Two attached files:

- 9p-srv.c is a devdraw(1) version which uses 9pclient(3) to talk with
Plan 9-like devices and use them for its windows.

- p9p.patch is a patch that has to be applied to the p9p tree to use
this devdraw version.

The drawing device expects to find draw(3), cons(3) and mouse(3) files
in the $WSYS directory, as can be found in /dev in a Plan 9 terminal
(including 9vx or drawterm) or /mnt/wsys when using rio. Then, those
devices are used to run p9p programs.

I wrote 9p-srv as an experiment to use wsys(4) [1] with p9p
applications, but have found it quite useful to open p9p programs -
like 9term or sam - in rio windows (for example, from 9vx).

Although it could be argued that this is not the most efficient thing
to do writing it was quite funny, and much easier than expected.

Installation (once the patch has been applied and p9p built):

	cp 9p-srv.c $PLAN9/src/cmd/devdraw
	cd $PLAN9/src/cmd/devdraw
	9c 9p-srv.c && 9l -o devdraw.9p 9p-srv.o
	cp devdraw.9p $PLAN9/bin

Now, to run 9term in a rio window:

	# From 9vx's rio:
	; mount $wsys /n/w new
	; bind -a '#i' /n/w
	; aux/listen1 -t 'tcp!*!12345' /bin/exportfs -r /n/w

	# From unix:
	$ WSYS='tcp!127.0.0.1!12345'
	$ DEVDRAW=devdraw.9p
	$ 9term

These files are also included with wsys(4), in the util directory
(instructions are in the README). To use the drawing device with
wsys(4) just set WSYS to "unix!/tmp/ns.$USERNAME.$DISPLAY/wsys".
However, it is not working so well as with rio. The reason is probably
some bug in wsys, and not in 9p-srv. I hope to fix it at some point,
but is not an easy bug to track.

If (after some more testing) the 9p drawing device could be included
with p9p that would be great. If it has to stay in the wsys repository
that is fine too but, could the p9p patch be applied at least? The two
small changes shouldn't be a problem for the other versions of
devdraw.

Comments are welcomed.


[1] http://bitbucket.org/yiyus/devwsys-prev/ (there is also a blog
about the development of wsys(4) at
http://summerofdevdraw.blogspot.com/ and a WIP short paper is included
in the proceedings of the last iwp9).

--
- yiyus || JGL .