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Bug 307503 - Modesetting on Intel by default crashes on headless servers
Summary: Modesetting on Intel by default crashes on headless servers
Status: RESOLVED NEEDINFO
Alias: None
Product: Gentoo Linux
Classification: Unclassified
Component: [OLD] Core system (show other bugs)
Hardware: x86 Linux
: High critical (vote)
Assignee: Gentoo X packagers
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-03-02 16:31 UTC by Audiodef
Modified: 2010-03-07 20:57 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---


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Description Audiodef 2010-03-02 16:31:28 UTC
When setting up a headless server with an Intel video chipset, compiling Modesetting on Intel by default causes the server to crash shortly after boot. A headless server with an Intel graphics chipset must do without modesetting by default. This crash occurs on all kernel versions where modesetting on Intel by default is an option. 

It would be handy to be able to leave modesetting by default for times when a monitor is plugged into a normally headless machine. 

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Compile Modesetting on Intel by default into kernel on a system with an Intel graphics chipset, using the i915 driver (be sure to configure the rest of the kernel properly for the machine being tested)
2. Put sshd into the default run level
3. Remove monitor, keyboard and mouse
4. Reboot system
5. ssh into system, or run apache (anything will do)

Actual Results:  
System crashes within a few minutes of boot, leaving no access to machine. 


Expected Results:  
If modesetting by default cannot find a monitor to set, the driver should simply quit and allow the machine to otherwise continue, rather than hang the entire system.
Comment 1 Rafał Mużyło 2010-03-02 22:59:03 UTC
IIRC, in a near future, intel driver is planned to
become KMS-only.

Any chance that your problem is something like
the one xf86-video-ati people warn about,
that is that you shouldn't use any other framebuffer driver,
besides fbcon (including uvesafb, vga bot parameters, etc)
See http://wiki.x.org/wiki/radeonBuildHowTo

Probably there's a similar site for intel, but I don't have such card.
Comment 2 Audiodef 2010-03-03 15:07:57 UTC
Based on how many problems I and others have had with KMS, that would be a very bad idea. I know I've done everything "right" with KMS, including the things you've mentioned, and still have problems with it. 

I don't know who's idea it is to make KMS non-optional, but it would scare me off using Intel video to the point of getting ANY video card to replace any built-in Intel chip I have. So if this is Intel's idea, they're scaring off customers. If it's someone else's idea, they're scaring off Intel customers. 

Just. Not. A. Good. Idea. Better to leave it as an option. Gentoo is all about options and forcing users to accept a certain flavour is very un-Gentoo. 
Comment 3 Rafał Mużyło 2010-03-03 15:38:08 UTC
My bad, you're out of luck - it has already happened:
read http://www.mail-archive.com/xorg@lists.freedesktop.org/msg09895.html
Comment 4 Audiodef 2010-03-03 16:02:52 UTC
No problem - I just won't upgrade to that kernel on this machine! ;-)
Comment 5 Rafał Mużyło 2010-03-03 16:25:58 UTC
I think you've misunderstood something -
2.6.33 kernel seems to be required for the driver to function correctly,
not the other way around.

Also, to remind you about the fun ati-driver (the proprietary blob)
had with upgrade to 1.7 xorg-server - eventually it was either
new xorg-server or the old driver. Many have switched to xf86-video-ati then
(especially people with older cards).
Eventually, you'd be forced to upgrade too, so it'd better to figure out,
what the real problem is.
Comment 6 Rémi Cardona (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2010-03-07 09:53:02 UTC
If you don't use X on that server, don't enable DRM in your kernel. That's possibly the easiest work-around.

If you do want to use X, then you'll *have* to enable KMS. I think the KMS kernel option will be removed at some point, since enabling KMS is now mandatory with X drivers 2.10 and up.

In any case, I'd recommend filing a bug upstream [1] to really fix the bug, it's in everyone's best interest. Please paste the URL here when you do.

Thanks

[1] http://intellinuxgraphics.org/how_to_report_bug.html
Comment 7 Audiodef 2010-03-07 20:57:49 UTC
Thanks for the tip on DRM - I appreciate it! I'll try to get around to an upstream bug report.