[SOLVED] startx not working in Stretch (with sysvinit-core)

[johnR]

I just did a fresh Stretch installation on amd64. I'm using sysvinit-core which boots ok and works fine in text mode. 'startx' doesn't work, however. I'm using wmaker (no Gnome or KDE). I've used this setup previously in jessie with no problems.

I installed dbus (which I haven't used in the past) after I noticed a dbus-related error in Xorg.0.log. After that Xorg detected my Radeon HD3200 hardware ok and loaded the correct modules. It then stopped with the following error:

Unable to retrieve master
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE)AddScreen/ScreenInit failed for driver 0

Anyone got any ideas what is wrong (apart from the lack of systemd, which I prefer to avoid)?

[johnR]

Further info: startx works if run as root.

[johnR]

I found this bug report which may be related:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo ... bug=801605

I tried installing xserver-xorg-legacy but startx still gives the same error.

[oswaldkelso]

Not on Debian and not using sysvinit (runit here) .

I have how ever come across a similar state where root can startx and user can't. I've found I needed to remove or rename any user .Xauthority files then run kill X even though it didn't start before I could log in again. ymmv

[johnR]

Problem solved. After installing xserver-xorg-legacy I needed to add the following line to /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config:

needs_root_rights=yes

See Xwrapper.config(5) manpage for details.

After this startx works for normal users. Running dbus is not necessary.

EDIT: Also need to add user to video group or /dev/dri fails to open due to lack of permission.