regression: twm won't launch in focal

[gregrwm]

regression: the focal version of twm won't launch:

twm: unable to open fontset "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*"

the same failure had surfaced in earlier ubuntu releases, tho sadly the solutions&workarounds offered in

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1596636

aren't helping.

the bionic version of twm works fine, even if invoked in focal. also the focal versions of ctwm and vtwm work fine.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: twm 1:1.0.10-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-14.17-generic 5.4.18
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-14-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu20
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Mar 15 17:41:33 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-03-15 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Lubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Alpha amd64 (20200314)
SourcePackage: twm
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
mtime.conffile..etc.X11.twm.system.twmrc-menu: 2018-12-13T11:37:49

[gregrwm (gregrwm)]

the error report includes my custom system.twmrc, but with it or without it, and with or without LC_CTYPE=C LANG=C (all combinations), twm still gives the same error and fails to launch.

[gregrwm (gregrwm)]

this error is a showstopper for using twm in either focal ubuntu or focal lubuntu. twm runs just fine in bionic. i highly doubt the twm source has changed since bionic. is it a packaging issue? this same error did emerge several years ago, but the solutions noted above don't help this time.

[gregrwm (gregrwm)]

can i run twm with wayland? how?

[gregrwm (gregrwm)]

workaround: as i happen to have both focal and bionic installs on disc, running in focal, i can simply invoke /bionic/usr/bin/twm

[gregrwm (gregrwm)]

twm fails to launch in focal ubuntu, focal lubuntu, or focal kubuntu, after doing normal install to disc, or after merely booting any of those live ISOs and installing twm in the live system.

[gregrwm (gregrwm)]

Simple method for testing: login on a plain VT (without a display manager). invoke:

startx /usr/bin/xterm
(or any terminal app)

Then in the xterm, invoke openbox, or twm, or any window/display manager. You may also, in the same session, kill one window manager and then start another. Only beware that when the window manager is gone, the window stack will revert to newest on top. if you simply launch another xterm, it will be on top.

Can anyone share how to do similarly with wayland?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[J G Miller (jgmiller)]

At one time in Bourne shell and derivatives

LANG=C twm &

may have worked but because of all the other LC variables which are now setup and which are not overriden by setting LANG=C, the work around for the bug in twm being unable to open the fixed font for UTF-8 and other encodings is to specify

LC_ALL=C twm &

You may even find that

LC_ALL=en twm &

where "en" is "English" also works (along with other two letter language variants) but anything more specific cauting UTF-8 enocding to be invoked such as en_GB or en_US will give the same error as "unable to open fontset fixed".