improve error handling when starting the GUI thread

src/common/guifacade.cpp

@@ -60,18 +60,18 @@ namespace gui {
         : theGUI_("lumieraorg_Gui", 1, 1, "lumieraorg_GuiStarterPlugin") // load GuiStarterPlugin
         {
           ASSERT (theGUI_);
-          this->kickOff (terminationHandle);
+          bool res = this->kickOff (terminationHandle);
           
-          if (lumiera_error_peek())
+          if (!res || lumiera_error_peek())
             throw lumiera::error::Fatal("failed to bring up GUI",lumiera_error());
         }
       
       ~GuiRunner () {  }
       
       
-      void kickOff (Subsys::SigTerm& terminationHandle) 
+      bool kickOff (Subsys::SigTerm& terminationHandle) 
         { 
-          theGUI_->kickOff (reinterpret_cast<void*> (&terminationHandle));
+          return theGUI_->kickOff (reinterpret_cast<void*> (&terminationHandle));
         }
     };
   

src/gui/guifacade.hpp

@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ extern "C" {
 #include "common/interface.h"
 }
 
+#include <boost/noncopyable.hpp>
+
 
 namespace gui {
   
@@ -69,6 +71,7 @@ namespace gui {
    * 
    */
   class GuiFacade
+    : boost::noncopyable
     {
     public:
       
@@ -91,7 +94,7 @@ namespace gui {
        *  @internal this function is invoked automatically during the GUI
        *            loading and startup process. Don't call it manually.
        */
-      virtual void kickOff (lumiera::Subsys::SigTerm&)  =0;
+      virtual bool kickOff (lumiera::Subsys::SigTerm&)  =0;
       
       
     protected:
@@ -100,7 +103,7 @@ namespace gui {
     
   /** interface of the GuiStarterPlugin */
   LUMIERA_INTERFACE_DECLARE (lumieraorg_Gui, 1,
-                             LUMIERA_INTERFACE_SLOT (void, kickOff, (void*))
+                             LUMIERA_INTERFACE_SLOT (bool, kickOff, (void*))
   );
   
   

src/gui/guistart.cpp

@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ using std::string;
 using lib::Thread;
 using std::tr1::bind;
 using lumiera::Subsys;
+using lumiera::error::LUMIERA_ERROR_STATE;
 using gui::LUMIERA_INTERFACE_INAME(lumieraorg_Gui, 1);
 
 
@@ -77,7 +78,7 @@ namespace gui {
   
   namespace { // implementation details
     
-    /** 
+    /******************************************************************************
      * Implement the necessary steps for actually making the Lumiera Gui available.
      * Open the business interface(s) and start up the GTK GUI main event loop.
      */
@@ -133,10 +134,22 @@ namespace gui {
   } // (End) impl details
   
   
-  void
+  
+  
+  bool
   kickOff (Subsys::SigTerm& terminationHandle)
   {
-    Thread ("GUI-Main", bind (&runGUI, terminationHandle));
+    try
+      {
+        Thread ("GUI-Main", bind (&runGUI, terminationHandle));
+        return true; // if we reach this line...
+      }
+    catch(...)
+      {
+        if (!lumiera_error_peek())
+          LUMIERA_ERROR_SET (gui, STATE, "unexpected error when starting the GUI thread");
+        return false;
+      }
   }
 
 } // namespace gui
@@ -226,9 +239,9 @@ extern "C" { /* ================== define an lumieraorg_Gui instance ===========
                                           , NULL  /* on open  */
                                           , NULL  /* on close */
                                           , LUMIERA_INTERFACE_INLINE (kickOff, "\255\142\006\244\057\170\152\312\301\372\220\323\230\026\200\065",
-                                                                      void, (void* termSig),
+                                                                      bool, (void* termSig),
                                                                         { 
-                                                                          gui::kickOff (*reinterpret_cast<Subsys::SigTerm *> (termSig));
+                                                                          return gui::kickOff (*reinterpret_cast<Subsys::SigTerm *> (termSig));
                                                                         }
                                                                      )
                                           )

src/lib/exception.cpp

@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ namespace lumiera {
       desc_ (description),
       cause_ ("")
   {
-          lumiera_error_set (this->id_, description.c_str ());
+    lumiera_error_set (this->id_, description.c_str ());
   }