Modular X server bugs, annoyances and solutions (Part 1)

[Phlogiston]

@Xake

Thanks for your answer. As you can see above it works with that message without evdev. For mouse I'm using synaptic. So as a conclusion I won't use it.

[twalter]

I finally managed to get evdev to stop crashing my X and now am in the process of ironing out the final nuisances. Does anyone know why modular X doesn't honour my "AngleOffset" option? There are no errors/warnings about it in the log. Without it, the mouse is a bloody pain to use as the cursor drifts off the Y axis! A less annoying issue is that the Synaptics driver refuses to load regardless of where I put it in the modules directory but I think I saw a solution posted earlier.

- Todd.

Are u using the latest masked version from portage? First I also had troubles but now it works. What is evdev for? Do I need it?

- Yes -

And: Does anyone has also a font problem after the update to modular X? What do I need to change? Anyone know? I installed the fonts... Do I need to remove others?

- Yes. Ever since the upgrade my GTK fonts are too large, even using the DisplaySize parameter. Currently I use the gnome-font-properties utility to shrink them on every boot. However, the major annoyance is that my AngleOffset parameter doesn't work. Anyone have any ideas?

- Todd.

[calr0x]

What is evdev for? Do I need it?

I believe it's a driver for USB input devices and is not required, but seems to be the next direction for input drivers..

[StifflerStealth]

Phlogiston: Did you try my suggestion close to the top of page 22 about eliminating keyboard errors by typing:
# ln -s /usr/share/X11/XKeysymDB /usr/lib/X11/XKeysymDB

[Phlogiston]

Phlogiston: Did you try my suggestion close to the top of page 22 about eliminating keyboard errors by typing:
# ln -s /usr/share/X11/XKeysymDB /usr/lib/X11/XKeysymDB

No I didn't because now it seems to work, just that strange notification. But I will try that out and report...

Thanks

[Xake]

What is evdev for? Do I need it?

I believe it's a driver for USB input devices and is not required, but seems to be the next direction for input drivers..

Works with all kind of inout, used it on my PS/2 mouse and keyboard. Unsure about serial, but....

[Phlogiston]

Phlogiston: Did you try my suggestion close to the top of page 22 about eliminating keyboard errors by typing:
# ln -s /usr/share/X11/XKeysymDB /usr/lib/X11/XKeysymDB

Ok I tried that out, but I still get:

Code: Select all

The XKEYBOARD keymap compiler (xkbcomp) reports:
> Warning:          Type "ONE_LEVEL" has 1 levels, but <RALT> has 2 symbols
>                   Ignoring extra symbols
Errors from xkbcomp are not fatal to the X server

But it's just a Warning, so who cares?

[hlandgar]

Does anybody have a workaround to this. It causes java programs to fail. I am running x11-libs/libX11-1.0.0 and x11-misc/util-macros-1.0.1.

[Xake]

Does anybody have a workaround to this. It causes java programs to fail. I am running x11-libs/libX11-1.0.0 and x11-misc/util-macros-1.0.1.

Please don't place the issue in the subject-field. It is very easy to overlook.
Oh, and are you sure that is your fatal problem?
Have had that one and it was nonfatal for me...

[hlandgar]

Gdk-WARNING **: locale not supported by Xlib

Does anybody have a workaround to this. It causes java programs to fail. I am running x11-libs/libX11-1.0.0 and x11-misc/util-macros-1.0.1.

[riven]

- Yes. Ever since the upgrade my GTK fonts are too large, even using the DisplaySize parameter. Currently I use the gnome-font-properties utility to shrink them on every boot. However, the major annoyance is that my AngleOffset parameter doesn't work. Anyone have any ideas?
- Todd.

Its the display drivers trying to be clever and calculate the dpi to use. Unfortunately its not very clever.

You can pass a server argument into X when it starts to manually override.
If your method of starting X is to login on a console then "startx", then edit your /usr/bin/startx with a text editor, and add "-dpi 72" (without quotes), to the server arguments at the top. ie defaultserverargs="-nolisten tcp -br -dpi 72"

Adjust the value if it still doesnt look right.

If you are using a login manager like kdm or gdm, then it probably requires a different file editing, and I'm afraid I don't know what it would be, as I don't use one. But no doubt someone else does.

[riven]

For the interest of those thinking about trying modular X. I emerged it the other day before I saw that there were handy guides and stuff. It was really very straight forward for me personally. I just emerged it, then emerged the driver modules i needed et voila! A lot of it I'm sure is down to hardware specific things as to whether it works or not. But I'm using nvidia's drivers, and my MX1000 mouse works fine, just as it did under evdev in 6.8.99.

I'm really impressed. The modular build is a great idea, and the ebuild writers have done a great job of it so far. Nice one chaps! And my total ram usage (as reported by conky) once my desktop has loaded is less than 70mb, which is lower than all previous X builds I used on this setup. One very happy customer.

