Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

[David M. Karr]

Cygwin 1.7.9 on Win7SP1.

Almost a week ago now, I've been unable to run my XServer, and thus any 
of the apps that normally run with it, like Emacs.  When I run 
"startxwin", it just says "failed to activate core devices".

Here's the XWin.0.log:
--------------------------------
Welcome to the XWin X Server
Vendor: The Cygwin/X Project
Release: 1.10.1.0
OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 [Windows NT 6.1 build 7601] (Win32)
Package: version 1.10.1-1 built 2011-04-22

XWin was started with the following command line:

X :0 -multiwindow

ddxProcessArgument - Initializing default screens
winInitializeScreenDefaults - primary monitor w 1920 h 1080
winInitializeDefaultScreens - native DPI x 96 y 96
[498341.590] (II) xorg.conf is not supported
[498341.590] (II) See http://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html for 
more information
[498341.590] LoadPreferences: /home/David/.XWinrc not found
[498341.590] LoadPreferences: Loading /etc/X11/system.XWinrc
[498341.605] LoadPreferences: Done parsing the configuration file...
[498341.652] winDetectSupportedEngines - DirectDraw installed, allowing 
ShadowDD
[498341.652] winDetectSupportedEngines - Windows NT, allowing PrimaryDD
[498341.652] winDetectSupportedEngines - DirectDraw4 installed, allowing 
ShadowDDNL
[498341.730] winDetectSupportedEngines - Returning, supported engines 
0000001f
[498341.730] winSetEngine - Multi Window or Rootless => ShadowGDI
[498341.730] winScreenInit - Using Windows display depth of 32 bits per 
pixel
[498341.746] winAllocateFBShadowGDI - Creating DIB with width: 1920 
height: 1080 depth: 32
[498341.746] winFinishScreenInitFB - Masks: 00ff0000 0000ff00 000000ff
[498341.746] winInitVisualsShadowGDI - Masks 00ff0000 0000ff00 000000ff 
BPRGB 8 d 24 bpp 32
[498341.746] winInitMultiWindowWM - Calling pthread_mutex_lock ()
[498341.761] Screen 0 added at virtual desktop coordinate (0,0).
[498341.761] winMultiWindowXMsgProc - Calling pthread_mutex_lock ()
[498341.761] MIT-SHM extension disabled due to lack of kernel support
[498341.761] XFree86-Bigfont extension local-client optimization 
disabled due to lack of shared memory support in the kernel
[498341.808] (II) AIGLX: Loaded and initialized /usr/lib/dri/swrast_dri.so
[498341.808] (II) GLX: Initialized DRISWRAST GL provider for screen 0
[498341.808] [dix] Could not init font path element 
/usr/share/fonts/OTF/, removing from list!
[498341.808] [dix] Could not init font path element 
/usr/share/fonts/Type1/, removing from list!
[498341.949] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
[498341.949] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
[498341.949] (EE) XKB: Failed to load keymap. Loading default keymap 
instead.
[498342.089] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
[498342.089] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
[498342.089] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
[498342.089] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or 
incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
[498342.089]
Fatal server error:
[498342.089] Failed to activate core devices.
------------------------------

I looked in the FAQ for the entry corresponding to this error, but none 
of the steps found any issues.  I've tried doing "rebaseall" according 
to the instructions, but that hasn't made any difference.  In fact, my 
problems started when I ran "rebaseall" to fix a different problem.  I 
was getting "Doing vfork: resource temporarily unavailable" when I 
started up Emacs, and some advice I found suggested running "rebaseall".

