/dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

yeg_deerlok · Yesterday 20:00:54

Hi,

I'm trying to install DaVinci Resolve (21.2 or whatever the most recent version is ) and I keep getting the error

/dev/tty No device or file exists

upon further investigation with Dolphin, /dev/tty (as well as other /dev/ttyx files) do in fact exist. I have the samme issue with my ~/.bash_profile script, which uses /dev/tty1, and that similarly turns up an error upon login; that /dev/tty1 cannot be found, despite it existing.

I've searched the web and asked for help on discord, to no avail, and I am wondering exactly what the problem is (since its clearly not that /dev/tty doesn't exist at all).

Last edited by yeg_deerlok (Yesterday 20:01:34)

seth · Yesterday 20:14:22

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/851 … ut-dev-tty

Looking at the filesystem from a different process doesn't mean much.
Where and how does DVR print that error resp. is it rather makepkg or some AUR helper for https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/davinci-resolve ?
What's your $SHELL ?
Does /bin/sh symlink bash?

yeg_deerlok · Yesterday 20:27:06

seth wrote:

Where and how does DVR print that error resp. is it rather makepkg or some AUR helper for https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/davinci-resolve

I downloaded the DVR_Linux.zip from the BlackMagic Design website and used the .run installer.

The error reads out as:

Error creating textual authentication agent: Error opening current controlling terminal for the process (`/dev/tty'): No such device or address

My shell is bash (/dev/bin/bash)

I tried running /bin/sh but nothing I could notice happened (xterm didn't open and my PC hard drive light didin't turn on so I don't think it actually did anything). In dolphin it had a chain/link on it, does that mean something? (obviously it does but is it relevant)

seth · Yesterday 20:31:52

Preferably try to not bypass pacman

stat /bin/sh /proc/$$/exe
echo $SHELL

What does your bashrc look like? Why is there a tty1 reference?

yeg_deerlok · Yesterday 20:40:33

seth wrote:

What does your bashrc look like? Why is there a tty1 reference?

~/.bashrc

#
# ~/.bashrc
#
 
# If not running interactively, don't do anything
[[ $- != *i* ]] && return

alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias grep='grep --color=auto'
PS1='[\u@\h \W]\$ '

stat/bin/sh /proc/$$/exe

  File: /bin/sh -> bash
  Size: 4               Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   symbolic link
Device: 0,30    Inode: 7373        Links: 1
Access: (0777/lrwxrwxrwx)  Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
Access: 2026-10-29 22:36:43.699434152 +0000
Modify: 2026-09-15 19:47:19.000000000 +0000
Change: 2026-10-28 22:32:52.289699523 +0000
 Birth: 2026-10-28 22:32:52.289642933 +0000
  File: /proc/16358/exe -> /usr/bin/bash
  Size: 0               Blocks: 0          IO Block: 1024   symbolic link
Device: 0,24    Inode: 74219       Links: 1
Access: (0777/lrwxrwxrwx)  Uid: ( 1000/  thomas)   Gid: ( 1000/  thomas)
Access: 2026-10-30 20:39:44.101524795 +0000
Modify: 2026-10-30 20:39:44.101524795 +0000
Change: 2026-10-30 20:39:44.101524795 +0000
 Birth: -

tty1 reference was part of a script someone told me to put in to run startx on login to my user

Last edited by yeg_deerlok (Yesterday 20:40:53)

seth · Yesterday 20:58:01

tty1 reference was part of a script someone told me to put in to run startx on login to my user

That would be .bash_profile and (you actually said that correctly… and) see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xinit# … X_at_login

The bashrc looks unsuspicious and you're running bash and /bin/sh is correct as well.
So what do the bash_profile and your xinitrc look like?

yeg_deerlok · Yesterday 23:07:13

seth wrote:

tty1 reference was part of a script someone told me to put in to run startx on login to my user
That would be .bash_profile and (you actually said that correctly… and) see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xinit# … X_at_login
The bashrc looks unsuspicious and you're running bash and /bin/sh is correct as well.
So what do the bash_profile and your xinitrc look like?

Sorry for the late reply, I was out and I don't have good signal in my area so I had no idea you responded.

~/.xinirc

xterm &
exec dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session wmaker

~/.bash_profile

#
# ~/.bash_profile
#

[[ -f ~/.bashrc ]] && . ~/.bashrc
if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] && [[$(tty1) = /dev/tty1]]; then
startx
fi

The ~/.bash_profile is from me asking someone how I would get startx to launch after login so if thats why the if statement is there.
I know i've messed something up with one of them (probably both) but I have no idea what

Last edited by yeg_deerlok (Yesterday 23:09:08)

yeg_deerlok · Yesterday 23:13:18

I've replaced the ~/.bash_profile with the script from the wiki page you linked and I no longer get the error message after logging in and it starts xorg when I log in now, however I still get the error message from the DVR installer

Last edited by yeg_deerlok (Yesterday 23:13:36)

dimich · Today 00:09:03

Slightly offtopic but

yeg_deerlok wrote:

if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] ...

This is not correct. If DISPLAY is not set or empty, [[ ... ]] expression evaluates to [[ -z ]] and yields "unexpected argument" error. Use

if [[ -z "$DISPLAY" ]] ...

yeg_deerlok wrote:

[[$(tty1) = /dev/tty1]]

This is also incorrect. Spaces are required after [[ and before ]]

UPD: $(tty1) is a nonsense (unless you have some custom command or shell function named tty1). It should be "$(tty)": execute tty command and substitute expression with its output.

Last edited by dimich (Today 03:16:32)

WorMzy · Today 01:55:22

Mod note: moving to AUR Issues.

seth · Today 08:31:25

As other have pointed out your bash_profile was pretty much nonsensical.
Your xinitrc remains broken, see the last link below, 2nd blue note on what to include at least and get rid of the dbus-launch.

Re-login and report on the outcome.

lilydjwg · Today 10:18:09

yeg_deerlok wrote:

/dev/tty No device or file exists

This doesn't mean the file is non-existent; it means that the process doesn't have a controlling terminal. /dev/tty is a special device file that refers to the controlling terminal, and will report the error you see when the process doesn't have one.

So, where did you run the program? From a terminal or not? Is there anything like chroot or container involved?

Also, I don't see the exact string in your quote. It is expected to report like this when perror / strerror is used:

/dev/tty: No such device

Copy-paste issue? Translation loss? Or some program tried to interpret the error itself?

Arch Linux

#1 Yesterday 20:00:54

/dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#2 Yesterday 20:14:22

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#3 Yesterday 20:27:06

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#4 Yesterday 20:31:52

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#5 Yesterday 20:40:33

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#6 Yesterday 20:58:01

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#7 Yesterday 23:07:13

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#8 Yesterday 23:13:18

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#9 Today 00:09:03

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#10 Today 01:55:22

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#11 Today 08:31:25

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

#12 Today 10:18:09

Re: /dev/tty exists but isn't found by multiple programs

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