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From: msm@src.dec.com (Mark S. Manasse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: ICCCM and colormaps---simple question
Keywords: X11R4
Message-ID: <14404@jumbo.dec.com>
Date: 13 Feb 90 03:18:37 GMT
References: <1566@husc6.harvard.edu>
Sender: news@jumbo.dec.com
Reply-To: msm@src.dec.com (Mark S. Manasse)
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Regrettably, the ICCCM team was unable to find any way for clients to
reasonably make
colormaps work in the absence of a window manager, due to unsolvable
race conditions in
the protocol with regard to colormaps.  You could make some sort of
half-hearted attempt
to determine whether a window manager was running (say, by attempting to
select for
SubstructureRedirect on the root window, and then deselecting), but it
would be wrong.

As a client programmer, you should therefore assume that there will be a
window manager
running.  There may be transient states in which there isn't, but
colormap installation
shouldn't be a major concern at such times.

Mark