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NAME

       xkibitz - allow multiple people to interact in an xterm

SYNOPSIS

       xkibitz [ xkibitz-args ] [ program program-args...  ]

INTRODUCTION

       xkibitz  allows  users  in  separate  xterms to share one shell (or any
       program that runs in an xterm).  Uses include:

              ·   A novice user can  ask  an  expert  user  for  help.   Using
                  xkibitz,  the  expert  can  see  what the user is doing, and
                  offer advice or show how to do it right.

              ·   By running xkibitz and then starting a  full-screen  editor,
                  people  may  carry out a conversation, retaining the ability
                  to scroll backwards, save the entire conversation,  or  even
                  edit it while in progress.

              ·   People  can  team  up  on  games, document editing, or other
                  cooperative  tasks  where  each  person  has  strengths  and
                  weaknesses that complement one another.

              ·   If  you  want to have a large number of people do an on-line
                  code  walk-through,  you  can  sit  two  in  front  of  each
                  workstation,  and  then  connect them all together while you
                  everyone looks at code together in the editor.

USAGE

       To start xkibitz, one user (the master) runs xkibitz with no arguments.

       xkibitz starts a new shell (or another program, if given on the command
       line).  The user can interact normally with the shell, or upon entering
       an  escape  (described  when  xkibitz  starts)  can  add  users  to the
       interaction.

       To add users, enter "+ display" where display is the  X  display  name.
       If  there  is  no  ":X.Y"  in the display name, ":0.0" is assumed.  The
       master user must have permission to access each display.  Each  display
       is  assigned a tag - a small integer which can be used to reference the
       display.

       To show the current tags and displays, enter "=".

       To drop a display, enter  "-  tag"  where  tag  is  the  display’s  tag
       according to the "=" command.

       To  return to the shared shell, enter "return".  Then the keystrokes of
       all users become the input of the shell.  Similarly, all users  receive
       the output from the shell.

       To  terminate  xkibitz  it suffices to terminate the shell itself.  For
       example, if any user types ^D (and the shell accepts this to  be  EOF),
       the shell terminates followed by xkibitz.

       Normally,  all  characters  are  passed uninterpreted.  However, in the
       escape dialogue the user talks directly  to  the  xkibitz  interpreter.
       Any  Expect(1) or Tcl(3) commands may also be given.  Also, job control
       may be used while in the  interpreter,  to,  for  example,  suspend  or
       restart xkibitz.

       Various  processes  can  produce various effects.  For example, you can
       emulate a multi-way write(1) session with the command:

            xkibitz sleep 1000000

ARGUMENTS

       xkibitz understands a few special arguments which should appear  before
       the  program  name  (if  given).   Each argument should be separated by
       whitespace.  If the arguments themselves takes arguments, these  should
       also be separated by whitespace.

       -escape sets the escape character.  The default escape character is ^].

       -display adds a display much like the "+" command.   Multiple  -display
       flags  can  be  given.   For  example,  to  start up xkibitz with three
       additional displays:

            xkibitz -display mercury -display fox -display dragon:1.0

CAVEATS

       Due to limitations in both X and UNIX, resize propagation is weak.

       When the master user resizes  the  xterm,  all  the  other  xterms  are
       logically  resized.   Unfortunately,  xkibitz cannot force the physical
       xterm size to correspond with the logical xterm sizes.

       The other users are free to resize their xterm but their sizes are  not
       propagated.   The  master  can  check  the  logical  sizes with the "="
       command.

       Deducing the window size is a  non-portable  operation.   The  code  is
       known  to  work  for  recent  versions of SunOS, AIX, Unicos, and HPUX.
       Send back mods if you add support for anything else.

ENVIRONMENT

       The environment variable SHELL is used to determine and start a  shell,
       if no other program is given on the command line.

       If  the  environment variable DISPLAY is defined, its value is used for
       the display name of the xkibitz master (the display with tag number 0).
       Otherwise this name remains empty.

       Additional   arguments   may  be  passed  to  new  xterms  through  the
       environment variable XKIBITZ_XTERM_ARGS.  For example, to create xterms
       with a scrollbar and a green pointer cursor:

            XKIBITZ_XTERM_ARGS="-sb -ms green"
            export XKIBITZ_XTERM_ARGS

       (this  is for the Bourne shell - use whatever syntax is appropriate for
       your favorite shell). Any option can be given that  is  valid  for  the
       xterm  command,  with  the  exception  of -display, -geometry and -S as
       those are set by xkibitz.

SEE ALSO

       Tcl(3), libexpect(3) kibitz(1)
       "Exploring Expect:  A  Tcl-Based  Toolkit  for  Automating  Interactive
       Programs" by Don Libes, O’Reilly and Associates, January 1995.
       "kibitz  -  Connecting  Multiple Interactive Programs Together", by Don
       Libes, Software - Practice  &  Experience,  John  Wiley  &  Sons,  West
       Sussex, England, Vol. 23, No. 5, May, 1993.

AUTHOR

       Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology

                                06 October 1994                     XKIBITZ(1)