I'm using xf86-video-nv on a stable amd64 system, and after an X11 update I started getting 100% reproducible crashes on X startup: [ 33896.413] Backtrace: [ 33896.413] 0: /usr/bin/Xorg (xorg_backtrace+0x36) [0x568536] [ 33896.413] 1: /usr/bin/Xorg (0x400000+0x16c1d9) [0x56c1d9] [ 33896.413] 2: /lib64/libpthread.so.0 (0x7f0b27d72000+0x10280) [0x7f0b27d82280] [ 33896.413] [ 33896.413] Segmentation fault at address (nil) [ 33896.413] Fatal server error: [ 33896.413] Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting With this configuration: Section "Device" Identifier "Nvidia" Driver "nv" EndSection Backporting upstream commit http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-nv/commit/?id=b3d61828837661c9b383378a7d6006752659108b to xf86-video-nv-2.1.18 or just upgrading to 2.1.20 reliably fixes the problem. Please get the relevant fixes to stable. My previous version of xorg-server was x11-base/xorg-server-1.11.2-r2. Also see similar RedHat bug https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=782995 which fixes a problem in a different driver in a similar way. gdb backtrace I obtained with the following: gdb.txt: file /usr/bin/Xorg set confirm off handle SIGUSR1 nostop handle SIGUSR2 nostop handle SIGPIPE nostop run bt full cont quit gdb --quiet --command=gdb.txt 2>&1 >gdb.out Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault. 0x0000000000000000 in ?? () #0 0x0000000000000000 in ?? () No symbol table info available. #1 0x00007f0b24a0b27a in vgaHWSaveColormap (scrninfp=0x21a3b50, save=0x21a5b88) at /var/tmp/portage/x1 1-base/xorg-server-1.12.2/work/xorg-server-1.12.2/hw/xfree86/vgahw/vgaHW.c:1124 hwp = 0x21a5b40 readError = 0 i = <optimized out> #2 0x00007f0b24a0c93d in vgaHWSave (scrninfp=0x21a3b50, save=0x21a5b88, flags=7) at /var/tmp/portage/x 11-base/xorg-server-1.12.2/work/xorg-server-1.12.2/hw/xfree86/vgahw/vgaHW.c:1155 No locals. #3 0x00007f0b24e3c0c0 in NVDACSave () from /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nv_drv.so No symbol table info available. #4 0x00007f0b24e3deb3 in NVScreenInit () from /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nv_drv.so No symbol table info available. #5 0x0000000000436071 in AddScreen (pfnInit=<optimized out>, argc=1, argv=0x7fff1b0f3258) at /var/tmp/portage/x11-base/xorg-server-1.12.2/work/xorg-server-1.12.2/dix/dispatch.c:3797
Why are you using -nv instead of nouveau or the proprietary driver?
(In reply to comment #1) > Why are you using -nv instead of nouveau or the proprietary driver? It's an old install, and -nv was just working fine. I don't like nvidia's binary blob, and nouveau seems quite experimental to me. Anyway, I'm just reporting a bug so it can be fixed.
I am marking this as fixed as 2.1.20 is in the tree. It will go stable in the next x11 stabilization round.