Old statically linked programs developed for monolithic X need files in particular places. In particular, Mathematica needs '/usr/lib/X11/locale' and '/usr/lib/X11/XKeysymDB', otherwise Motif errors cause a crash (I write in detail in the URL provided). I had to make these links manually, whereas I believe they should be installed by either x11-libs/libX11, which owns the targets '/usr/share/X11/locale' and '/usr/lib/X11/XKeysymDB'. Thank you. My 'emerge --info' is attached below for reference.
Created attachment 113830 [details] emerge --info
(In reply to comment #0) > detail in the URL provided. ACPI: Can't Resume from Suspend to RAM on Compaq EVO N800w ??? Anyway, fix broken stuff instead of "fixing" modular X for broken stuff. There's no Mathematica in portage -> not our problem.
* Sorry -- URL fixed. * I'm not asking to have Mathematica supported, I am asking to fix a *simple* problem that could trip up _any_ old binary package linked against X11. Moreover, there is no free substitute for expert apps like Mathematica and VariCAD, for which Linux is a secondary platform anyway and developer support is thin; one is forced to "certified platforms" like Red Hat and SUSE. So, if there's an ebuild for Mathematica (as with other commercial, binary apps like VMWare), you'd fix it? Here's one attempt (sad about his manners): https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=100588
Seriously, you should take this upstream and get fixed in Mathematica or whatever other broken stuff. Xorg-6.8 is dead and nothing shouldn't rely on nonexistant paths.
FYI, the problem can be handled by a wrapper script which sets the appropriate env vars. This is probably the least painful solution between maintaining compatibility links and pestering vendors. Attached below.
Created attachment 114062 [details] xpathcompat Wrapper script to set up path env vars for old X applications that need things in certain locations.
