XWin freezes during startup in multi-window but not single-window mode on W7

Brian Schmult bcs@sgeo.com
Tue Jan 2 19:19:00 GMT 2018


My Cygwin/XWin server (1.19.6-1) is freezing somewhere in the startup
process when running in multi-window mode (i.e., startxwin) but
works fine when run in single-window mode (i.e., startx).  Multi-window
mode had been working on my previous stale Cygwin system (updated
3 Jan 2017) and broke when I did a complete update on 31 Dec 2017.
My Windows 7 Pro OS is kept up to date via Windows Update.

Correct operation in single-window mode is demonstrated by building
a simple ~/.xinitrc (based on the ~/.startxwinrc):
	xhost +boiler
	xhost +fox
	xhost +rpi
	xterm -geometry 100x40+10+10 -font 
-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-120-100-100-c-90-iso8859-1 &
	xclock -geometry -10+10 &
	twm
This was started using "startx" and produced the xwin.0.log file attached
as "good.log".  Proper operation was verified by playing with the X clients
and then clicking the "X" window box to exit the server.

Multi-window mode is attempted with "startxwin" and this ~/.startxwinrc file:
	xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources
	xterm -font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-120-100-100-c-90-iso8859-1 &
	xhost +boiler
	xhost +fox
	xhost +rpi
	exec sleep infinity
This produced the attached "bad.log" file.  This test was repeated, with
identical results, with "startxwin -- -logverbose 10", producing the attached
"bad-verbose.log" file.

In all cases the test was run by executing the start program in a bash shell
running as a non-administrator ID, and not through the start menu.

At this point of the multi-window hang, the processes xinit and XWin both show
up in the task manager with 0% CPU, and will sit like this 
indefinitely.  No xterm
shows up on the screen or in the task manager process list.  Attempting to run
an additional xterm in a different shell hangs, and can be killed with CRTL-C.

The hung server cannot be killed with CRTL-C, but is killed with the 
task manager.
At this point I get the following in the server shell but not in the log file:
	xinit: giving up
	xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
	xinit: server error
I can repeat these tests and multi-window continues to hang while single-window
continues to work.  In single-window mode I can also create an xterm on a
remote system (log files not shown)  by including "-- -listen 
tcp".  (Converting this
to SSH is on the list.)

Searches (archive/FAQ/Google) have not proven fruitful.  I found 
solved problems
related to hardware issues, but correct single-window operation appears to rule
these out.  I saw the Zone Alarm firewall problem, but am not running 
that, and in
any case, I would think it would affect single and multi window modes 
identically.
The above comments from xinit ("giving up ...") are well known, but have been
associated with hardware problems or xwin apparently crashing during startup
(in 2015).  XWin is clearly hanging and not crashing; xinit does not 
complain until
after I kill xwin with task manager.

I have also gone through the documentation and man pages but still seem to be
missing something; any hints on how to get multi-window mode working will be
greatly appreciated.

Thank you for any assistance and best wishes for the new year.

Brian.
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