[meulie]

Modular X doesn't do the job for me just yet, so I would like to revert to my old setup, which I backed up with quickpkg.

What is the proper way to remove modular X, and restore the quickpkg package?

[hoschi]

ok I more or less solved the keyboard issue:
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "ch"

That did the trick. But what about this warnings?

Code: Select all

The XKEYBOARD keymap compiler (xkbcomp) reports:
> Warning:          Type "ONE_LEVEL" has 1 levels, but <RALT> has 2 symbols
>                   Ignoring extra symbols
Errors from xkbcomp are not fatal to the X server

same here with this config:

Code: Select all

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier	"IBM AT Keyboard"
    Driver	"kbd"
    Option "XkbModel"	"pc105"
    Option "XkbLayout"	"de"
EndSection

[Bonkie]

Anyone here on amd64 ??

Everything works, but there's something odd about the nvidia glx ebuild (although its probably amd64 related):

Code: Select all

$ ldd /usr/lib32/opengl/nvidia/lib/libGL.so.1.0.8178
        linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xffffe000)
        libGLcore.so.1 => //usr/lib32/opengl/nvidia/lib/libGLcore.so.1 (0x555e9000)
        libnvidia-tls.so.1 => //usr/lib32/opengl/nvidia/lib/libnvidia-tls.so.1 (0x55da7000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib32/libm.so.6 (0x55da9000)
        libXext.so.6 => not found
        libX11.so.6 => not found
        libdl.so.2 => /lib32/libdl.so.2 (0x55dce000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib32/libc.so.6 (0x55dd2000)
        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x56555000)

libXext.so.6 and libX11.so.6 exist in /usr/lib64 and creating symlinks in /usr/lib32 didn't help much.

[Ibn al-Hazardous]

Anyone here on amd64 ??

Everything works, but there's something odd about the nvidia glx ebuild (although its probably amd64 related):

Code: Select all

$ ldd /usr/lib32/opengl/nvidia/lib/libGL.so.1.0.8178
        linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xffffe000)
        libGLcore.so.1 => //usr/lib32/opengl/nvidia/lib/libGLcore.so.1 (0x555e9000)
        libnvidia-tls.so.1 => //usr/lib32/opengl/nvidia/lib/libnvidia-tls.so.1 (0x55da7000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib32/libm.so.6 (0x55da9000)
        libXext.so.6 => not found
        libX11.so.6 => not found
        libdl.so.2 => /lib32/libdl.so.2 (0x55dce000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib32/libc.so.6 (0x55dd2000)
        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x56555000)

libXext.so.6 and libX11.so.6 exist in /usr/lib64 and creating symlinks in /usr/lib32 didn't help much.

I'm on amd64 too, and my output from ldd /usr/lib32/opengl/nvidia/lib/libGL.so.1.0.8178 is sane. libXext.so.6 and libX11.so.6 are links to /emul/linux/x86/usr/lib/libXext.so.6 and dito libX11.so.6 Check that dir, and if they are not there either maybe you should try revdep-rebuild?

[z0idberg]

I really need some help with x.org 7 and the open source driver now. After some research on forums I finally managed to get dri working... that is, Xorg.0.log shows that it's enabled and gives no errors, but when I startx the screen goes blank, and the system stops responding to input (ctrl-alt-F1-F7 for example). Maybe someone knows of a possible solution?

I run gentoo on a AMD XP 2500+, Radeon 9800 Pro, nForce 2 motherboard. To install x.org I copied all the modular X-packages to package.unmask and emerged xorg-server. I have the 2.6.15 kernel, agpgart, drm, radeon and nvidia-agp are all compiled as modules. According to Xorg.0.log there are no errors, agp works and dri is enabled.

Actually, I tried running Kubuntu Dapper with (I think) modularized X some time ago and had the same problem, screen went blank, no input etc. Would this mean there is something wrong with my graphics card? It seems to work fine in games I run in Windows, so I doubt it.

I'd really appreciate some help, and if this question has been answered a lot of times before, I'm sorry.

[reynolds531]

I'm having a problem compiling gnuplot-4.0-r1 and I think it's related to modular X. Here's the error message:

Code: Select all

Making all in tutorial
make[2]: Entering directory `/var/tmp/portage/gnuplot-4.0-r1/work/gnuplot-4.0.0/ tutorial'
../src/gnuplot: error while loading shared libraries: libXaw.so.8: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
../src/gnuplot: error while loading shared libraries: libXaw.so.8: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [eg1.tex] Error 127
make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make[2]: *** [eg2.tex] Error 127
make[2]: Leaving directory `/var/tmp/portage/gnuplot-4.0-r1/work/gnuplot-4.0.0/tutorial'

According to the changelog, the gnuplot ebuild has already been configured for modular X, but even so this seems to be related. The new libxaw module creates libXaw.so.6 and 7, but not 8.

