Xorg should be way more resilient or at least print detailed information in presence of errors in configuration files
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
xorg (Ubuntu) |
Won't Fix
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
Basically the real issue is that whenever there's an error in some xorg configruation file, xorg fails to start, instead of trying to fallback to some minimal working settings and/or printing debuggable information about the error.
It's too fragile. By doing something wrong with some xorg configuration file, you may end up with a system that won't even boot and allow you to fix the error.
I'll delete the original description as it is not relevant. (I guess it can be seen anyway in the edit history)
See also
https:/
which is a somehow related case (an error in some xorg config file rendering the whole system unusable, and no clue to the user about it)
---
.tmp.unity.
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnred
CompositorUnred
DistUpgraded: 2014-02-23 01:23:33,436 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: saucy
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
vboxhost, 4.3.2, 3.11.0-17-generic, x86_64: installed
vboxhost, 4.3.2, 3.11.0-18-generic, x86_64: installed
vboxhost, 4.3.2, 3.11.0-19-generic, x86_64: installed
vboxhost, 4.3.2, 3.11.0-20-generic, x86_64: installed
vboxhost, 4.3.2, 3.8.0-35-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingI
GraphicsCard:
Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0647]
NVIDIA Corporation GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M / GT 620M/625M/
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] GeForce 710M [1025:0691]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-11 (217 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MachineType: Acer Aspire V3-571G
MarkForUpload: True
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu6
PackageArchitec
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=
ProcVersionSign
Tags: saucy ubuntu compiz-0.9
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-20-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2014-02-23 (83 days ago)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo vboxusers
dmi.bios.date: 10/15/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
dmi.bios.version: V2.07
dmi.board.
dmi.board.name: VA50_HC_CR
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: Type2 - Board Version
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:
dmi.product.name: Aspire V3-571G
dmi.product.
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.10+
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.46-1ubuntu1
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
xserver.bootTime: Fri May 16 15:53:10 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:
Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
NOUVEAU(G0): [XvMC] Failed to initialize extension.
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
product id 8940
vendor AUO
xserver.version: 2:1.14.
Ok, the 52-something.conf file I had erroneously placed into /usr/share/ X11/xorg. conf.d/ had _not_ disappeared and was what triggered the issue.
The real issue then is that Xorg is way too fragile and fails to do one or more of three very basic things if it encounters errors in some configuration file:
- print a sensible error message informing of which configuration file contains errors
- try to skip that file (after prompting the user whether to do so)
- fallback to some workable defaults if everything else fails