[Lucid] Opening framebuffer device by major/minor number causes display to change colours

[Marc Tardif]

Binary package hint: xorg

When running the lshw command as root on systems with some models of Intel graphics controllers, such as the 954GME, the display colours change and become very strange. The workaround is simply to switch to another tty and back, for example: ctrl-alt-f1, ctrl-alt-f7.

The problem seems to be caused by the part of lshw which attempts to just access the framebuffer by scanning devices by major and minor numbers. I will attach the code isolated to a single file and the resulting strace which is quite readable. To reproduce the problem, simply compile the attached code without the need for any special flags and run as root.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Mar 25 13:46:04 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta i386 (20100318)
MachineType: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. NC10
Package: xorg 1:7.5+3ubuntu1
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-16-generic root=UUID=ec4f7843-bce0-4e9d-8aeb-cdd7555d7a09 ro quiet splash initcall_debug
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic i686
dmi.bios.date: 12/11/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
dmi.bios.version: 04CA.MP00.20081211.KTW
dmi.board.name: NC10
dmi.board.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLtd.:bvr04CA.MP00.20081211.KTW:bd12/11/2008:svnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:pnNC10:pvrNotApplicable:rvnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:rnNC10:rvrNotApplicable:cvnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: NC10
dmi.product.version: Not Applicable
dmi.sys.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-16-generic