'Fatal server error:
Cannot move old log file ("var/log/Xorg.0.log" to "var/log/Xorg.0.log.old")'I thought I'd read something on starting x with 'startx' as an unprivileged user so I started my reading again. I came across some interesting things in "The X Window User HOWTO" by Hal Burgiss (latest update 2002-10-10).
The first (in Section 3. "Running X," last sentence of first paragraph) is the statement, "X runs with root privileges...since it needs raw acces to hardware devices." Since I'm using the Package-Users management system, I chowned /usr/X11/bin/xinit to 'root' and tried again--no joy. I the set the sticky bit for xinit and was able to get into the x environment as 'farmerdan.' But I don't like SUID unless I absolutely have to.
Returning to the HOWTO, I found in the first paragraph of Section 3.1 startx, when discussing 'xinit,' he says, "If no client program is specified on the command line, xinit will look for a .xinitrc file in the user's home directory, to run as a shell script." He repeats the 'shell script' concept again a few paragraphs later, but the kicker--and what sent me to this list--is the first paragraph of Section 3.1.2 xinitrc. He's talking about customizing the X environment and says, "Name it .xinitrc, make sure it is an executable script, and chmod +x." In his example he starts with '#!/bin/sh.'
I checked BLFS 6.0 in both the Xorg and XFree86 sections to see if I had missed anything and apparently I hadn't. There's no mention of making xinitrc or .xinitrc executable shell scripts. However, in my Mandrake 10.1 distro /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc is an executable shell script that starts with '#!/bin/sh.' I do not have .xinitrc in my home directory in Mandrake.
I haven't been to the Xorg wiki yet, but while I wait for returns on this post I will research it also.
My question is: Is the discussion in the HOWTO a "throwback" to earlier versions of XFree86 4.x.x or is this a "glitch" in the book and I should make ~/.xinitrc an executable shell script? Or is there something, that I have obviously forgotten, in LFS/BLFS that negates the need for the executable part of this discussion? As I said, I didn't have problems starting x as root, nor do I have any now that I set "xinit" SUID.
Thanks for any help.
Dan
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