font issues with remote CDE on HP-UX 11.0

[Dieter S. Vener]

Hi All,

I have the following problem. I cannot get the CDE login screen to display when I attempt to get a remote X session to my server from a Solaris box. I can debug the session by logging in at the console on the server I am trying to connect to. When I try to connect remotelt, the HP-UX 11.0 server does start a "dtlogin" process for the remote session, but it never displays the CDE login screen. I have checked the /var/dt/Xerrors file on the HP-UX 11.0 server. This has to be a font issue. I have tried everything else. The following errors get printed in my "/var/dt/Xerrors" over and over when I try to connect to the server:

Warning: Cannot convert string "-dt-interface user-medium-r-normal-l* to type FontSet
Warning: Unable to load any (<-KEY WORD) usable fontset

When I say over and over, I mean that it would write this and some other font warnings to the file until it ran out of room on the /var partition.

On these two font warnings...I cannot find the "-dt-interface" or "-dt-application" fonts in any of my "fonts.dir" files that are in use by xfs in the "/etc/X11/fs/config" file. As a matter of fact, I did a "find / -name fonts.dir -print" and looked in every single one and could not find these "dt" fonts.

Before you ask, I am running dtlogin, xfs, and this is not a network issue. I can telnet to the sever and ssh to the server. I know that I can export my DISPLAY and use both of these, but my user community prefers a CDE desktop.
The last thing to note is that I am using the HP-UX 11.0 server that I am connecting to as the font server for the CDE session from the Solaris box.

%./Xnest -query hpux11server -fp tcp/hpux11server:7100

How the heck does the HPUX 11.0 server not have the fonts it needs to display a remote CDE session for itself! I am not using the Solaris /usr/openwin/bin/fonts. Just to add, I have tried using just about every other server in my environment (about 30 servers) as a font server and none of them appear to have the "-dt-interface" and "-dt-application" fonts that I need. No matter what font server I use, the warnings that show up in /var/dt/Xerrors are the same.

Does HP-UX 11.0 require a different set of fonts for remote CDE logins than what it requires when you login to CDE from the console?

If possible, where can I download the "-dt-interface" and "-dt-application" fonts that I need to be able to display CDE remotely?

I know that this is not a network problem because I can connect to this server remotely using a NCD (NCD brand thin-client). The NCD uses fonts from a font server and it also has some built in fonts. I know this because when I login to the HP-UX 11.0 server using the NCD and type xset, I get the following in the catalogue path:

built-ins,tcp/138.109.216.22:7100

The key here is "built-ins". Since I do not have a firmware reader for my NCD, I can not see what additional fonts it is using. In my opinion, I should not need any more fonts than what is on the actual server. It seems pretty ridiculous that the HP-UX 11.0 server does not have the fonts it needs to display a remote CDE session. Is there a bug with dtlogin on HP-UX 11.0 and HP-UX 11i? We have (5) HP-UX 11.0/11i servers. I have only setup 1 of them, but of the five, we cannot connect to any of them via CDE. I can get a CDE session to any other version of UNIX from this Solaris server even HP-UX 9.05! When I say any other, I am talking about 16 different versions of UNIX/Linux.

Please help. As you can see this is driving me absolutely crazy. I need to get these new Sun Ray terminals we are using to be able to connect to HP-UX 11.0 and 11i.

[Dieter S. Vener]

Just in case this triggers anyone's thinking. I was finally able to get the login screen to show by taking out all references to "-dt-interface..." in my /etc/dt/config/C/Xresources file. Now I can login, but the desktop will not display.

What other files do I need to change to see the desktop?

[AwadheshPandey]

go to this thread:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=966279

Awadhesh

[Alex Glennie]

A thought ....The font server needs to be configured to include the CDE
fonts in its catalog

EDIT: /etc/X11/fs/config

Append ",/usr/dt/config/xfonts/C" to the end of the
"catalogue = ..." line

restart xfs keep fingers crossed

[Dieter S. Vener]

Just in case this triggers anyone's thinking. I was finally able to get the login screen to show by taking out all references to "-dt-interface..." in my /etc/dt/config/C/Xresources file. Now I can login, but the desktop will not display anything except for the help screen.

