clarification requested: apparent termination of xrx project due to deletion of lbx from xorg

[Eirik Byrkjeflot Anonsen]

Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl at lkcl.net> writes:

>  i really _really_ want to fire up _specific_ locally-hosted
> applications, to run locally, as controlled by and specified by some
> javascript application running in web browser, to run _in_ the
> existing x server.
>
> order of events:
>
> 1) user fires up X-windows, and runs _one_ application: a web browser.
>  full screen.  no menus.  nothing but total exclusive domination of
> the screen.  no window manager.  nothing.
>
> 2) web browser runs _one_ web page - a window manager, written in javascript.
>
> 3) window manager, written in javascript, gets a "click" on an "icon"
> which says "run xclock".
>
> 4) javascript code dynamically creates a node (something like this)
>     < embed type="x-application/embedded-xapp"
>                    params="/usr/bin/xclock" width="100" height="100" />
>
>    and adds that node to the browser DOM model (location is chosen by
> the javascript-implemented window manager)
>
> 5) NPAPI-compliant plugin (it can't be rxr because that's borked)
> fires up xclock as the sole, exclusive, _only_ application to run
> *inside* the web browser.

You do realize that this is NOT a window manager?  A window manager is
supposed to handle all windows created on the given display,
regardless of how they are created (notwithstanding override-redirect,
of course...).  And the ability to launch applications isn't part of
the window manager's job (though a window manager may of course
provide that feature if it wants to).

What you are describing is exactly what plugger tries to do (well, the
plug-in part anyway).  Except that plugger will only launch the
applications that has been described in its configuration files,
rather than letting the attacker decide what application to run on
your computer.

The other reason why plugger needs a configuration file is that it
needs to know how to deal with each application.  In particular, it
needs to know how to find the application's window (either to have the
application use a subwindow controlled by plugger, or to reparent the
application's window).  There's really no well-defined way to do what
you (and plugger) wants to do.  For the most obvious questions: How
are you planning to deal with dialogs?  Or applications that open
multiple windows (e.g. gimp)?  Or no windows (e.g. "rm -rf /")?

eirik