emacs hanging on Sun 4-260 under SunOS 4.0.1

[Dan James]

Ever since we compiled and started using GNU emacs 18.53 we have been
having problems with emacs.

The problem only occurs when emacs is run as a sub-process of /bin/sh
which is a sub-process of /bin/csh. For example, if your login shell is
/bin/csh, and you were to issue the command 'sh -c emacs', the emacs
process will think that it is in the background. The process will receive
a TTOU signal when it attempts to paint the emacs window. If the emacs
process is started in the background, it will think that it is in the
foreground and go ahead and paint the screen. Unfortunately, the input
stream is going to the /bin/sh process; thus, no editing can be performed.
To try this, from your /bin/csh process, start a /bin/sh process. Then try
'emacs&'. Your screen will be painted, but you are still talking to the
/bin/sh process.

You may be asking yourself why would one want to do this. Well, if you
'setenv EDITOR emacs', various commands (such as vipw and mail) invoke the
editor with 'sh -c emacs'. And then... (see above)

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. Good bye. Have a nice day.

-> Dan