about xdiff
 

Recently I re-install Fedora linux system in my home computer, it seems
>>> to
>>> install successfully. But, when I access to my office computer---
>>> andrew computer account(unix platform),xdiff works in andrew
computer.
>>> when I want to use xdiff through acessing to andrew by my home
>>> computer to compare the difference of two
>>> files,
>>> it seems a problem there:
>>>
>>> The error message is like follows:
>>>
>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Warning: Cannot convert string
>>>> "-*-helvetica-bold-o-normal-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1" to type
>>>> FontStruct
>>>> Warning: Cannot convert string
>>>> "-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1" to type
>>>> FontStruct
>>>> Warning: Cannot convert string "SGI_DYNAMIC PlainLabelFont" to type
>>>> FontStruct
>>>> Warning: Cannot convert string "SGI_DYNAMIC ObliqueLabelFont" to
type FontStruct
>>>> Warning: Cannot convert string
>>>> "-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1" to type
>>>> FontStruct
>>>> Warning: Cannot convert string
>>>> "-*-screen-medium-r-normal--15-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1" to type FontStruct
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> And the windows of xdiff still pop up there but nothing appears
there.
>>>> Why?
>>>> Hope to get help from you!
phil

Hi, looks like a font issue. Do you have a /etc/xorg.conf file? and if so, do you specify the fonts in there? And do you have an $HOME/.xpdfrc file and what does it contain?

about $HOME/.xpdfrc
 

Hello my friend:
Thanks at first!
(1)What do you mean $HOME/.xpdfrc ?
My account looks like this: when I open the terminal, it is: [naishi@naishi~]$
when I type in pwd, it shows: /home/naishi
And based your meaning, could you tell me what the $HOME/.xpdfrc is? Or how can I go to the $HOME/.xpdfrc step by step? I am really confused about this point!
Based on my understanding, / is my root; /home/naishi is my current working subdirectory, is this right?
(2)can you tell me when I install a compiler(eg. ifort) whether I has to install this software in my root(ie. under /) or just need to create a subdirectory /home/naishi/intel_compiler and then install the ifort in this sub-directory? Please tell the step by step! Thank you indeed!
Thank you indeed!

Well, HOME is an environment variable containing the path to your home directory. You may see what it contains with echo(1) in a terminal. Now, issue, at the terminal and copy then paste the results in this thread. Also, issue and show me what you get.

As for your second question, you should really open another thread. You should also see whether the intel compiler is not available for your distribution. You could install it with your package manager.
But if you are the only user or the only person needing the compiler, you can install it in /home/naishi/intel_compiler and then, you either invoke it with ~/intel_compiler/ifort or you add $HOME/intel_compiler to the PATH variable, or you create an alias for it

dear synss:
thank you very much! you are an expert indeed!
(1)i attach the results I did according to the commands i input:
[naishi@naishi ~]$ echo $HOME
/home/naishi
[naishi@naishi ~]$ cat $HOME/.xpdfrc
cat: /home/naishi/.xpdfrc: no this file or directory
[naishi@naishi ~]$ ls /etc/xorg.conf
ls: unable to visit /etc/xorg.conf :no this file or directory
[naishi@naishi ~]$ grep -i font /etc/xorg.conf
grep: /etc/xorg.conf: no this file or directory
(2)so, based on the info above, where can I get all the files (xorg.conf and ./xpdfrc). Addtionally, do I need to copy the necessary other files, how to get them?
(3)
ifort is the same as intel Fortran compiler, why need to create
/home/naishi/intel_compiler/ifort instead only of /home/naishi/intel_compiler; one more, does that mean if i install sth on the $PATH, then it needs root password or you are unable to do it? and everything installed in the $PATH can be shared by everyone?
thank you indeed! my friend!
i am looking forward to hearing from you soon!
naishi

Hi,

it is good that you have neither $HOME/.xpdfrc and /etc/xorg.conf, I was thinking they were cause of your problem. I think that the problem you have is that you are missing the helvetica font. Another thing is that xpdf is very strict with the fonts it requires and this is a bug, IMHO, but nothing you can do about. Could you tell me again if you have a file called /etc/xpdfrc and what it contains? And I think that if you run something like
etc., I mean by starting every line with LANG=C you should have the error messages in English, and you would not need to translate them. By the way, may I ask where you are from? I am just being curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to.

