[GRASS5] usability tweak on OSX

[Glynn Clements]

Hamish wrote:

> > > -    eval exec -- xterm -e $env(GISBASE)/etc/grass-run.sh $cmd $args &
> > > +    eval exec -- xterm -geometry -50-40 -e $env(GISBASE)/etc/grass-run.sh $cmd $args &
> > 
> > We definitely shouldn't be hardcoding xterm placement inside d.m.
> 
> Why not? Will it break something or is it just bad practice to do so?

Bad practice. Specifying -geometry will override most of the
mechanisms by which the user can configure the placement.

> It's just hinting that it wants to be a little towards the center 
> of the screen from the bottom right corner, whatever that may be.
> My linux WM (sawfish) will ignore X -geometry if I've given explicit 
> instructions for a certain window name to go somewhere.

Other WMs may be the other way around, i.e. WM-based configurations
are used as a fallback if the application doesn't explicitly specify
placement.

> > then place GRASS xterms using X resources, i.e.
> > 
> > 	*xterm-grass.geometry: -50-40
> 
> No problem for me, but way too involved for avg Mac user. And avg Mac 
> user is the one using d.m and spawning windows all over the place, 
> not me. So why go to the trouble? Can't we just set good defaults & 
> let the advanced users override with their WM if they want to?

In general, per process settings (e.g. a -geometry switch) are
supposed to override any "global" settings (e.g. WM configuration
files).

While there may be WMs which have it backwards, we shouldn't be
assuming that is the case.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>