[Texmacs-dev] Re: TeXmacs interface to OpenAxiom

[Kostas Oikonomou]

Replying to this thread is getting complicated, but I'll try :-)

Gabriel Dos Reis wrote:
> Bill, thanks for this detailed inverstigation.  See my comments below.
>
> On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 9:15 PM, Bill Page <address@hidden> wrote:
> > On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 7:24 PM, Bill Page wrote:
> > > I know that OpenAxiom has introduced it's own "driver" programmed
> > > called open-axiom to replace the old shell script called 'axiom'. I am
> > > not familiar with how open-axiom hands-off the input-output to sman,
> > > clef and AXIOMsys. �Perhaps Gaby can help here. �But I wonder if all
> > > of these layers do not somehow interfere with the tm_axiom
> > > communication protocol.
>
> Indeed, the OpenAxiom driver is a native C program so that the
> same source code is used on Windows and Unix systems.
> Invoking OpenAxiom as
>
>      open-axiom --no-server
>
> will disable sman (e.g. equivalent to old -nosman).  It is also
> the prefered way to invoking AXIOMsys directly -- there are more
> setups automatically handled by the open-axiom driver that is
> not done by AXIOMsys.  Ideally, users should not have to know
> about the existence of AXIOMsys.
>
> > > Kostas wrote:
> > > > Removing the Windows-specific stuff from the TeXmacs interface that
> > > > comes with OpenAxiom seems more difficult to me.
> > > You should be able to get the old tm_axiom code to work. �The first
> > > thing that I would try is to call AXIOMsys directly instead of
> > > open-axiom. �(Or perhaps Gaby can suggest some command line options
> > > for open-axiom that will result in the same thing.). �If you do call
> > > AXIOMsys directly you will have to deal with the fact that AXIOMsys
> > > only returns one
> > >
> > > �(1) ->
> > >
> > > prompt while calling open-axiom (and fricas and the original axiom
> > > script) return this prompt twice because internally sman starts a new
> > > "frame".
>
> 'open-axiom --no-server' does not show that annoying problem.

Indeed.  I tried that, and the Axiom interface that comes 
standard with TeXmacs 1.0.7.2 works beautifully.  Thanks 
very much. As far as I'm concerned, the TeXmacs interface 
issue for OpenAxiom is solved.

> > > If some of these details don't mean much to you right now, please just
> > > ask. I would be glad to help you get this working properly but I am
> > > reluctant to spend much time on it for my own purposes.
> > I did a little testing. �First I did 'apt-get install texmacs' on my
> > Debian 5.0 system where I have all three of Axiom, OpenAxiom and
> > FriCAS installed. Starting texmacs I tried to 'Insert/Session" but I
> > noticed that the 'Axiom" option was not present. �So I did a little
> > digging and found that the tm_init script is looking for a specific
> > file named '/usr/bin/axiom'. 

In my TeXmacs 1.0.7.2 there is no tm_init.

I created a symbolic link from
> > /usr/bin/axiom -> /usr/local/bin/open-axiom and then I was apparently
> > able to start an "Axiom" session but I got symptoms very similar to
> > what you described - except worse. I had to enter something 5 or 6
> > times before it produced any output and then sometimes it still did
> > not work.
>
> I build and installed TeXmacs from the sVN source.  Curiously, I would not
> find trace of the 'tm_init' program in the destination (fro me, it is
> /usr/local)
> by a recursive `find'.  Joris, is that program supposed to be installed
> through special incantation?

I agree that looking for /usr/bin/axiom is bad, but this is 
not what's happening in TeXmacs 1.0.7.2, the latest stable 
release, so it's not really an issue.

> I think looking for the hard path "/usr/bin/axiom" is a mistake.  That should be
> looked for only if a relative serach from PATH fails.  Once, I understand
> the intricacies of the plugins (yes. I've read the doc), I'll contribute code
> for looking for OpenAxiom.  But, right now, it looks as if half of the TeXmacs
> helper programs were never installed when I issued `make install'.
>
>
> > Instead of starting texmacs to test, you can run tm_axiom filter
> > directly like this:
> >
> > � /usr/lib/texmacs/TeXmacs/bin/tm_axiom
> >
> > This should start '/usr/bin/axiom', issue a prompt to what it thinks
> > is texmacs (but really is your consol), and then wait for input.
> > Everything you type will be sent to the "axiom" and the result
> > returned. I tried typing
> >
> > �)version
> > �)version
> > �)version
> > ...
> >
> > and eventually got a response.
> >
> > Oddly using a link to my Axiom installation
> >
> > �/usr/bin/axiom -> /usr/local/bin/axiom
> >
> > also did not work and produced very similar results.
> >
> > So I tried the following instead. I deleted the symbolic link and
> > created a file named
> >
> > �/usr/bin/axiom
> >
> > with the contents
> >
> > �fricas -nosman
> >
> > and made it executable. �Now running tm_axiom as above produced the
> > following result:
> >
> > address@hidden:~$ /usr/lib/texmacs/TeXmacs/bin/tm_axiom
> > verbatim:channel:promptlatex:\red$\rightarrow$\ verbatim:)version
> > Value = "Monday September 14, 2009 at 20:50:41 "
> > channel:promptlatex:\red$\rightarrow$\ verbatim:)quit
> > latex:\red The address@hidden:~$
> >
> > And I found that everything worked in texmacs!
> >
> > The option '-nosman' in FriCAS is equivalent to running AXIOMsys
> > directly. I think the same thing is OpenAxiom is
> >
> > �open-axiom --no-server
>
> yes, open-axiom --no-server is the command to issue.
>
>
> > I tried this but I got
> >
> > address@hidden:~$ open-axiom --no-server
> > Segmentation fault (core dumped)

This works fine for me, with SVN version of OpenAxiom as of 
a few days ago, on OpenSolaris.


> Huh?  I do not seem able to reproduce that on my GNU/Linux and
> windows systems.  I do not have access to Debian box.
>
> > Oddly, repeating this several times sometimes started OpenAxiom
> > successfully but most times it did not. I don't know what the problem
> > is.
>
> yeah, that looks very curious.  I don't have access to a Debian
> system, and I can't reproduce it on my linux boxes, so ...
>
> > This is with OpenAxiom built using sbcl from
> >
> > address@hidden:~/open-axiom-src$ svn info
> > Path: .
> > URL: https://open-axiom.svn.sf.net/svnroot/open-axiom/trunk
> > Repository Root: https://open-axiom.svn.sf.net/svnroot/open-axiom
> > Repository UUID: f499efd5-9937-0410-b36a-d3739c31ded8
> > Revision: 1283
> > Node Kind: directory
> > Schedule: normal
> > Last Changed Author: dos-reis
> > Last Changed Rev: 1283
> > Last Changed Date: 2009-09-16 02:20:06 -0400 (Wed, 16 Sep 2009)
> >
> > Gaby, what do you think?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Bill Page.
>
> -- Gaby