It appears that xtoolwait times out rather than detecting the window mapping when it is used when no window manager is running. E.g., kill your window manager, run "xtoolwait xedit", and note how xtoolwait doesn't exit as soon as the xedit window pops up at +0+0.
I think xtoolwait needs some hint from the window manager. From the source: /* ** We assume that the window manager provides the WM_STATE property on top-level ** windows, as required by ICCCM 2.0. */
I do not agree with closing this bug "WONTFIX". Xtoolwait doesn't *need* a hint from the window manager; that is merely the way that it is implemented right now. It is perfectly reasonable for it to behave that way when the window manager is running, but it is *also* reasonable for it to have different code that is used when no window manager is running. It *is* possible for xtoolwait to detect window mappings even when no window manager is running.