Also, xpdf is OK but extremely basic, so if you have issue with it, you may want to try another one, maybe that would be the simplest fix for your problem. There is a bunch of Linux-only, free, pdf viewers, like kpdf (or okular if you use KDE 4), evince, gv, etc. You can also try Adobe Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader, they both have Windows equivalents.

I personally use Acrobat and Evince.

mmm… This is something you should know. I do not want to sound RTFM, but at this point, you should really find a book or some internet pages about the basics of a Unix-like system. What do PATH and permissions mean, where to install softwares, and so on, is beyond a forum like this one. Moreover, google will most likely return 1000s of pages explaining you all that.

how to solve this problem step by step
 

Hi Synss,
Thank you very much!
I am in Quebec of Canada here, and I am doing numerical model simulation on UNIX system.And now I have to transfer to the Fedora 7 or 10 linux system on a Duo 2 core intel desk computer to run a big numerical model to do some simulation job there. So nice to know you too! Could you also tell me where you are and the status of you if you feel convenient tell, or no need to do it, okay, my friend!
Based on your good advice,
(1)I type in LANG=C ls /etc/xpdfrc in the command line, then message shows
ls: cannot access /etc/xpdfrc: No such file or directory

(2)could you be kind to tell me how to fix this problem step by step?
Thank you indeed! And learn from you!

Québec ? Je peux lire les messages d'erreur en français…

Anyway, there should be an xpdfrc file in /etc please look for it and show me its contents. Try and if it does not work, ; one or the other will tell you where this file is and you can tell me what it contains with .

I cannot really see what the problem with the other fonts is, but I guess that xpdf does not understand
because it should readDid you try another pdf-reader?

Hi my friend,
Thanks again! You seem to know a lot about French. Where do you come from, my friend, I am also quite curious.
At first, I check the other computer on which xdiff works well there, in the /etc subdirectory, there are the followings(I copied everything here):
--------------------------------------------
CMWdevice.conf gettydefs netware.ini savecore
TIMEZONE group networks sendmail.cf
aliases growfs nsswitch.conf sendmail.cf.Old
aliases.db grpck nvram sendmail.cf.Orig
auto_master halt opasswd sendmail.fc
autoconfig havenfs openldap sendmail.hf
autologin hosts openssh sendmail.mc
autologin_svp hosts.allow opt sendmail.mc.Orig
bcheckrc hosts.deny oshadow sendmail.pid
bootparams hosts.equiv passwd services
bootptab hosts.old passwd.N services.O
brc hosts.ori passwd.O setmnt
brutab inetd.conf passwd.sgi shadow
capability inetd.conf.N pcp.conf shells
chkconfig inetd.conf.O pcp.env showmount
chroot inetd.conf.sec pmcd.conf shutdown
clri init prfdc single
compiler.defaults init.d prfld ssh
config inittab prfpr stdcshrc
cpr_proto install prfsnap stdlogin
cron ioconfig.conf prfstat stdprofile
cron.d ioctl.syscon printcap sulogin
cshrc irix.cap profile swap
datemsk killall project sys_id
default labelit projid sysevent.config
device.tab link protocols sysinfo
devnm lnsyscon prtvtoc syslog.conf
dmedia_tools.cap magic pwck telinit
dump mail qpage.cf tt
dvhtool mipsabiversion rc0 ttytype
esphttpd.conf mkboottape rc0.d uadmin
ethers mkfile rc2 umount
exports mkfs rc2.d umountfs
failover.conf mknod rc3 uncompvm
fam.conf mnthwgfs rc3.d unlink
fsck mntproc rdump utmp
fscklogs motd reboot utmpx
fsstat mount renice uucp
fstab mountall resolv.conf wall
fstyp mtab restore whodo
fstyp.d multi rfind.aliases wtmp
ftimer ncheck rmt wtmpx
ftpusers net rmtab xfsdump
fuser netconfig rpc xfsrestore
getty netgroup rrestore xtab

-------------------------------------------
So, there are also no .xpdfrc file there. I just wonder which one here take an effect as the same as the .xpdfrc does. Please help clarify this point.