What other files do I need to change to see the desktop?

[Dieter S. Vener]

Hi Awadhesh,

Seems like your solution should have worked, but it did not. I did set up the server I am trying to login to as a font server. I then tried using it as the font server when I connected from Xnest.

On My HP-UX 11.0 server (chpd360)
%vi /etc/rc.config.d/xfs
Changed argument to 1
:wq!
%/sbin/init.d/xfs start
%ps -ef | grep xfs
root 4324 1234 15:44:05 ? /usr/bin/X11/xfs -config /etc/X11/fs/config -port 7000 -daemon


On My Solaris 10 server
%cd /usr/openwin/bin/
%./Xnest -query chpd360 -fp tcp/chpd360:7000/all


Fatal server error:
could not open default font "fixed"


Everyone else,

Btw, commenting out the "-dt-" from /etc/dt/config/C/Xresources worked for HP-UX 11.11. I am now able to login to CDE for that server.

I am still stuck on HP-UX 11.0.

[Dieter S. Vener]

Just to clarify the lines that I commented out of the /etc/dt/config/C/Xresources file:

All lines similar to this one:

DtLogin*labelFont: -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-s ******

changed to:

!! DtLogin*labelFont: -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-s ******

I sure hope this helps anyone having difficulty with Solaris 8/9/10 connecting to HP-UX 11.11.

Before the change my /var/dt/Xerrors log also contained XmRendition errors for those of you looking for a solution to that.

[Ermin Borovac · Accepted solution]

Please try running fslsfonts to check that your HP-UX server has all required fonts. fslsfonts is located in /usr/contrib/bin/X11 on HP-UX 11.11 systems.

$ /usr/contrib/bin/X11/fslsfonts -server your_hpux_server:7000

Check if CDE fonts and fixed font appear in the output. If not, double check font server config file (/etc/X11/fs/config) on your HP-UX server.

Here is an example.

$ fslsfonts -server :7000 -fn fixed
fixed fixed fixed

$ fslsfonts -server :7000 -fn '-dt*' | head
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-10-100-75-75-p-60-hp-roman8
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-10-100-75-75-p-60-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-10-100-75-75-p-60-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-11-80-100-100-p-60-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-11-80-100-100-p-60-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-12-120-75-75-p-69-hp-roman8
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-12-120-75-75-p-69-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-12-120-75-75-p-69-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-14-100-100-100-p-82-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-14-100-100-100-p-82-iso8859-1

[Dieter S. Vener]

Hi Ermin,

Here is the output of my commands:

$ fslsfonts -server chpr8400:7000 -fn fixed
fixed fixed fixed

$ fslsfonts -server chpr8400:7000 -fn '-dt*' | head
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-10-100-75-75-p-60-hp-roman8
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-10-100-75-75-p-60-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-10-100-75-75-p-60-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-11-80-100-100-p-60-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-11-80-100-100-p-60-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-12-120-75-75-p-69-hp-roman8
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-12-120-75-75-p-69-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-12-120-75-75-p-69-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-14-100-100-100-p-82-iso8859-1
-dt-application-bold-i-normal-sans-14-100-100-100-p-82-iso8859-1



Background:

chpd360 - is a D-series HP-UX 11.0 server
chpr8400 - is a RP8400 HP-UX 11.11 server

Here is the command that I am running:

%./Xnest -query chpd360 -fp tcp/chpr8400:7000

Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'

[Ermin Borovac]

Ok it looks like fonts are there but something else is missing.

I've noticed that when running Xnest on your Solaris system, you didn't specify separate display number for nested server.

