Q2.1.8: got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)

Natalie Kershaw writes:

I am trying to run xemacs 19.13 under X11R4. Whenever I move the mouse I get the following error. Has anyone seen anything like this? This doesn’t occur on X11R5.

Signalling:
(error "got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)
and I don't know why!")

dinos writes:

I think this is due to undefined resources; You need to define color backgrounds and foregrounds into your .../app-defaults/Emacs like:

*Foreground:    Black   ;everything will be of black on grey95,
*Background:    Grey95  ;unless otherwise specified.
*cursorColor:   Red3    ;red3 cursor with grey95 border.
*pointerColor:  Red3    ;red3 pointer with grey95 border.

Natalie Kershaw adds:

What fixed the problem was adding some more colors to the X color database (copying the X11R5 colors over), and also defining the following resources:

xemacs*cursorColor:    black
xemacs*pointerColor:   black

With the new colors installed the problem still occurs if the above resources are not defined.

If the new colors are not present then an additional error occurs on SXEmacs startup, which says ‘Color Red3’ not defined.