Re: xdm failing to start on FBSD 10.0 r2340030 erratically

On Mon, Apr 09, 2012 at 10:54:07AM +0200, O. Hartmann wrote:
> Am 04/08/12 17:29, schrieb David Wolfskill:
> > On Sun, Apr 08, 2012 at 01:29:36PM +0200, O. Hartmann wrote:
> >> I loose hair ...
> >> Since yesterady's "make world" (last make world: the day before
> >> yesterday), getting FreeBSD 10.0-CURRENT/amd64 to r234000 or so, the X11
> >> system on all of our FreeBSD 10.0-CUR/amd64 boxes start rejecting the
> >> start of xdm display manager. xdm is started from /etc/ttys on ttyv7.
> >> This worked before flawless.
> >>
> >> At this very moment, I do have X11 started via xdm - but this is a
> >> erratic and non-reproduceable process!
> >>
> >> This morning, I update world and kernel to r234030. I recompiled many
> >> ports via "portmaster -f xorg xdm", hoping the new kernel/world could
> >> affect the ports, but this isn't.
> >>
> >> Starting Xorg X11 server works fine. xdm fails. The log in
> >> /var/log/xdm.log looks like:
> >>
> >> Build Date: 07 April 2012  04:51:08PM
> >> ...
> >>
> >>
> >> I feel a bit helpless around here since I can not get close to what is
> >> happening. The erratic behaviour of starting xdm is frightening.
> >> Starting xdm via /etc/ttys doesn't work at all, but sometimes, with a
> >> bit luck, xdm starts when started from the console.
> >> ....
> > 
> > I am not having trouble starting xdm via /etc/ttys; my environment is
> > known to differ from yours in the following ways:
> > 
> > * My ports (save for x11/nvidia-driver and misc/compat8x) are built
> >   under stable/8.  (I track stable/8, stable/9, and head on a daily
> >   basis, and have a common /usr/local among them.  I also update
> >   any installed ports that have updates available daily.)
> > 
> > * I am running FreeBSD/i386, vs. FreeBSD/amd64.
> > 
> > * My last 2 updates were r233994 (yesterday) and r234031 (today).
> > 
> > * I have a mildly hacked-up startup script for xdm.  I doubt this is an
> >   issue -- I've been doing this since 2006/03/05 19:04:03 (according to
> >   the RCS log), though I have modified the script a few times
> >   since its inception.  But the point here is that I'm not directly
> >   invoking the xdm executable from /etc/ttys.
> 
> When I start xdm via console, it starts up, but only with a "Xservers"
> file that contains nothing but comments. If there are the lines
> 
> localhost
> 127.0.0.1
> 192.168.0.128
> !*
> 
> it will will probably start not. Since xdm does not show this behaviour
> in a reproducible manner I susepct a bug.
> 
> > 
> > * I don't know that this is different, but it may well be:  my xorg.conf
> >   includes a stanza:
> > 
> >   Section "ServerFlags"
> >       Option         "AutoAddDevices" "False"
> >   EndSection
> 
> I should go with this and try. But as far as I know, since I have USB
> devices (mouse, keyboard), unpluggin and pluggin them is then, without
> hal and dbus, not recognized anymore, isn't it?
> 
> There was a discussion once going one for this subject.
> 
> 
> Either way, at this very moment I do not know whether the OS or the X11
> is faulty and I'd like to report this as a bug.
> 
> > 
> >   because my experiences with hald & dbus were so unpleasant.  I don't
> >   use them; I don't even try to start them.
> > 
> > Peace,
> > david
> 
> Regards,
> Oliver
> 

I see the same (or similar) behavior on r231158M amd64
Compaq 6715s laptop.

I've:

BUZI> pkg info xdm
xdm-1.1.11: X.Org X display manager
BUZI> 

Starting xdm from /etc/ttys:

BUZI> grep bin/xdm /etc/ttys
ttyv8   "/usr/local/bin/xdm -nodaemon"  xterm   on  secure
BUZI>

causes the screen to flicker a few, maybe 3-5 times,
between the graphical and the text console, and then
I'm back to the text console.

However, starting xdm manually seems to work fine
every time.

The log file is no help:

BUZI> cat /var/log/xdm.log 
xdm error (pid 1464): Can't lock pid file /var/run/xdm.pid, another xdm is running (pid 939)
BUZI> 


-- 
Anton Shterenlikht
Room 2.6, Queen's Building
Mech Eng Dept
Bristol University
University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 331 5944
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