E.g. to run Xnest on display number :1

$ Xnest -query ... -fp ... :1

Xnest requires real X server to be running (that's true in your case, right?). So you must have real X server running on your Solaris system prior to starting Xnest.

Since real X server is usually running on DISPLAY :0, Xnest won't be able to start as real X server is already listening on the port (port 6000 for DISPLAY :0).

That's why you should specify different display number for Xnest (DISPLAY :1 will make it listen on port 6001 -- make sure this port is not used by anything else).

[Dieter S. Vener]

Hi Ermin,

Yes, I am using the ":" display argument. I am glad that someone else has actually used this command before:)

%./Xnest -query chpd360 -fp tcp/chpr8400:7000 :1352

I am using random available numbers for the display.

I have seen two different behaviors from the remote CDE session:

Scenario 1: When using chpr8400 (HP-UX 11.11) as the font server:

%./Xnest -query chpd360 -fp tcp/chpr8400:7000 :1415

The Xnest window comes up with the CDE login screen for CHPD360. Right after I login, the session resets and it takes me back to the login screen. There is nothing in my Xaccess or other X configuration files that would cause this behavior.

Scenario 2: When using the Sun server (Solaris 10) as the font server:

%./Xnest -query chpd360 -fp tcp/csunr1:7100 :3523

The Xnest window comes up with the CDE login screen for CHPD360. When I login, I don't get kicked out, but I don't get anything on the screen except for the welcome window with some really weird buttons on it. No desktop, no control bar, absolutely nothing else except the welcome window.

[Dieter S. Vener]

Alright a little more progress:

Using the Solaris Server as a font server, I was able to get in (well...kinda). This time I went ahead and setup my xstartup file to launch a "hpterm" since all dtlogin stuff does not seem to be working.

On the HP-UX 11.0 server from a telnet session:

%vi /etc/dt/config/Xstartup
shift+g
exec /usr/dt/bin/hpterm &
:wq!
%/usr/dt/bin/dtconfig -reset

On the Solaris Box:

%./Xnest -query chpd360 -fp tcp/csunr1:7100 :456

I logged in and my hpterm popped up in the black screen. No other dt stuff came up. I looked at my processes and noticed that in particular the dtwm (window manager)had not started. I tried starting it manually from my hpterm:

%/usr/dt/bin/dtwm

The hourglass icon came up briefly and then stopped. Nothing happened. I then tried to launch a dtterm:

%/usr/dt/bin/dtterm

tons of font errors
XmRendition...


I went ahead and cleared all the fonts that were set and set the path to my dt fonts:

%xset -fp ...
%xset +fp /usr/dt/config/xfonts/C/
xset: bad font path element (#44), possible causes are:
Directory does not exit or has wrong permissions
Directory missing fonts.dir
Incorrect font server address or syntax

Looked in the directory. All the fonts and fonts.dir and fonts.alias do exist.

I then tried using another server as my font server

%xset +fp tcp/chpr8400:7000
%/usr/dt/bin/dtterm
X Error of failed request: BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
Major opcode of failed request: 45 (X_OpenFont)
Serial Number of failed request: 62
Current Serial Number in output stream: 63

hmmmmm....

Looks like my dt fonts are screwed up. Kind of strange considering this is a what I'd consider a factory default installation of HP-UX 11.0.

Anyone know of any patches that patch the fonts in /usr/dt/config/xfonts/C/? Mine appear to be messed up. I am at an older patch level because I am baselined against another environment.

[Ermin Borovac]

In scenario 1 where you use 11.11 box as a font server, you said you could log in but system kicked you out immediately. I assume that you have verified you can login to 11.00 system via CDE when NOT using Xnest.

Here are some random thoughts on things to check. If you search these forums you can find more comprehensive checklists on CDE login troubleshooting.

Are there any errors in $HOME/.dt/startlog and $HOME/.dt/errorlog on 11.00 system you are logging into? What about /var/dt/Xerrors?

Have you tried logging into root account on 11.00 system via CDE (using Xnest)?

