[Vm-dev] Pharo7 stock image shows a blank desktop in 64b (NixOS Linux)

[Jose San Leandro]

Hi,

I'm using the Nix package you mentioned, but in fact it's building the 
VM from scratch.
If you take a look at the "derivation" (Nix jargon), you can see that it 
builds the VM using the standard autotools, plus:

- The configure phase uses these modifiers: --without-npsqueak 
--with-vmversion=5.0
- The make phase phase uses these CFLAGS: -DPharoVM -DIMMUTABILITY=1 
-msse2 -D_GNU_SOURCE -DCOGMTVM=0 -g -O2 -DNDEBUG -DDEBUGVM=0 and 
LDFLAGS: -Wl,-z,now
- Uses the plugins.{ext,int} from cog.spur folder, verbatim.

The dependencies are the ones in the list at the beginning of the file, 
and the "libs" variables in the "installPhase".

However, I'll try that same package now that my "blank" desktop problem 
reproduces also in Pharo6 images. At first, I thought it was 
Pharo7-specific.
I'm using tag pharo7.0.0 [2] of github's opensmalltalk/opensmalltalk-vm. 
Could that be an issue? Should I use a different branch?

Thanks!

[1] 
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/development/pharo/vm/build-vm.nix
[2] https://github.com/OpenSmalltalk/opensmalltalk-vm/tree/pharo7.0.0

On 2019-02-23 13:04, Ben Coman wrote:
> I've really no clue,  but btw, are you building a VM completely from
> scratch
> or are you using this as a basis...
> https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/pkgs/development/pharo
> 
> What windowing system are you using versus the windowing system on a
> distribution where Pharo works?
> 
> cheers -ben
> 
> On Sat, 23 Feb 2019 at 16:12, Jose San Leandro <jose at sanleandro.me>
> wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Sorry, I wasn't aware my previous mail was sent as html.
>> I thought it was Pharo7 related, but it doesn't seem to depend on
>> the
>> version of the Pharo image. It happens with Pharo 6.1, Pharo 7, and
>> Pharo 8 (screenshots attached after I try to close the image).
>> I'm just looking for any hint about where to focus. I'll try to
>> follow
>> the path Morphic -> primitive -> vm.
>> No errors or warnings logged to stdout.
>> No fonts, no window decorations, no window contents.
>> It seems as if the VM wasn't aware of any issue, so I'd guess it has
>> to
>> do with the X11 display driver.
>> If I start the image with --xshm I get a black rectangle in the
>> middle.
>> 
>> Any hints about what could be causing Morphic UI elements not
>> rendering
>> as expected?
>> 
>> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>> 
>> On 2019-02-20 18:53, Jose San Leandro wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> I'm having difficulties running Pharo7 on a 64b VM compiled from
>>>> sources, in NixOS.
>>>> The VM gets built successfully, but when I open a Pharo7 image I
>>>> only
>>>> get the uppermost menu, and a blank desktop. If I try to quit, I
>> get
>>>> a
>>>> grey rectangle.
>>>> I've added all runtime dependencies I found missing when running
>> it
>>>> with
>>>> strace.
>>>> I saw it working once, but had to rebuild it to add a missing
>>>> dependency, and afterwards I've been trying with different gcc
>>>> versions
>>>> and couldn't make it work again.
>>>> Additionally, I recall that when it worked, it complaint about
>> not
>>>> being
>>>> able to find the stdout file descriptor.
>>>> 
>>>> Any ideas about where I should be looking at? I'm out of ideas.
>>>> 
>>>> Kind regards.