However, in my this computer from which WHEN I access to the computer above the xdiff didn't work. From this one, I also copy all the things under /etc as follows:
------------------------------------------------------
a2ps htdig prelink.conf.d
a2ps.cfg html2psrc printcap
a2ps-site.cfg httpd profile
acpi idmapd.conf profile.d
adjtime init.d protocols
akonadi initlog.conf pulse
aliases inittab purple
aliases.db inputrc quotagrpadmins
alsa iproute2 quotatab
alternatives issue rc
anacrontab issue.net rc0.d
anthy-conf java rc1.d
asound.conf jvm rc2.d
asound.state jvm-commmon rc3.d
at.deny jwhois.conf rc4.d
audisp kde rc5.d
audit kde4 rc6.d
avahi kde4rc rc.d
bash_completion.d kderc rc.local
bashrc kernel rc.sysinit
blkid kerneloops.conf reader.conf
bluetooth krb5.conf reader.conf.d
bonobo-activation ksysguarddrc redhat-lsb
chkconfig.d ldap.conf redhat-release
ConsoleKit ld.so.cache resolv.conf
cron.d ld.so.conf rmt
cron.daily ld.so.conf.d rpc
cron.deny lftp.conf rpm
cron.hourly libaudit.conf rsyslog.conf
cron.monthly libpaper.d rwtab
crontab libuser.conf rwtab.d
cron.weekly localtime samba
csh.cshrc login.defs sane.d
csh.login logrotate.conf sasl2
cups logrotate.d scim
dbus-1 logwatch scsi_id.config
default lsb-release.d securetty
depmod.d ltrace.conf security
dhcp6c.conf lvm selinux
DIR_COLORS mail sensors3.conf
DIR_COLORS.256color mailcap services
DIR_COLORS.xterm mail.rc sestatus.conf
dirmngr makedev.d setroubleshoot
dnsmasq.conf man.config setuptool.d
dnsmasq.d maven sgml
dumpdates mime.types shadow
enscript.cfg mke2fs.conf shadow-
environment modprobe.d shells
esd.conf mono skel
ethers motd slrn.rc
event.d mtab smartd.conf
exports multipath.conf smolt
favicon.png Muttrc smrsh
fb.modes Muttrc.local snmp
fedora-release my.cnf sos.conf
festival netconfig sound
filesystems netplug squid
fonts netplug.d ssh
foomatic NetworkManager statetab
fstab networks statetab.d
gconf nscd.conf stunnel
gcrypt nsswitch.conf subversion
gdm ntp sudoers
ggz.modules ntp.conf sysconfig
ghostscript obex-data-server sysctl.conf
gimp openldap system-release
gnokiirc opt system-release-cpe
gnome-vfs-2.0 PackageKit systemsettingsrc
gnome-vfs-mime-magic pam.d terminfo
gnupg pam_pkcs11 texmf
gpm-root.conf pam_smb.conf Trolltech.conf
gpm-syn.conf pango udev
gpm-twiddler.conf papersize updatedb.conf
gre.d passwd urlview.conf
group passwd- vimrc
group- pcmcia virc
grub.conf php.d warnquota.conf
gshadow php.ini webalizer.conf
gshadow- pinforc wgetrc
gssapi_mech.conf pki wpa_supplicant
gtk-2.0 pm X11
hal pm-utils-hd-apm-restore.conf xdg
host.conf PolicyKit xinetd.d
hosts popt.d xml
hosts.allow portreserve yp.conf
hosts.deny ppp yum
hotplug.d prelink.cache yum.conf
hp prelink.conf yum.repos.d
------------------------------------------------------------------
So, there are also no .xpdfrc here. So, why?
And how to fix this problem?

Hope to get good advice from you asap!
Thank you again!

And did you update your system, recently? When? Maybe the problem has been resolved, already.

You could try to set up an xpdfrc file man(5) xpdfrc, by the end, there is a sample file, take what you need from it. I do not know what fonts you have installed on your system and where they are so I cannot really help. See if helvetica is missing.

May as well look at: http://linux.die.net/man/5/xpdfrc

The system configuration file will not be a dot-file (xpdfrc, not .xpdfrc) and if it were a dot-file, it would not show with a simple ls, please find some introductory book on Linux, be it online or at your local library.

I am French, although I leave in Germany.