymous FTP to ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9) in /usenet/comp.sources.x.)
After you have compiled xmenu or xmenu2, define the following function
in your .emacs file:

(defun interpret-output (process output)
  (command-execute (car (read-from-string output))))

Then you can define other functions that make specific menus, with
menu entries bound to commands, like the following example shows:

(defun make-menu ()
  (interactive)
  (set-process-filter (start-process "xmenu" nil
      "/usr/local/bin/xmenu" "-heading" "Epoch Menu"
      "Undo=undo")
    'interpret-output))

This example uses /usr/local/bin/xmenu to post a one-entry menu to the
screen; the menu entry's label is "Undo" and the action it triggers in
Epoch is 'undo'.  Specify as many "Label=action" pairs as you like as
part of the start-process command.

[From Philippe Bondono (bondono@vnet.ibm.com).]

=== KEYBOARD ===

--> What facilities does Epoch provide for rebinding function keys,
and how do I use them?

The rebind-key function allows you to rebind any keycode to a new
string.  An example is probably best to show how this works.  To make
the key marked "Page Up" (on IBM Selectric-style keyboards) actually
move the current buffer up a page (like M-v), do:

(rebind-key "Prior" nil "\M-v")

Note that "Prior" is the actual X keysym name for the "Page Up" key;
to see the X keysym names, refer to /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h.
(Disregard the leading XK_ in keysymdef.h's definitions for Epoch's
purposes; thus, X11's "XK_Prior" becomes Epoch's "Prior".)

A simple two-step approach for binding function keys to commands
involves binding a key to an arbitrary GNU Emacs key encoding (in the
following example, C-^k1) and then binding that encoding to the
command.  An example that binds the function key marked "End" to the
command end-of-line follows:

(rebind-key "End" 0 "\C-^k1")
(global-set-key "\C-^k1" 'end-of-line)

The rebind-key command allows modifiers to be used as well; the
following example binds Control-"End" to end-of-buffer:

(rebind-key "End" 'control "\C-^Ck1")
(global-set-key "\C-^Ck1" 'end-of-buffer)

For an example of these principles in action, see the file
'amc/keys.el' in the 3.2 contrib directory (which is still up for
anonymous ftp at cs.uiuc.edu as a separate .tar.Z file) or at
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in /outgoing/marca.

[Thanks to Alan Carroll (carroll@cs.uiuc.edu).]

--> I want Epoch to disregard accidental presses of function keys that
insert spurious characters (e.g., -1~) into the buffer.  Does Epoch
perchance have some magical way to make this happen?

Perchance, Epoch does.  The variable epoch::function-key-mapping, if
set to nil, makes Epoch disregard such keys, unless they're explicitly
rebound with rebind-key.

[Thanks to Alan Carroll (carroll@cs.uiuc.edu).]

=== HIGHLIGHTING ===

--> How do I highlight regions of text in a buffer with different
styles?

While the current Epoch distribution contain plenty of support for
zones and styles, the enabling mechanisms that make syntax-directed
highlighting possible, no intrinsic support for such highlighting is
provided.  This situation may change in subsequent releases of Epoch.

Three packages that provide varying degrees of support for
syntax-directed highlighting are:

tek-epoch-stuff-1.1.tar.Z (available from archive.cis.ohio-state.edu
or ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, see below), which supports comment highlighting
in source code as well as support for the Info documentation browser,
various mail and news packages, and manual pages.

marc-hilite.tar.Z (available from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, see below), which
is an extension to tek-epoch-stuff made by Yours Truly to allow
per-mode regexp-based highlighting.  Thus, you can have all
#define's/#endif's in red, setq's and defun's in green,
int/float/double's in yellow, '-->'s in purple, and so on.

hilit.el.Z (most recent version was posted to gnu.emacs.souces and is
available from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, see below), which provides
source-code comment and regexp highlighting.

--> When I use one of the highlighting packages to highlight comments,
why doesn't the mouse region selection style always take precedence
over the comment style?

This question refers to the following: if you highlight all comments
in blue and the mouse region selection style is default (underlining),
the comments will be blue and not underlined even when they're in the
selection zone.

For the technical explanation, refer to the Epoch online info section
entitled Epoch->Zones->Zone Plotting.  In short, Epoch has to have
some way to decide which style takes precedence for a given character
when that character is in two or more zones (since merging styles in
that case is neither supported nor particularly logical).

Essentially, the algorithm Epoch uses to decide which style is used
will only have the 'proper' results (i.e., the underlining will take
precendence) if the selected region lies entirely within a comment;
the selected area will be underlined and the rest of the comment will
be blue.  In a different case, e.g. if the selected region starts
before the comment, the comment will be blue and not underlined even
though it's selected.

This is currently a fact of life; if anyone hacks up a fix, please let
Yours Truly know about it.

=== EPOCH-SPECIFIC ELISP PACKAGES ===
 
--> Where can I find Epoch-specific elisp packages?

Try the following anonymous FTP sites for Epoch-specific elisp
packages:

archive.cis.ohio-state.edu (128.146.8.52)
  /pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/elisp
  [This is main elisp-archive site; it is mirrored at
   ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9) in /languages/elisp, among other places.]

ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.20.50)
  /outgoing/marca
  [This is Yours Truly's depository of Epoch code; the
   README file gives an overview of what I consider to be
   'essential' Epoch packages, and all of those packages
   are available there.]

ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca (131.195.2.130)
  /pub/emacs/lisp
  [This is the distribution site for the IMOUSE package.]

icsi-ftp.berkeley.edu (128.32.201.55)
  /pub/elisp

ftp.cs.buffalo.edu (128.205.32.3)
  /pub
  [This is the distribution site for the new Dired, which will
   be included in Emacs v19; it includes support for Epoch.]

wilma.cs.brown.edu (128.148.31.66)
  /pub/hyperbole
  [This is the distribution site for the Hyperbole hypertext
   system, which includes support for Epoch.  Also available
   separately from here is the wrolo 'rolodex' package, one of the
   components of Hyperbole.]

Also see the contrib directory in the actual Epoch distribution.

Also watch the gnu.emacs.sources Usenet newsgroup, as well as the
epoch and epoch-design mailing lists (see below).

=== OTHER RESOURCES ===

--> What Epoch newsgroups/mailing lists are out there?

The Usenet newsgroup gnu.epoch.misc and the mailing list
epoch@cs.uiuc.edu are one and the same.  To join the mailing list,
send a request to epoch-request@cs.uiuc.edu.

If you're interested in the nuts and bolts of Epoch, you can join the
epoch-design mailing list by sending a request to
epoch-design-request@cs.uiuc.edu.  An archive of the epoch-design
mailing list is available at cs.uiuc.edu (128.174.252.1) as
/pub/epoch-files/mailinglist.

=== ADVANCED QUESTIONS ===

[This section is at the bottom since the questions involve actual
source-code hacking or problems with specific machine configurations
that Yours Truly cannot personally verify and whose solutions will
probably involve some sort of hacking.]

--> Under tvtwm, when I create a new screen, it is mapped relative to
the origin on the virtual desktop, not the window I currently have on
the desktop.  How do I fix this?

This problem is present in Epoch4.0 beta level 0, although it appears
to be fixed (???) in beta level 1.  The simple solution for beta level
0 is to change the line in src/screen.c from

   size_hints.flags |= (gmask & (XValue|YValue)) ? USPosition : PPosition;
to
   size_hints.flags |= PPosition;

And set:

	UsePPosition "on"

in your .twmrc or .tvtwmrc file.

[From Philippe Bondono (bondono@vnet.ibm.com).]

--> Epoch 4.0b1 (as well as GNU Emacs 18.58) built under HP-UX 8.0 and
8.05 apparently don't recognize the Meta key as Alt.  How can this be
fixed?

Bob Fisher (bob@fisher.depaul.edu) suggests the following command,
executed once per session, prior to starting Epoch:

        xmodmap -e "clear mod1"        \
                -e "add mod1 = Meta_R" \
                -e "add mod1 = Meta_L"

--> Why do all of Epoch's colors go away when Epoch is run on an X11R5
server?

Dana Chee (dana@thumper.bellcore.edu) reports that X11R5 has a new
SCREEN_RESOURCES property that allows/forces colors to only appear for
color screens, but Epoch doesn't look at this property.  No fix for
this problem is currently available, to my [Marc's] knowledge.

--> Even though Epoch-4.0b1 includes fixes to keep the cursor from
disappearing (as it does on occasion, especially in a shell, in
Epoch-4.0b0), the cursor still disappears sometimes.  Is there a fix
for this?

According to Michael Thome (mthome@bbn.com), activating the XFlush
code at the end of the CursorToggle routine in x11term.c seems to fix
the problem.  (In other words, '#if 0' on line 737 of x11term.c should
be changed to '#if 1'.)

--> I want Epoch to iconify itself immediately upon starting.  To this
end, in my .emacs file I have (epoch::iconify-screen).  But most
(~95%) of the time this doesn't work.  How can I make it work all the
time?

The technical explanation appears to be that the initial Epoch
minibuffer and edit screen are unmapped after creation to set some
properties for ICCCM properties and then remapped, and this interferes
with the iconification process.

One workaround (that may or may not work for you) is to add a sit-for
command to your .emacs file right before epoch::iconify-screen; for
example:

(sit-for 15)
(epoch::iconify-screen)

[Thanks to Bobby Bodenheimer (bobby@hot.caltech.edu), Simon Kaplan
(kaplan@cs.uiuc.edu), and Chris Love (love@cs.uiuc.edu).]

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Thanks to the following people for contributing to this FAQ (whether
knowingly or not):

Bobby Bodenheimer (bobby@hot.caltech.edu)
Philippe Bondono (bondono@vnet.ibm.com)
Martin Boyer (mboyer@ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca)
Alan Carroll (carroll@cs.uiuc.edu)
Dana Chee (dana@thumper.bellcore.edu)
Alice Chen (alice@innerdoor.austin.ibm.com)
Bob Fisher (bob@fisher.depaul.edu)
Simon Kaplan (kaplan@cs.uiuc.edu)
Chris Love (love@cs.uiuc.edu)
Simon Marshall (S.Marshall@sequent.cc.hull.ac.uk)
Michael Thome (mthome@bbn.com)
Bob Weiner (rsw@cs.brown.edu)

Thanks also to all the people who have spent time and effort
developing Epoch and associated packages.
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS (yet):

--> Window manager menus with any window manager other than GWM?

Be the first person on your block to volunteer answers; send to
marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu.  If anyone wants to patch tvtwm to handle
gwm-style menus with Epoch, I'll happily award him/her an Epoch FAQ
Distinguished Service Bronze Medallion and Cheap Wall Plaque.
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