Function XOpenDisplay with and without parameter - c

Question

I have little issue with XOpenDisplay function. In school I can run program and it works good when using XOpenDisplay("ip:0"), but on my local machine in home when I run program (changed ip on current) got "Segmentation fault (core dumped)", but with empy string XOpenDisplay("") it works fine. I need to be able to use ip. Used host +, but nothing changes.
My system is Kubuntu 14.04.1: 3.16.0-30-generic #40~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 15 17:43:14 UTC 2015
Here is code of program:
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
#include <X11/X.h>
#include <stdio.h>
Display *mydisplay;
Window mywindow;
XSetWindowAttributes mywindowattributes;
XGCValues mygcvalues;
GC mygc;
Visual *myvisual;
int mydepth;
int myscreen;
Colormap mycolormap;
XColor mycolor,mycolor1,dummy;
int i;
main()
{
mydisplay = XOpenDisplay("192.168.0.12:0");
myscreen = DefaultScreen(mydisplay);
myvisual = DefaultVisual(mydisplay,myscreen);
mydepth = DefaultDepth(mydisplay,myscreen);
mywindowattributes.background_pixel = XWhitePixel(mydisplay,myscreen);
mywindowattributes.override_redirect = True;
mywindow = XCreateWindow(mydisplay,XRootWindow(mydisplay,myscreen),
0,0,500,500,10,mydepth,InputOutput,
myvisual,CWBackPixel|CWOverrideRedirect,
&mywindowattributes);
mycolormap = DefaultColormap(mydisplay,myscreen);
XAllocNamedColor(mydisplay,mycolormap,"cyan",&mycolor,&dummy);
XAllocNamedColor(mydisplay,mycolormap,"red",&mycolor1,&dummy);
XMapWindow(mydisplay,mywindow);
mygc = DefaultGC(mydisplay,myscreen);
XSetForeground(mydisplay,mygc,mycolor.pixel);
XFillRectangle(mydisplay,mywindow,mygc,100,100,300,300);
XSetForeground(mydisplay,mygc,mycolor1.pixel);
XSetFunction(mydisplay,mygc,GXcopy);
XSetLineAttributes(mydisplay,mygc,10,LineSolid,CapProjecting,JoinMiter);
XDrawLine(mydisplay,mywindow,mygc,100,100,400,400);
XDrawLine(mydisplay,mywindow,mygc,100,400,400,100);
XFlush(mydisplay);
sleep(10);
XCloseDisplay(mydisplay);
exit(0);
}
I can only guess that need to set something, but have no idea where is that option.

Answer 1

You shall always check whether functions returned successfully, or not. It is not a Haskell, where all the checking done for you by monad, it is C. As for your particular case, the problem is that the function XOpenDisplay fails and returns null for you. In the next line you're trying to use DefaultScreen with the result. The DefaultScreen is defined as
#define DefaultScreen(dpy) ((dpy)->default_screen)
I.e. it just a macro, which using the first argument as a pointer. In your case it does ((0)->default_screen), i.e. it dereferencing the null pointer, and that leads to the segfault you see.
Also, about the XOpenDisplay("192.168.0.12:0"); — you didn't mentioned that you're trying to connect to another PC, so, if it's the same computer where the app running, try to call the function as XOpenDisplay("127.0.0.1:0");
UPD: okay, I tried to run the code at my PC, and the function doesn't work for me too. To find the reason I started the code under strace app, and saw
…
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(6000), sin_addr=inet_addr("127.0.0.1")}, 16) = -1 ECONNREFUSED (Connection refused)
…
Aha! So, the app trying to connect to XServer, but Xserver refuses the connection. Actually, it have a security reason to disable it by default — so, that nobody would connect to your XServer from a network unless you specifically allowed it. For the function to work you need to launch your XServer with the option that allows such a connection. Right now DisplayManagers are the ones, who manages xsessions, so you need to set some option depending on your DM.
The solution for lightdm
Open the /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf, and paste the line xserver-allow-tcp=true in the section [SeatDefaults](you will see it).
The solution for gdm
Edit the file /etc/gdm/gdm.schemas, you will find there something like
<schema>
<key>security/DisallowTCP</key>
<signature>b</signature>
<default>true</default>
</schema>
Change the true to false.