On Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:47:57 -0500 Dutch Ingraham <stoa@gmx.us> wrote:
On Sun, Sep 18, 2016 at 09:23:01AM -0500, Doug Newgard wrote:
On Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:11:45 -0500 Dutch Ingraham <stoa@gmx.us> wrote:
Hello all:
TL;DR: One Arch installation will allow redirecting startx's stderr to a file, one won't. What is the difference between systems?
Is X running as root or as the user (rootless)? This can change based on configuration and on drivers used.
Excellent question - how is this conclusively determined? Note I have taken no explicit action either way, i.e., to enable rootlessness or not.
Looking at the xorg wiki, it appears as though 3 conditions are necessary for running "rootless":
1. systemd >= 216; OK, I'm at 231 on both machines; 2. start X via xinit; OK, I'm using xinit through startx, not a display manager; 3. if I can summarize, if using a proprietary display driver, such as Catalyst or Nvidia, need to take an extra step to run rootless; *this may be the issue.*
On the machine where redirection works, I am using the nvidia proprietary driver; on the machine where the error occurs, I am using the xf-video-ati driver.
So, unless I have step 3 above backwards (which is entirely possible), the question is how to redirect stderr when running rootless? (If I am in fact misunderstanding, please explain so a moron like me can understand!)
Thanks for your help.
rooted vs rootless does look like one difference between the systems. Next, I would enable rooted X on the problem machine and see if it works. If it does, we know we've narrowed down the issue.