starting X server

[barmar@Think.COM (Barry Margolin)]

    Date: Tue, 2 Oct 90 11:34:12 EDT
    From: mdr@ctt.bellcore.com (Mike Rychener)

    I've tried getting my X server to do what it's supposed to do,
    and have failed.  Does anyone have any particular hints on
    what to do, or experiences of similar problems?  When a SUN X
    client tried to connect, that was refused.  When a Symbolics
    tried it, I got blown into the debugger (see below).  Maybe
    it's something trivial that needs to be set up?

    In Symbolics XL400 Genera 8.0, ...  Experimental X Server 409.0,
    X Remote Screen 418.1, X Documentation 403.0, ...


    Error: The symbol NIL has an invalid function definition
    While in the function SI:INVALID-FUNCTION-TYPE  (:INTERNAL C-SYS:EXECUTE 0 #:SPLIT24199)  C-SYS:EXECUTE

    The condition signalled was SYS:INVALID-FUNCTION

    SI:INVALID-FUNCTION-TYPE0  (P.C. = 33)
       Arg 0 (FUNCTION): NIL
       Rest Arg: (:NEW-PATHNAME :NAME :WILD :TYPE :WILD :VERSION :NEWEST)
       Local 8 (ZL:ARGS): (:NEW-PATHNAME :NAME :WILD :TYPE :WILD :VERSION :NEWEST)

This happens if (ASSOC NIL FS:*DEFAULT-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS*) is (NIL).
The C runtime initialization code expects the CDR of this to be the
default default pathname.  It should be using a functional interface to
pathname default merging, as the functions know how to handle this
situation.  Send a bug report to Symbolics.

A workaround should be to do (fs:set-default-pathname "some path")
before doing "Start X Server".

By the way, this error shouldn't happen at the time a client tries to
connect, but when you do the "Start X Server".  The connection is only
refused when the server isn't running.  I suspect that you tried the Sun
client before it had finished initializing the window, and the Lispm
client precisely when the window had finished initlizing and it was
trying to initialize the software; at the point where it died, the
server has initialized enough that connections are accepted, but it
doesn't do anything with them.

                                                barmar