[arch-general] .xsession-errors - can't startx with that file

[Dutch Ingraham]

On Sun, Sep 18, 2016 at 10:14:35AM -0500, Doug Newgard wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:47:57 -0500
> Dutch Ingraham <stoa at 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 at 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.

Bingo.  Created the Xwrapper.config file with the line "needs_root_rights = yes"
and I can now startx and redirect stderr.

To get back the rootless operation, I then backed that file out and appended, to
~/.xserverrc, "vt$XDG_VTNR -keeptty."  This seems to be working at this point.
(Note I had, some days ago, appended the "vt$XDG_VTNR" to the .xserverrc, but
that alone doesn't work.  Need the -keeptty.)

Thanks for your help.