Debian Bug report logs - #346408
xserver-xorg: dexconf inserts bogus X module Load -lines into xorg.conf

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Samuli Suominen <drac@unk.fi>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: xserver-xorg: dexconf inserts bogus X module Load -lines into xorg.conf

Date: Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:36:34 +0200

Package: xserver-xorg
Version: All
Severity: important


This report is about modules, that gets added into xorg.conf, for all
versions of XFree86 and X.org that all versions Debian comes with. From
stable, to experimental.

dexconf, alias dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg.. inserts this, and let me
comment on few of these.

Section "Module"

Load	"bitmap" # Should be never present, as it gets automatically
loaded. This is a font module, and loading it in xorg.conf makes X try
to load it twice.

Load	"dbe" # This is okay. Double Buffering Extension, very important.

Load	"ddc" # This should be never present, as it gets automatically
loaded.

Load	"dri" # This shouldn't be available choice is user has selected
driver vga, vesa or nv.

Load	"extmod" # This is okay, but if you look into "man xorg.conf"
you'll find option NOT to include DGA extension with extmod, and for a
good reason.. DGA causes instability as it access videoram without 
consulting X about it.

Load	"freetype" # This is okay. Fonts.
Load	"glx" # This is okay. GLX Extension.

Load	"int10" # This should be never present, as it is for
developers.. and they know how to add it if they need it.

Load	"record" # This should be never present, as it is for
developers.. and they know how to add it if they need it.

Load	"type1" # This is okay, for fonts.

Load	"vbe" # I believe this gets automatically loaded also, but about
this one.. I'm not 100% positive.

EndSection

I've also seen configurations, with Load "i2c", that is bogus, for sure.

I don't know how dexconf gets the "list" you get to pick your modules
from, but it should be changed.. so that there is NO:
bitmap, i2c, vbe, record, int10, GLcore (gets also automatically
loaded), speedo (deprecated font system). 
Also, it should have availability to add instead of Load "extmod", this:

SubSection      "extmod"
Option          "omit xfree86-dga"
EndSubSection

and this loads all of extmod, except DGA extension. specially good for
binary drivers, like NVidia and fglrx but it makes other drivers
unstable too.			

Excuse my bad english. Thanks, S. Suominen

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.4.27
Excuse my bad english. Thanks, S. SuominenLocale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Message #12 received at 346408@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Michel Dänzer <daenzer@debian.org>

To: Samuli Suominen <drac@unk.fi>, 346408@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#346408: xserver-xorg: dexconf inserts bogus X module Load -lines into xorg.conf

Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 12:28:02 +0100

On Sat, 2006-01-07 at 19:36 +0200, Samuli Suominen wrote: 
> 
> Load	"dri" # This shouldn't be available choice is user has selected
> driver vga, vesa or nv.

Why, what's the problem with loading this module in that case?


> Load	"extmod" # This is okay, but if you look into "man xorg.conf"
> you'll find option NOT to include DGA extension with extmod, and for a
> good reason.. DGA causes instability as it access videoram without 
> consulting X about it.

That functionality is only available to clients running as root by
default. The DGA extension is much more widely used for its absolute
mouse movement functionality, which poses no security risk. So this is
fine as it is IMO.


> Load	"record" # This should be never present, as it is for
> developers.. and they know how to add it if they need it.

A bunch of end user apps are using this extension, see (the reverse
dependencies of) libxtst6.


> Load	"vbe" # I believe this gets automatically loaded also, but about
> this one.. I'm not 100% positive.

That's right I believe.


I concur with your analysis on the other modules.


-- 
Earthling Michel Dänzer      |     Debian (powerpc), X and DRI developer
Libre software enthusiast    |   http://svcs.affero.net/rm.php?r=daenzer

Message #17 received at 346408@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Samuli Suominen <drac@unk.fi>

To: Michel Dänzer <daenzer@debian.org>

Cc: 346408@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: [SPAM?] Re: Bug#346408: xserver-xorg: dexconf inserts bogus X module Load -lines into xorg.conf

Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:16:16 +0200 (EET)

>> Load	"dri" # This shouldn't be available choice is user has selected
>> driver vga, vesa or nv.
> Why, what's the problem with loading this module in that case?

