[NTLUG:Discuss] XFree86 shape extension?

[Kevin Brannen]

Steve Baker wrote:
> 
> My son is into bizarre desktop themes - he just downloaded one that has irregular
> window borders - which don't work properly.
> 
> Looking at the console, I see that X is complaining that it doesn't have the "SHAPE"
> extension.  How do I enable such extensions?
> 
> I'm running XFree 4.0.0.

Whoooa!  Now there's an old memory.  Let's see how well I can drudge those
memories up and not lead you astray... :-)

First, do an "xdpyinfo", under the extensions list you'll hopefully find: 
SHAPE (I do on mine, but I'm using XFree86 3.3.6).  I don't remember this too
well, but your app may need to be linked with libXext.  If dynamic, make sure
ldd can find it for your app.

If SHAPE is not in the list, IIRC, I *think* you'll have to recompile the X
server and turn that extension on.  But I really suspect that it's there but
the app can't find the lib for some reason.  SHAPE isn't that abnormal.

A semi-easy way to check would be to get the source of wm2 (a minimalist's
window manager), and try to run it (it's on the SuSE disks if you just want to
install it).  It requires SHAPE and if it can't find it, exits.  There's
probably some app out there that might be a bit easier to test with, but the
source to wm2 is quite small; and a small change to .xinitrc and you'll have a
definitive test.

HTH,
Kevin