[Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

wtx · 2015-03-22 16:32:09

Hi,

Today I've upgraded my system with pacman -Syu and after upgrading xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 version I cannot use X.
When I run "xinit" then single white window appears but there is not any reaction for mouse or keyboard events.
I cannot even get back to VT by ctrl-alt-Fx or switch on/off NumLock. The only reaction on keyboard is issuing sysrq commands (ctrl-alt-sysrq E) which kills X.

I also discovered that running following command helps: "xinit -- vt12" - I mean it launches X and mouse and keyboard are working fine.

Is this a bug or I have misconfigured system?

Last edited by wtx (2015-03-23 15:08:14)

karol · 2015-03-22 17:06:03

Why do you run 'xinit'? Why not 'startx' or 'xinit foo bar baz'? Do you have a ~/.xinitrc?

Trilby · 2015-03-22 17:12:31

I use xinit directly, but the need to specify a vt has been around for quite some time now. In fact, specifying a vt other than the one you are logged in on will lead to many other problems. Please see the wiki on how to start X correctly - and follow the news, especially if you do infrequent updates.

wtx · 2015-03-23 05:01:47

karol wrote:

Why do you run 'xinit'? Why not 'startx' or 'xinit foo bar baz'? Do you have a ~/.xinitrc?

Usually I use "startx" but in this case (after this upgrade) it leaded to unusable X (as I described), so I tried to run X from the lower level - with "xinit".

I have no ~/.xinitrc.

Downgrading "xorg-xinit" package to previous version helps.

jasonwryan · 2015-03-23 05:31:08

Not a Pacman issue, moving to Newbie Corner...

Trilby · 2015-03-23 11:29:59

wtx wrote:

Usually I use "startx" but in this case (after this upgrade) it leaded to unusable X (as I described)

You never actually described this. You only described one unusual symptom, but you claimed that symptom went away when you pass a vt number to xinit. Startx itself passes a vt number to xinit, so startx would have never had this symptom. In otherwords, you never told us what was wrong with startx itself.

Startx will not pass a vt number to xinit if you do not have an active logind session. I think this can only result from not booting with systemd. If you are using an alterntative init system, please tell us about that. Heck, tell us about anything, as we don't have much information yet other than the fact that you get some odd unspecified problems when you do some odd and unrecommended things. This is not a bug; this is expected.

Massimiliano · 2015-03-23 13:15:09

I can confirm what appears to be the same problem on my two machines running Arch with systemd. On both machines, after upgrading the xorg-* packages yesterday, X would not start as it normally did: I'd get a blank screen with only a _ up in the top left corner. Pressing ctrl-alt-(number) had no effect, nor did anything else I tried. (I didn't try killing X like the OP did.) Googled and searched the forums yesterday to no avail; nothing I tried worked.

Caveat: In my case(s), I use 'startxfce4' instead of 'startx', so it might not be the exact issue. Trying 'startx' just took me to a default X installation setup, with three terminal windows and a clock. I'm sure anyone who's set up Arch for the first time has seen the same windows.

So in case it helps, here's what I did to get them working again:

1. This morning, I checked the forums again and saw the thread at https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=195107, which recommended changing a line in the file /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc from:

exec /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp "$@"

to

exec /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp "$@" vt$XDG_VTNR

2. I didn't want to change the default file, so I created a ~/.xserverrc file (note that it's in my home directory, so it will only work for my one user; if you want it to work for multiple users you'd follow step one exactly, as recommended in the other thread). I put the line

exec /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp "$@" vt$XDG_VTNR

in that file, saved it, and fired up 'startxfce4'. Everything works perfectly.

Again, since I use XFCE I don't know if it's exactly the same issue you have, but at least this might help point you towards a solution.

PS
In case you're wondering why I tried the solution in the other thread: The blank screen error only appears when I had

needs_root_rights=yes

in /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config. When I changed it to 'no' (or removed the file entirely), I would get an error message like "xf860OpenConsole: Cannot open /dev/tty0", which is similar to the error message the OP on that thread would get.

EDIT:
Actually, the more I think about it, the less I think this is the same problem. And the lack of details from the OP doesn't help. Still, it does appear that both of these problems concern passing a virtual terminal parameter to X, or failing to do so.

Last edited by Massimiliano (2015-03-23 13:21:58)

wtx · 2015-03-23 15:07:48

Ok, I didn't describe the issue detailed enough - sorry for that, but I was in hurry.

@Massimiliano: Thank you for your solution - it is working for me.

Massimiliano · 2015-03-23 15:12:06

Glad to hear it! :-)

Arch Linux

#1 2015-03-22 16:32:09

[Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

#2 2015-03-22 17:06:03

Re: [Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

#3 2015-03-22 17:12:31

Re: [Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

#4 2015-03-23 05:01:47

Re: [Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

#5 2015-03-23 05:31:08

Re: [Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

#6 2015-03-23 11:29:59

Re: [Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

#7 2015-03-23 13:15:09

Re: [Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

#8 2015-03-23 15:07:48

Re: [Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

#9 2015-03-23 15:12:06

Re: [Solved] Problems with xinit after upgrade xorg-xinit to 1.3.4-2 versi

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