Not a problem with those actually, but it becomes problem for some people 
when changing to NVidia propietary drivers from one of them as it doesn't 
use DRI.. and loading "dri" results "unresolved symbols" (in Xorg.0.log)

>> Load	"extmod" # This is okay, but if you look into "man xorg.conf"
>> you'll find option NOT to include DGA extension with extmod, and for a
>> good reason.. DGA causes instability as it access videoram without
>> consulting X about it.
> That functionality is only available to clients running as root by
> default. The DGA extension is much more widely used for its absolute
> mouse movement functionality, which poses no security risk. So this is
> fine as it is IMO.

But still, there could be an option to leave DGA out from extmod? Maybe 
with a note/warning, that some applications require DGA.

>> Load	"record" # This should be never present, as it is for
>> developers.. and they know how to add it if they need it.
> A bunch of end user apps are using this extension, see (the reverse
> dependencies of) libxtst6.

Ok, wasn't aware of that.

>> Load	"vbe" # I believe this gets automatically loaded also, but about
>> this one.. I'm not 100% positive.
> That's right I believe.

I just checked my Xorg.0.log (actually i'm using a custom one, 7.0 now..) 
but I didn't see "vbe" there. I guess I was wrong about it. It's for 
video4linux? *clueless*

Message #22 received at 346408@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Michel Dänzer <daenzer@debian.org>

To: Samuli Suominen <drac@unk.fi>

Cc: 346408@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: [SPAM?] Re: Bug#346408: xserver-xorg: dexconf inserts bogus X module Load -lines into xorg.conf

Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:46:06 +0100

On Tue, 2006-01-24 at 17:16 +0200, Samuli Suominen wrote:
> >> Load	"dri" # This shouldn't be available choice is user has selected
> >> driver vga, vesa or nv.
> > Why, what's the problem with loading this module in that case?
> 
> Not a problem with those actually, but it becomes problem for some people 
> when changing to NVidia propietary drivers from one of them as it doesn't 
> use DRI.. and loading "dri" results "unresolved symbols" (in Xorg.0.log)

I don't think the Debian X packages should go out of their way to deal
with proprietary driver issues. In particular, the nv driver may very
well get DRI support in the future.


> >> Load	"extmod" # This is okay, but if you look into "man xorg.conf"
> >> you'll find option NOT to include DGA extension with extmod, and for a
> >> good reason.. DGA causes instability as it access videoram without
> >> consulting X about it.
> > That functionality is only available to clients running as root by
> > default. The DGA extension is much more widely used for its absolute
> > mouse movement functionality, which poses no security risk. So this is
> > fine as it is IMO.
> 
> But still, there could be an option to leave DGA out from extmod? Maybe 
> with a note/warning, that some applications require DGA.

Seems overkill to me, but a patch might still get accepted.


> >> Load	"vbe" # I believe this gets automatically loaded also, but about
> >> this one.. I'm not 100% positive.
> > That's right I believe.
> 
> I just checked my Xorg.0.log (actually i'm using a custom one, 7.0 now..) 
> but I didn't see "vbe" there. I guess I was wrong about it. It's for 
> video4linux? *clueless*

No, VBE stands for Vesa BIOS Extensions. The module isn't used by all
drivers, and those that use it should load it on demand.


-- 
Earthling Michel Dänzer      |     Debian (powerpc), X and DRI developer
Libre software enthusiast    |   http://svcs.affero.net/rm.php?r=daenzer

Message #27 received at 346408@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Xavier Bestel <xavier.bestel@free.fr>

To: Michel Dänzer <daenzer@debian.org>, 346408@bugs.debian.org

Cc: Samuli Suominen <drac@unk.fi>

Subject: Re: Bug#346408: [SPAM?] Re: Bug#346408: xserver-xorg: dexconf inserts bogus X module Load -lines into xorg.conf

Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:10:21 +0100

On Tue, 2006-01-24 at 17:46, Michel Dänzer wrote:
> I don't think the Debian X packages should go out of their way to deal
> with proprietary driver issues. In particular, the nv driver may very
> well get DRI support in the future.

That would be awesome. Someone is working on this ?

	Xav

Message #32 received at 346408-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Brice Goglin <Brice.Goglin@ens-lyon.org>

To: 346408-done@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Bug#346408: xserver-xorg: dexconf inserts bogus X module Load -lines into xorg.conf

Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 22:53:01 +0200

Version: 1:7.2-2

Closing since dexconf does not generate any Load lines anymore (since
the server loads its default).

Brice

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