213 lines
8.6 KiB
HTML
213 lines
8.6 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.7">
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<TITLE>AfterStep FAQ: General usage, features and bugs</TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="AfterStep-FAQ-9.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="AfterStep-FAQ-7.html" REL=previous>
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<LINK HREF="AfterStep-FAQ.html#toc8" REL=contents>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<A HREF="AfterStep-FAQ-9.html"><IMG SRC="next.gif" ALT="Next"></A>
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<A HREF="AfterStep-FAQ-7.html"><IMG SRC="prev.gif" ALT="Previous"></A>
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<A HREF="AfterStep-FAQ.html#toc8"><IMG SRC="toc.gif" ALT="Contents"></A>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s8">8. General usage, features and bugs</A></H2>
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<P>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.1">8.1 Why does XFree86 crash as I'm starting?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>There are many reasons why this might happen, but one bug in particular has
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surfaced which might be important. Apparently, XFree86 has some bugs in the
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shaped windows handling code. The effect of these bugs is that, if you are
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using an as-app, and another window overlaps that as-app's window while the
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app is starting, X will crash. This usually happens at startup time in
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AfterStep, during the time when Wharf is starting.
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<P>The best way to avoid this, it seems, is to add a "Wait" line in the
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autoexec file for every Wharf, like this:
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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Module "I" Wharf
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Wait "I" Wharf
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>Also, avoid putting a menu in the upper left corner when starting up.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.2">8.2 Why does AfterStep get slower and slower until I restart it?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>Apparently there was a bug in versions up to 1.0pre3 (probably a
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memory leak) that caused this behaviour. We know that setting your
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TextureMaxColors to something small, like `16 16 16 16' or `32 32 32
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32', will stop this problem. It also seems to happen only with XFree86
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in 32-bpp mode (or 16? Please give me confirmation), and if you're in
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8-bpp or a different X server, it doesn't seem to cause a problem.
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<P>This problem was solved in 1.0pre4, as far as we know. Upgrade!
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<P>Unfortunately, some new memory leaks appeared during the 1.4.x series. The
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most serious of these appear to have been fixed in the 1.5 series.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.3">8.3 Click-to-focus dies</A>
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</H2>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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Sometimes, after I've been running AfterStep for a while in click-to-focus
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mode, I can't shift the focus from one window to another by clicking. I have
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to iconify and deiconify the window to shift focus, or pick it from the popup
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list. Why?
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>This is a strange bug, that is (sometimes at least) caused by having the
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NumLock key activated. It is present up to 1.0pre4, so check your NumLock key.
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<P>This problem is solved in 1.0pre5, so you should upgrade if you're still having
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this problem.
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<P>Some people have recently reported that this bug has re-surfaced. If the
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problem appears on your system, please send a message to the list to report
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it.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.4">8.4 What is this `Shade' thing?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>Shade is a window function that is often seen on the Macintosh system. In
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theory, it makes a window disappear except for the title bar. For example, an
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Xterm normally looks like this:
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<P>
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<PRE>
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|------------------------------|
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| Xterm |
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|------------------------------|
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|------------------------------|
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</PRE>
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<P>
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<P>When shade takes effect, the Xterm looks like this:
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<P>
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<PRE>
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|------------------------------|
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| Xterm |
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|------------------------------|
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</PRE>
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<P>This is nice for saving desktop space and for window management purposes. Some
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prefer it to iconifying the windows.
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<P>Up to 1.0pre3, Shade didn't work correctly, because it worked by resizing the
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window to a height of 0 pixels, which some applications didn't like.
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<P>In 1.0pre4 and later versions, shade works by making the application
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think that it is being iconified, so it works with all applications again.
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It has the problem, though, that shaded windows become `sticky' and appear
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in all the pages in the virtual desktop. Unlike sticky icons, this is not
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behaviour that can be changed. This is a bug.
