This is a system happily running XFree on Debian. Configuring through xf86config gives the startup failure that I've posted at http://transpect.com/xfree/XFree86.0.log. The settings for monitor and video card are the same as already work in Debian on this system, so it's not that I've set those wrong. Trying to configure through xf86cfg is even more interesting, giving the log posted at http://transpect.com/xfree/XFree86.8.log - there appear to be major things wrong with the install, if the errors in this file mean anything. I've run xf86cfg without any trouble on other systems with XFree built from tar - it's a good little program, and there's no reason it shouldn't work here.
This is also spectacularly true after upgrading to XFree 4.2.1. The error files are at http://transpect.com/xfree/421/. This might be related to xf86config telling me, after I enter my Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM w/ S3 DAC from its database, that "This card is basically unsupported." But even for an unsupported cards XFree should revert to generic VGA, and not be presenting messages (from the xf86cfg attempt) like: "Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such file or directory)" and then the endless "Symbol XAAPixmapIndex from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/apm_drv.o is unresolved!" followed by scores of other unresolved symbols - which seems to be what crashes xf86cfg. Could the failure to open /dev/apm_bios be an imcompatibility with devfs? Since the attempt to start after the xf86config setup also gives "Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such file or directory)" it suggests this may be a problem. The xf86config'd startup also has a bunch of lines like "Not using default mode "1024x768" (insufficient memory for mode)." This is a joke, I'm running XFree 3.x on the system just now (in Debian) at 1024x768 noninterlaced at about 75 Hz - the card is very happy. So it looks like XFree 4.2.1 is trying to second guess the configuration, and it's brain dead on this. So is the solution: (1) ditch devfs, (2) revert to XFree 3.x, (3) install 4.2.1 by hand, or (4) buy another video card? Is there a clean way to install XFree 3.x (or 4.2.1 manually) on Gentoo? Is there some list of cheap generic PCI video cards that XFree 4.x stoops to support (if this is really the problem)? (I'm not a gamer, so the Diamond card I have does everything I need. If XFree 4.x really supports only the newest video cards and Gentoo will only support XFree 4.x perhaps a warning should be prominent on Gentoo's site listing precisely which video cards are actually supported - there are a lot of Diamond cards out here in the world, and it's precisely the older systems where there's the most incentive to optimize the software via Gentoo.)
It does look like 4.2.1 does not have accelerated support ported to my S3 video chip yet: http://www.xfree86.org/current/Status28.html#28. That still doesn't explain why it won't even run without acceleration. There are a lot of old S3 cards out here - they were dominant for a few years - so I hope there's a clean way to run Gentoo with 3.3.6 until the XFree crew finishes their ports.
I see bug 1186 is about putting 3.3.6 into the portage tree. Good! I still think there's a but here about _unaccelerated_ support - which should work in 4.2.1, right?
The method given at http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=13042 in the next-to-last comment works: In my case copying the XF86_S3 driver from /usr/X11R6/bin on a Debian install to /usr/X11R6/bin on Gentoo, linking /usr/X11R6/bin/X to it, and taking the XF86Config file from Debian and moving it to Gentoo's /etc, editing only the mouse line (since it's not at /dev/mouse on Gentoo). KDE appears to run fine on that. Which suggests that when XFree 3.3.6 drivers are needed 4.x should be installed, then 3.3.6 built separately and those two files moved into place?
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 1186 ***
