I have in /etc/profiles: alias tv="startx -- -xf86config '/etc/X11/XF86ConfigTV'" alias noaccelx="startx -- -xf86config '/etc/X11/XF86Config.noaccel'" when I type tv, my system loads enabling my svideo out on my nvidia card using Nvidia drivers and when I type noaccelx I load the free nv xserver. I have had this config working since I bought the card last june (or july). recently this no longer works as a regular user (I employ the dont use x s root rule) I am not sure exactly when it stopped working given I only start x with the alias on rare occasion, but am sure that it did work with 4.3. When logged in as root it does work as expected just not as regular user. $ tv (or noaccelx) Using authority file /home/phlashback/.Xauthority Writing authority file /home/phlasback/.Xauthority Fatal server error: Invalid argument for -xf86config For non-root users, the file specified with -xf86config must be a relative path and must not contain any ".." elements. Using default XF86Config search path. When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send the full server output, not just the last messages. Please report problems to xfree86@xfree86.org giving up. xinit: No such file or directory (errno2): Unable to connect to X server xinit: No such process (errno3): server error. $cd /etc/X11 $startx -- -xconfig 'XF86ConfigTV' (as regular user it works) $startx -- -xconfig 'XF86Config.noaccel' (also works as normal user) Any Ideas as to what has happed... like I said, alias's work when being executed by root, but not a regular user, and if (and only if) i change to /etc/X11 first then I can startx (not through aliases) in all the modes want to.. but If I specify a path as a regular user i get the above error Thanks Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.type tv or noaccelx as anything but root 2. 3. Actual Results: x does not start Expected Results: load x the proper way based on alias phlashback@phlashback phlashback $ emerge info Portage 2.0.48_pre6 (default-x86-1.4, gcc-3.2.2, glibc-2.3.2-r1) ================================================================= System uname: 2.4.20-gentoo-r5 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) MP 1900+ GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://www.ibiblio.org/gentoo ftp://ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu/pub/gentoo http://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/pub/gentoo/ ftp://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/pub/gentoo/ ftp://mirror.iawnet.sandia.gov/pub/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/pub/linux/gentoo " CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /var/qmail/control /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/3.1/share/config /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/platex/config/ /usr/share/config" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/env.d" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage" USE="x86 apm zlib berkdb cjk ntpl mmx 3dnow sse nvidia pda gphoto2 cups slp X dga opengl xv fbcon -directfb kde qt qtmt arts gtk -gnome -bonobo -evo -gb -gtkhtml motif tcltk aalib imlib ncurses readline sdl svga lcms gif jpeg png tiff avi mpeg quicktime alsa -esd mikmod oss nas ggi dvd xmms oggvorbis flash encode snmp pam ssl crypt imap ldap tcpd xface mozilla spell truetype xml xml2 pdflib tetex guile java perl python ruby slang libwww libg++ atlas pic mysql odbc innodb qd gdbm samba nls doc gpm cdr usb wmf threads" COMPILER="gcc3" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=athlon-xp -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer" CXXFLAGS="-march=athlon-xp -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer" ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86" MAKEOPTS="-j3" AUTOCLEAN="yes" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" FEATURES="sandbox ccache"
wrong category
it might be because X is no longer installed setuid -- instead 4.3.0 makes use of the X wrapper.
any suggestions as to how to make this work....... should I right a script that moves config files back and forth, make a change to the wrapper (if so the what do I make changes to ;) Thanks in advance for any suggestions Chris
The error you are getting suggests that you might be calling the -xf86config option with the wrong argument. This option expects a relative path to the config file if you are not root (which you do not want to be when running X). The path in your alias is absolute. To see if this is it, try the following: as root (or plashback if he can access it): # cp /etc/X11/XF86ConfigTV /home/phlashback/ (make sure the user can access the new file) as phlashback: # cd # alias tv="startx -- -xfconfig './XF86ConfigTV'" # tv Does it work? If so you know what the problem is. But it really makes it a bit awkward to start with different configs. You could script this (Shell, Perl, Python or whatever flavor people eat these days)
Rodger, ok... now I feel like a complete idiot ;) I followed your instructions, and they worked. So then I said what the hell, and took the path completly out of the alias, and trusted x to figure whater to look. Guess what..... It worked to. Now my alias's look like: alias tv="startx -- -xf86config 'XF86ConfigTV'" alias noaccelx="startx -- -xf86config 'XF86Config.noaccel'" And the problem is now gone. Now the mistery: (disclamer I operate on two modes... document everything, and document nothing) When I first set the system up I documented everything, and sifting through notes I found that the reason I had the path was because it was the only way to make it work (using an alias of course ;) . So the mystery is.... what changed that caused it to work one way but not the other, and now back again..... At any rate, non of that is really importaint, the fact is my puter works as it should again with no need to script thanks to the mighty profile 8~). Thank you Chris
thanks Rodger. closing report.