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<P>The "sticky-shade" bug has been fixed in the 1.5 series.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.5">8.5 When I restart AfterStep, it kills X. What gives?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>This was a bug that occurred in AfterStep betas. If you experience this bug, you
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are running an old release of AfterStep. Upgrade to v1.0pre4 or later to fix
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this. This is, incidentally, something you should probably do anyway,
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considering the wealth of features you are missing.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.6">8.6 What is swallow-exec?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>It's a feature introduced in the distribution in 1.0pre4 (it previously existed
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as a separate patch) that allows you to associate an action to an entry in the
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Wharf corresponding to a swallowed application. So for example you can have
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asmail in the Wharf, and have it configured so that when you click on it, it
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warps to your email reading window. If your email reader is exmh, the required
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lines would be:
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<PRE>
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*Wharf "asmail" nil Swallow "asmail" asmail &
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*Wharf "asmail" nil Warp "-" exmh
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</PRE>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>Note how both lines have the same label `asmail', which tells Wharf that those
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two go together. You can use any AfterStep function instead of `Warp'. For
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example, if you want the xload icon to fire a top window when clicked, you can
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have something like this:
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<PRE>
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*Wharf "xload" nil Swallow "xload" xload -geometry 48x48-1-1 &
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*Wharf "xload" nil Exec "Top" xterm +sb -T Top -n Top -e top &
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</PRE>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>By the way, this feature is responsible for a strange bug. See the next
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question.
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<P>Also note that this feature does not appear always to work in later
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versions. Many asapps, however, will automatically start another program
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when clicked, if given the correct arguments. For instance, asmail allows
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you to specify the program to start when the asmail button is left-clicked;
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this is determined in the asmail configuration file. Similarly, asload
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accepts a command line option, "-exe", which allows you to specify a program
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to start upon a left-click.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.7">8.7 I upgraded to 1.0pre4 or later, and now the Wharf doesn't work. What</A>
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happens? </H2>
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<P>This is not a bug, it's a feature :-). No, really, this behaviour was introduced
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due to the introduction of the `Swallow-exec' capability in 1.0pre4. To fix it,
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do the following:
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<P>
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<OL>
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<LI> In your .steprc, locate the lines that start with
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<PRE>
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*Wharf "" ...
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</PRE>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</LI>
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<LI> This could also be nil, or any other label that is the same for all
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the Wharf entries. These repeated labels are the ones causing the trouble.
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You have to give each Wharf entry a unique label there, like `xload',
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`asmail', `Pager', etc.
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</LI>
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<LI> Restart and it should be fixed.</LI>
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</OL>
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<P>Of course, the better answer is to upgrade to 1.4.x or later, and re-configure
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your Wharf.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.8">8.8 Why doesn't my workspace save when I exit?</A>
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</H2>
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<P> In early 1.4.x versions, there was a file called .workspace_state which
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was automatically written when you exited. This saved your desktop when you
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exited, so that it looked the same way when you came back. This behaviour
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was enabled by default in those versions.
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<P>In version 1.4.5.55N6, this behaviour is disabled by default. You can
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change configure.h to restore this feature before compiling if you want to.
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<P>You can also manually create the .workspace_state in your
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~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/ directory. It is just a plain-text file
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which invokes the program you want to appear on start-up, including the
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geometry (with positioning) of the window. This file will be read at
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start-up if it exists, but it will only be re-written if you
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selected the relevant flag at compile time.
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<P>The .workspace_state behaviour is one of the options at compile time for
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version 1.5.x.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.9">8.9 My start menu no longer updates upon restarting. Why?</A>
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</H2>
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<P> You should select "Desktop/Update startmenu" (version 1.5) or
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"Quit/Update" (< 1.5) on your startmenu. That will fix your problem.
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<P>
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<HR>
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<A HREF="AfterStep-FAQ-9.html"><IMG SRC="next.gif" ALT="Next"></A>
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<A HREF="AfterStep-FAQ-7.html"><IMG SRC="prev.gif" ALT="Previous"></A>
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<A HREF="AfterStep-FAQ.html#toc8"><IMG SRC="toc.gif" ALT="Contents"></A>
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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