OpenVMS 8.4 and DecWindows

[Max_Jarvis]

After moving our software from an Integrity server rx2660 with OpenVMS 8.3-1H1 to a new rx2800 i2 with OpenVMS 8.4, I noticed that DECW$SERVER, DTLOGIN and DTGREET were active. I assume these are parts of DECwindows. I don't need DECwindows, so I looked in SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM for the command which starts DECwindows, with a view to removing it. I found this line:

$!$ DEFINE DECW$IGNORE_DECWINDOWS TRUE

plus an invitation to uncomment the line. I tried this, and it seems to work - no more DECW$SERVER, DTLOGIN or DTGREET after a reboot.

But.... the invitation to uncomment the line says "the DECwindows startup file should be run on all types of machines, even ones not using a DECwindows display. If you wish to defer DECwindows startup and manually invoke the startup file later, uncomment this line". Does anyone know why I'd need to run the DECwindows startup, if I don't have a DECwindows display? At first sight, there don't seem to hav been any errors caused by the lack of DECwindows, though I haven't tested exahaustively as yet.

[Craig A Berry]

You may instead want to use:

$ DEFINE/SYSTEM DECW$IGNORE_WORKSTATION "TRUE"

 in systartup_vms.com.  That will prevent DECWindows from looking for local hardware to display on, but it won't prevent DECWindows from loading nor will it preven the use of a remote X server if you choose.

I think the reason you want to load it even if you're not using it is that some utility or layered product images have been linked against DECWindows shareable images, and the use of DECW$IGNORE_DECWINDOWS prevents those shareable images from getting installed, which can lead to run-time failures of the images linked against them.  I'm pretty sure I saw this once with one of the DECset utilities, but the memory is fuzzy.