Could I work around this with a symlink to 6 or 7? Any other ideas?

EDIT: Nevermind. I just needed to run a revdep-rebuild.

[meulie]

Modular X doesn't do the job for me just yet, so I would like to revert to my old setup, which I backed up with quickpkg.

What is the proper way to remove modular X, and restore the quickpkg package?

Anyone...?

[StringCheesian]

Modular X doesn't do the job for me just yet, so I would like to revert to my old setup, which I backed up with quickpkg.

What is the proper way to remove modular X, and restore the quickpkg package?

EDIT: Your /etc/portage/package.unmask (or alternatively /usr/portage/profiles/package.mask) contains a list of the packages you need to uninstall. I haven't learned enough about Linux tools/utilities yet, but someone else can probably give you a command that will unmerge a package for each line in an input file - all you'd have to do is copy out the right lines for it.

After that restoring your quickpkg backup of xorg is as simple as "emerge -aK xorg-x11". Then you'll want to remove all the xorg modular lines from your package.unmask, and that should be everything.

[Bonkie]

I'm on amd64 too, and my output from ldd /usr/lib32/opengl/nvidia/lib/libGL.so.1.0.8178 is sane. libXext.so.6 and libX11.so.6 are links to /emul/linux/x86/usr/lib/libXext.so.6 and dito libX11.so.6 Check that dir, and if they are not there either maybe you should try revdep-rebuild?

I have ran revdep-rebuild and thats why I noticed it, but it doesn't fix anything. And the directory you specified (/emul/linux) doesn't exist here ... Is there some package or functionality I need on amd64 ?

[Ibn al-Hazardous]

I have ran revdep-rebuild and thats why I noticed it, but it doesn't fix anything. And the directory you specified (/emul/linux) doesn't exist here ... Is there some package or functionality I need on amd64 ?

Well, the stuff in there is for 32 compatibility. Do you have emul-linux-x86-xlibs installed (that is the packege that said files belong to)?

If you don't much fancy running a 32-bit binary (eg firefox with flash plugin), there's no need for the 32-bit stuff.

[Parasietje]

I was wondering if the Keyboard mapping problem when using "evdev" has allready been fixed.

Im typing qwerty on an azerty keyboard, and Id like to fix that. As you can see, I dont know where the apostrophe is located

And no, I cannot use the kbd driver. Im trying to run multiseat X, and I need the evdev driver for that.

[Tronic]

I've been suffering of a segfault on Xorg startup after upgrading to modular (xorg-server-1.0.1-r1). This turned out to be a NULL pointer dereference in ConvertAddr() that gets called from a horribly ugly and long function DefineSelf(). Both are in os/access.c within the xorg-server sources.

I wrote a quick patch to fix it:

Code: Select all

diff -r -u xorg-server-1.0.1/os/access.c xorg-server-hacked/os/access.c
--- xorg-server-1.0.1/os/access.c       2005-11-08 08:33:30.000000000 +0200
+++ xorg-server-hacked/os/access.c      2006-01-08 12:40:15.000000000 +0200
@@ -980,6 +980,10 @@
            continue;
 #endif /* DNETCONN */
        len = sizeof(*(ifr->ifa_addr));
+       if (ifr->ifa_addr == NULL) {
+               ErrorF("Warning: ifr->ifa_addr == NULL in access.c\n");
+               continue;
+       }
        family = ConvertAddr(ifr->ifa_addr, &len, (pointer *)&addr);
        if (family == -1 || family == FamilyLocal)
            continue;

[Neo_0815]

I've been suffering of a segfault on Xorg startup after upgrading to modular (xorg-server-1.0.1-r1). This turned out to be a NULL pointer dereference in ConvertAddr() that gets called from a horribly ugly and long function DefineSelf(). Both are in os/access.c within the xorg-server sources.

I wrote a quick patch to fix it:

Code: Select all

diff -r -u xorg-server-1.0.1/os/access.c xorg-server-hacked/os/access.c
--- xorg-server-1.0.1/os/access.c       2005-11-08 08:33:30.000000000 +0200
+++ xorg-server-hacked/os/access.c      2006-01-08 12:40:15.000000000 +0200
@@ -980,6 +980,10 @@
            continue;
 #endif /* DNETCONN */
        len = sizeof(*(ifr->ifa_addr));
+       if (ifr->ifa_addr == NULL) {
+               ErrorF("Warning: ifr->ifa_addr == NULL in access.c\n");
+               continue;
+       }
        family = ConvertAddr(ifr->ifa_addr, &len, (pointer *)&addr);
        if (family == -1 || family == FamilyLocal)
            continue;

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5068

Look there. Already posted since weeks.

regards