[SOLVED] Question about the scripts for X startup

johnsfine · 07-02-2010, 06:44 AM

For Mepis 8.5:

Where in what script can I add the -logverbose 5 parameter so it will be used in every X startup?

I often find myself diagnosing problems in various obscure display systems with the nvidia driver. Important extra info goes in the log if the nvidia driver sees a logverbose option.

I have discovered that I can switch to text mode (ctrl-alt-F1), log in as root, and then stop and restart X with

Code:

/etc/init.d kdm stop
startx -- -logverbose 5

But I would rather have the -logverbose 5 in the default startup of X.

I don't understand all the significance of starting X with startx rather than with /etc/init.d/kdm start. I know that the later brings me to a GUI login screen, while the former brings me directly to a desktop logged in as the same user that gave the startx command. But for this topic, the relevant difference is that startx processes the logverbose switch while /etc/init.d/kdm start doesn't.

I don't understand advanced bash scripting well enough to read the startx script and figure out what it does with its parameters, nor well enough to read the init scripts to figure out where X is really started.

paulsm4 · 07-02-2010, 11:13 PM

Hi -

I fired up my (older, 7.x) copy of MEPIS, and I couldn't find any obvious way to customize X server startup, either.

Then I found this:

Quote:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg

Note: If you start X with kdm, the startx script does not seem to be executed. X options must be appended to the variable "ServerArgsLocal" or "ServerCmd" in the /usr/share/config/kdm/kdmrc file. By default kdm options are:

Code:

  ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp
  ServerCmd=/usr/bin/X

'Hope that helps .. PSM

johnsfine · 07-03-2010, 07:41 AM

Thanks. That looks like it is exactly the info I will need:
Find the kdmrc file and find/modify one of those two lines in the kdmrc file.

I'm at the wrong computer, so I can't try it now.

When I am able to try it, I'll report back here with some details succeed or fail.

johnsfine · 07-03-2010, 10:07 AM

It worked. Thanks again.

I found the file. In Mepis 8.5 it is
/etc/kde4/kdm/kdmrc

In that file I found the line

Code:

ServerArgsLocal=-dpi 96 -nolisten tcp

I changed that to

Code:

ServerArgsLocal=-dpi 96 -nolisten tcp -logverbose 9

Now a normal boot of Mepis puts the extra detail into
/var/log/Xorg.o.log

Based on the nvidia README file, I thought that driver had only two levels of detail: low detail for logverbose 4 or less and high detail for 5 or more. But there is some extra info that seems to be from that driver that comes out with logverbose 9 that I hadn't gotten at logverbose 5. I still can't diagnose the current problem I'm having with the display on this system (see my other recent thread) but this change will simplify the process of experimenting on this computer and on other systems where I often diagnose similar display issues.