Chapter 5

Starting Communique!

Overview

Once you have installed Communique!, connected any optional hardware, and completed the licensing procedure, you are ready to start conferencing. This chapter outlines the remaining setup requirements and the procedure for starting Communique!. This chapter covers the following:

Environment Variables

Communique! requires several environment variables to be defined while the software is in operation.

Required Environment Variables

If these variable are not set when you run Communique!, it will attempt to determine the values for them automatically. Under ordinary circumstances, Communique! will be able to determine the correct values. However, if you run into any problems with the Communique! being unable to locate these directories, you will need to set these variables manually before running the application.

COMM_HOME—the home directory in which Communique is installed. If you installed Communique! in /opt/insoft/communique, then COMM_HOME should be:

/opt/insoft/communique

LM_LICENSE_FILE—the full path and filename of the file that contains the licenses. If you installed OpenDVE in /opt/insoft/opendve then LM_LICENSE_FILE should be:

/opt/insoft/opendve/etc/license.dat

OPENDVE_HOME—the directory where the OpenDVE runtime executables and other files are stored. If you installed OpenDVE in /opt/insoft/opendve, then OPENDVE_HOME should be:

/opt/insoft/opendve

If you manually set these variables, the values you set will take precedence over those derived automatically by Communique!.

Please see the Using Communique! with Other FLEXlm Products section of Appendix B, "Technical Issues," if you are running other products on the workstation that use FLEXlm licensing.

Optional Environment Variables

COMM_WMGR—the window manager you are using, either OL (for OpenLook) or Motif (for the Motif environment). By default, Communique! uses Motif for all platforms.

COMM_TMP—the directory that Communique! uses to store temporary data such as whiteboard pages and socket files. By default, Communique! uses /tmp for temporary storage. The directory selected should have 10-15MB of temporary disk space and should have write permission for everyone.

Note that /tmp is still used by Communique! for some small things even when the COMM_TMP variable is set.

Defining Environment Variables

The easiest way to define the environment variables needed by Communique! is to set them with the .cshrc file (for csh or tcsh users) or .profile (for users of sh or ksh) at login. You need to do this for each user who will be running Communique!. Alternatively, you may want to create a "wrapper" script for users to run. The script would set the necessary environment variables before starting Communique!.

Following are sample additions to these start-up files appropriate for workstations using the default installation locations. You may need to modify these scripts if you installed Communique! or the licensing files in directories other than the default.

Sample additions to .cshrc

### Communique ENV Variables ###
setenv COMM_HOME /opt/insoft/communique
setenv OPENDVE_HOME /opt/insoft/opendve
setenv LM_LICENSE_FILE $OPENDVE_HOME/etc/license.dat
setenv COMM_WMGR Motif
################################

Sample additions to .profile

### Communique ENV Variables ###
COMM_HOME=/opt/insoft/communique

export OPENDVE_HOME
OPENDVE_HOME=/opt/insoft/opendve
export OPEN_HOME
LM_LICENSE_FILE=$OPENDVE_HOME/etc/license.dat
export LM_LICENSE_FILE
COMM_WMGR=Motif
export COMM_WMGR
################################

Commands and Menu Selections for Starting Communique!

First, be sure you have properly defined the required environment variables; then enter the following command from within your windowing system:

% $COMM_HOME/communique [ -pcolor ] [ -nobanner ]

The -pcolor and -nobanner command-line options cause Communique! to start in a private colormap and without a start-up banner, respectively.

If you wish to run the Plugin Configuration Tool instead of running Communique!, then you should enter the following command:

% $COMM_HOME/communique -config

You can also invite other users into a conference when you start Communique! by using the -invite command line flag. For detailed information on the -invite flag, see Chapter 2 of the Communique! User’s Guide.

Communique! can be added as an option to the OpenWindows or Motif system menus. In order to do so, you should edit the appropriate window manager configuration file.

Each window manager features a global menu configuration file. This file is used to define the options available to users in the system menu. In addition, each user may elect to create a personal menu configuration file in his or her home directory. If no configuration file exists in the user's home directory, the global menu configuration information is used. You need to edit each Communique! user's window manager configuration file or the system's global configuration file.

OpenWindows Menu Changes

To make Communique! an option in the OpenWindows menu you need to edit either /usr/openwin/lib/openwin-menu file or the .openwin-menu file that may exist in each user's home directory. Each line in these configuration files specifies a menu option. Verify that the necessary Communique! environment variables have been set in the user's login scripts and add the following line to the configuration:

"Communique!" exec $COMM_HOME/communique

Motif Menu Changes

To make Communique! an option in the Motif menu, you need to edit either the global system.mwmrc file or the .mwmrc file that may exist in each user's home directory. The location of the system.mwmrc file depends on the particular distribution of Motif installed, but is normally located in /usr/lib/X11, /usr/mwm/lib, or /usr/lib. Several entries are listed under the heading "Menu DefaultRootMenu." Each line in this file specifies a menu option. Verify that the necessary Communique! environment variables have been set in the user's login scripts and add the following line to the configuration:

"Communique!" f.exec "$COMM_HOME/communique"

Communique! Startup

When you start Communique! it automatically detects the platform on which you are running on and begins its startup routine. If you have not previously run Communique!, you will be prompted asking whether you wish to run Communique! using the default configuration, or you wish to configure it using the Plugin Configuration Tool. The Plugin Configuration Tool is a utility that enables users to define which OpenDVE plugins they wish to use, and order in which they will appear on the Communique! Conference Manager. Please see Chapter 2, "Conference Manager", of the Communique! User's Guide for information on using the Plugin Configuration Tool.

The Conference Manager starts first. Each Plugin's icon appears in the Virtual Conference Room as it is loaded. When all of the Plugins have been loaded, you can begin conferencing. For information on using Communique!, please refer to the Communique! User's Guide.

Communique! Utilities

This section explains several utilities that are packaged with Communique!. They will ordinarily be installed in $COMM_HOME/bin.

MDLSlay

The MDLSlay utility is used to ensure that no Communique! processes are running. If Communique! exits abnormally, you may wish to run this utility before launching it again. When MDLSlay is run, it searches for any existing Communique! processes with the exception of the ISRegistrar process, and kills them. To run MDLSlay, issue the command:

# $COMM_HOME/bin/MDLSlay

ISSlay

The ISSlay utility is used to ensure that absolutely no Communique! processes are running. If Communique! exits abnormally and MDLSlay fails to correct the problems you are encountering, you may wish to run this utility before launching it again. When ISSlay is run, it searches for all existing Communique! processes, and kills them. To run ISSlay, issue the command:

# $COMM_HOME/bin/ISSlay

ISVersionReport

The ISVersionReport utility will display build date and version information for OpenDVE, Communique!, and MDL Plugins. To run ISVersionReport issue the command:

# $COMM_HOME/bin/ISVersionReport <component(s)>

Where component is the name of the OpenDVE Plugin. Specifying 'all' as a component will give you version information on all installed Plugins. If you wanted information about the Motif Conference Manager for example, you would issue the command:

# $COMM_HOME/bin/ISVersionReport ISConferenceManagerPluginMotif

ISShareFix

ISShareFix can improve the performance of SHARE by forcing applications that are SHAREd to use a private colormap if they have that option. In order to use ISShareFix, run it before you begin sharing applications. If the application that you share can use a private colormap, the ISShareFix program will force it to do so.

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