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From: mouse@lightning.mcrcim.mcgill.EDU (der Mouse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re:  (Probably) A Novice Question
Message-ID: <9104092339.AA05086@lightning.McRCIM.McGill.EDU>
Date: 9 Apr 91 23:39:39 GMT
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 76

> {mars:39} xmille
> X Error:  BadName
>   Request Major code 45 ()
>   Request Minor code 0
>   ResourceID 0xf00001
>   Error Serial #9
>   Current Serial #10
> {mars:40} 

> What does this mean and/or where do I look up what this means?

First, unless you are debugging Xlib, ignore the serial numbers.  They
have meaning only when compared to other serial numbers on that
connection.  (If you *are* debugging Xlib, you shouldn't need to pay
any attention to this message. :-)

Next, unless the request is an extension request (which it almost
invariably is not), the minor code will be 0 and can be ignored.

That leaves the error itself (BadName), the major code (45), and the
"ResourceID" (0xf00001), which often is not really a resource ID,
though in this case it appears to be.

If your Xlib installation fully set up, there would be a name between
the parens after the major code, telling you which request it is that's
failing.  Since it's not so, you have to look it up yourself.  Go to
the X include directory (probably something like /usr/include/X11 or
/usr/local/X11/include) and look for a file called Xproto.h.  Among
other things, this contains a number of definitions like these:

#define X_GetInputFocus                43
#define X_QueryKeymap                  44
#define X_OpenFont                     45
#define X_CloseFont                    46
#define X_QueryFont                    47
#define X_QueryTextExtents             48
#define X_ListFonts                    49
#define X_ListFontsWithInfo    	       50
#define X_SetFontPath                  51

Find the one in question.  In this case the failing request is an
OpenFont request.  (If the major number isn't listed, it is an
extension request, and things get more complicated.)

Then you need to look at the protocol document (on the R4 tape in
mit/doc/Protocol/, or a plain-text version by ftp from 132.206.1.1 in
X/Protocol.doc) and see what it has to say about the error.  In this
case, a Name error indicates

Name              A font or color of the specified name does not exist.

So, I would infer that xmille is trying to open a font, but the
specified name doesn't match anything the server knows about.

In some cases, the protocol document's description of the error will
not help.  For example, the Match request is described as

Match             An InputOnly window is used as a DRAWABLE.

                  In a graphics request, the GCONTEXT argument does not
                  have the same root and depth as the destination
                  DRAWABLE argument.

                  Some argument (or pair of arguments) has the correct
                  type and range, but it fails to match in some other
                  way required by the request.

That third description is a bit of a catch-all.  In cases like that,
you should look at the description of the request and see what it has
to say.  Catch-all errors like Match are generally mentioned in the
descriptions of the requests that can generate them.

					der Mouse

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