[GRASS-user] Novice Query: Grass63, Cygwin on Windows startup errors, Error setting region (Problem with g.region: child process exited abnormally)

[Katie Urey]

Glynn Clements wrote:
> Katie Urey wrote:
>
>   
>> A novice question follows.  (new to cygwin, new to GIS, ok with UNIX, 
>> not a programmer)
>>
>> Answers might be-
>> directions about which FAQ/archive etc to read
>>
>> I'm starting grass63 in an xterm on a Windows (XP professional)  box. 
>>
>> I'm attempting to use defaults, though I do have a spearfish60 directory 
>> installed.
>>
>> I'm running as user=Katie.
>>
>>  there seem to be 3-4 GRASS windows opened
>>     1 an output window- hidden by
>>     1 window with a pretty medieval looking map-- not an xterm??
>>     
>
> This:
>
> http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/browser/grass/trunk/gui/tcltk/gis.m/intro.gif
>
> is the splash screen. It should pop up for a few seconds then
> disappear, but if there is an error starting the GUI, it may fail to
> disappear.
>
>   
I agree, there must be an error starting the GUI.
>>     1 an error window
>>     1 the initial text window
>>
>>  >>>>>>>The Error window states:
>>  >>>>>>> 
>>
>> Do I need a Katie directory?  Do I need to open up perms on user1 
>> directories?
>>     
>
> I suggest using the text startup at first; type "grass63 -text", and
> you should get a curses-based screen in the xterm from which you
> started GRASS. If you don't even get that, "rm ~/.grass63" then try
> again.
>
> The database line should be the directory containing the GRASS
> directory (in Cygwin format; use e.g. /cygdrive/c/... if the directory
> isn't inside the Cygwin hierarchy). The location should be
> spearfish60. The mapset can be whatever you wish; it will be created
> if it doesn't already exist.
>
> Assuming that goes okay, and you can run GRASS commands ("g.region -p"
> and "g.list rast" are useful tests), you can try starting the GUI with
> "gis.m".
>
>   
Yes, the GUI is the problem. More notes:

Text commands give output that looks reasonable. For instance g.list 
rast shows:

----------------------------------------------
GRASS 6.3.0 (spearfish60):~ > g.list -f rast | head
----------------------------------------------
raster files available in mapset <PERMANENT>:
aspect aspect in degrees from east
bugsites Mountain Pine Beetle Damage
density Forest Density
elevation.10m elevation.dem DEM (7.5 minute)
elevation.dted DTED-1 elevation (rescaled)
erode.index erode.index

Here are processes owned by user=Katie

GRASS 6.3.0 (spearfish60):~ > ps -u Katie
PID PPID PGID WINPID TTY UID STIME COMMAND
2096 1 2096 2096 con 1003 20:36:12 /usr/bin/bash
3368 2096 3368 2136 con 1003 20:37:30 /usr/bin/sh
2612 3368 3368 1276 con 1003 20:37:30 /usr/X11R6/bin/xinit
2284 2612 2284 920 con 1003 20:37:30 /usr/X11R6/bin/XWin
3072 2612 3072 3832 con 1003 20:37:33 /usr/bin/xterm
3288 3072 3288 3436 0 1003 20:37:33 /usr/bin/bash
2304 3288 2304 4000 0 1003 20:39:32 /usr/bin/xterm
3104 2304 3104 464 1 1003 20:39:32 /usr/bin/bash
556 3104 556 3048 1 1003 21:33:50 /usr/bin/sh
3076 556 3076 1992 1 1003 21:33:51 /usr/bin/bash
2656 1 2656 2656 1 1003 21:36:04 /usr/local/grass-6.3.0/driver/XDRIVER
932 3076 932 296 1 1003 21:46:00 /usr/bin/ps


When I enter gis.m, the splashscreen still locks up on me.

GRASS 6.3.0 (spearfish60):~ > gis.m
GRASS 6.3.0 (spearfish60):~ > Error in startup script: can't read 
"parts(w)": no such variable
while executing
"set $parts(w) [expr round($parts(w)/$parts(ewres))*$parts(ewres)]"
(procedure "MapCanvas::zoom_gregion" line 16)
invoked from within
"MapCanvas::zoom_gregion $mon"
(procedure "MapCanvas::create" line 40)
invoked from within
"MapCanvas::create"
(procedure "Gm::startmon" line 11)
invoked from within
"Gm::startmon"
(procedure "Gm::create" line 79)
invoked from within
"Gm::create"
(procedure "main" line 30)
invoked from within
"main $argc $argv"
(file "/usr/local/grass-6.3.0/etc/gm/gm.tcl" line 541)

> [ cut non essential notes]
>
> Assuming that goes okay, and you can run GRASS commands ("g.region -p"
> and "g.list rast" are useful tests), you can try starting the GUI with
> "gis.m".
>

ENV variables:

$ env | grep GRASS
GRASS_PAGER=cat
GRASS_GNUPLOT=gnuplot -persist
GRASS_WISH=wish
GRASS_VERSION=6.1.cvs
GRASS_HTML_BROWSER=firefox
GRASS_HEIGHT=480
GRASS_LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/grass-6.3.cvs/lib
GRASS_PERL=perl
GRASS_WIDTH=640
GRASS_TCLSH=tclsh


Another respondent suggested moving to the GRASS Windows distribution. 
I'll probably try that at some point. However, once I figure out the 
GUI, I may be more at home in a unix/linux environment.


Many thanks,


Katie Urey