Can you login using Failsafe session (Options -> Session -> Failsafe session)?

Try running /usr/contrib/bin/X11/dr_dt on 11.00 system and check for any errors?

Check DNS and verify that all servers can resolve each other by both name and IP. If nslookup of IP address fails to resolve to a name, CDE will not function properly.

Check /var/adm/inetd.sec on 11.00 system for ToolTalk service entries.

[Dieter S. Vener]

Hi,

No, I cannot do a failsafe login.

Contents of .dt/errorlog:

*** INFORMATION(0): dtwm: PID 14223: Mon Oct 24 11:40:15 2005

Workspace Manager: failed to load font: @^CM->x

Contents of .dt/startlog (errors only)

/usr/dt/bin/dthello: display csunr1.x.x.x.x.:0.0 doesn't know font -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-l*-*- etc...
X Error of failed request: BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
Major opcode of failed request: 45 (X_OpenFont)
Serial Number of failed request: 21
Current serial number in output stream: 22

[Ermin Borovac]

Ok, I've done some testing on Solaris 9 server connecting to HP-UX 11.11 system using Xnest.

Firstly, I had to run Xnest with -pn option otherwise I would get the following error.

Fatal server error:
Failed to establish all listening sockets

$ /usr/openwin/bin/Xnest -pn -fp tcp/hpux_box:7000 -query hpux_box :1

The above didn't work.

However, after adding HP-UX font server to font path of the local X server it worked ok.

$ xset +fp tcp/hpux_box:7000

So before running Xnest, run xset to add font server to the font path of your local X server (DISPLAY :0).

There are some notes in Xnest man page about real X server needing to have same set of fonts as nested server.

"Before a font can
be successfully opened by the nested server it has to exist in local
and remote font paths.

[Dieter S. Vener]

Thank you so much Ermin! The key to your answer was:

"Before a font can
be successfully opened by the nested server it has to exist in local
and remote font paths."

Somehow I missed that.

That makes all the difference. I will add my two cents and say to be careful copying fonts around and making a very long catalogue path or adding all the font paths with xset. I tried copying all the hpfonts to my solaris machine and then added all of them to my fontpath. While this worked for connecting to all my HP-UX servers, the servers were only able to display fixed fonts. If you have ever tried to use fixed fonts in a terminal window you will see that it is very hard to read. The best way to connect to another flavor of UNIX using Xnest is to (1) clear your font path completely, then (2) set the server you are connecting to as the font server, and (3) when connecting to the server using Xnest, use the "-fp" option with the same information that you set in (2).


I will explain the details what I did to get Xnest working perfectly.

chpk580 - HP-UX 10.20 server
csunr1 - Solaris 10 Sun Ray server

(1) Log into Solaris 10 server
(2) Open a terminal window and echo the fontpath
# xset q
(3) Clear the fontpath down to one entry. You cannot clear your fontpath completely.
# xset -fp
(4) Set the server you are connecting to as the font server in the xset path
# xset +fp tcp/chpt520:7000
(5) Clear the last fontpath entry that you did not clear in step 3
(6) Launch Xnest command using "-fp" option
# Xnest -query chpt520 -fp tcp/chpt520:7000

IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT TRY TO DO STEP 4 BEFORE STEP 3. IT WILL HANG YOUR SESSION BECAUSE IT CAUSES CONFLICT BETWEEN FONTS ON THE SOLARIS 10 SERVER. I think there are some duplicate fonts between HP-UX and Solaris that are incompatible.

NOTE2: As Ermin noted, the path to the fonts must be set using the xset command on the local server first before the "-fp" option is used. The "-fp" option does not work unless the fonts exist on the local machine. The word exist here means in the path displayed by "xset q". If "xset q" does not have the font that you are trying to use, it will not use it. I.E If you want to use another font server with the "-fp" option to Xnest, you must set the server itself to use this font server in your current session using xset first.