I've run "cygcheck -c" and got all OK.  I ran "cygcheck -s" and the only 
part that seemed vaguely suspicious was this excerpt:

    12k 2010/08/03 C:\/usr/bin/cygrunsrv: warning: OpenService failed 
for 'DcomLaunch': Win32 error 5
Access is denied.
/usr/bin/cygrunsrv: warning: OpenService failed for 'pla': Win32 error 5
Access is denied.
/usr/bin/cygrunsrv: warning: OpenService failed for 'QWAVE': Win32 error 5
Access is denied.
/usr/bin/cygrunsrv: warning: OpenService failed for 'RpcEptMapper': 
Win32 error 5
Access is denied.
/usr/bin/cygrunsrv: warning: OpenService failed for 'RpcSs': Win32 error 5
Access is denied.
cygwin\bin\cygXcomposite-1.dll


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Re: Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

[Jon TURNEY]

On 23/04/2011 17:47, David M. Karr wrote:
> Almost a week ago now, I've been unable to run my XServer, and thus any of the
> apps that normally run with it, like Emacs.

I realise this situation is an inconvenience, but please don't post to
multiple lists just because you don't get a quick response.

> When I run "startxwin", it just
> says "failed to activate core devices".
[snip]
> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Failed to load keymap. Loading default keymap instead.
> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
> [498342.089] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
> [498342.089] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or
> incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
> [498342.089] Fatal server error: Failed to activate core devices.
> ------------------------------
> 
> I looked in the FAQ for the entry corresponding to this error, but none of the
> steps found any issues.  I've tried doing "rebaseall" according to the
> instructions, but that hasn't made any difference.  In fact, my problems
> started when I ran "rebaseall" to fix a different problem.  I was getting
> "Doing vfork: resource temporarily unavailable" when I started up Emacs, and
> some advice I found suggested running "rebaseall".

Unfortunately, rebaseall is a rather limited workaround, rather than a
solution for these issues (for reasons which have been discussed extensively
in the past)

There has been a recent cygwin DLL change which *might* help in this
situation, so I'd suggest you try the 2011-04-07 snapshot from [1] and see if
that makes a difference. (I wouldn't recommend later ones as they seem to have
a regression in a different area)

[1] http://cygwin.com/snapshots/

-- 
Jon TURNEY
Volunteer Cygwin/X X Server maintainer

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Re: Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

[Christopher Faylor]

On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 04:23:56PM +0100, Jon TURNEY wrote:
>On 23/04/2011 17:47, David M. Karr wrote:
>> Almost a week ago now, I've been unable to run my XServer, and thus any of the
>> apps that normally run with it, like Emacs.
>
>I realise this situation is an inconvenience, but please don't post to
>multiple lists just because you don't get a quick response.
>
>> When I run "startxwin", it just
>> says "failed to activate core devices".
>[snip]
>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Failed to load keymap. Loading default keymap instead.
>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>> [498342.089] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
>> [498342.089] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or
>> incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
>> [498342.089] Fatal server error: Failed to activate core devices.
>> ------------------------------
>> 
>> I looked in the FAQ for the entry corresponding to this error, but none of the
>> steps found any issues.  I've tried doing "rebaseall" according to the
>> instructions, but that hasn't made any difference.  In fact, my problems
>> started when I ran "rebaseall" to fix a different problem.  I was getting
>> "Doing vfork: resource temporarily unavailable" when I started up Emacs, and
>> some advice I found suggested running "rebaseall".
>
>Unfortunately, rebaseall is a rather limited workaround, rather than a
>solution for these issues (for reasons which have been discussed extensively
>in the past)
>
>There has been a recent cygwin DLL change which *might* help in this
>situation, so I'd suggest you try the 2011-04-07 snapshot from [1] and see if
>that makes a difference. (I wouldn't recommend later ones as they seem to have
>a regression in a different area)
>
>[1] http://cygwin.com/snapshots/

Also, I've found that using a different base address with rebaseall
seems to help with some X problems:

dash -c "rebaseall -b 0x77000000"

http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2011-04/msg00306.html

cgf

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Re: Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

[David M. Karr]

On 4/25/2011 8:23 AM, Jon TURNEY wrote:
> On 23/04/2011 17:47, David M. Karr wrote:
>> Almost a week ago now, I've been unable to run my XServer, and thus any of the
>> apps that normally run with it, like Emacs.
> I realise this situation is an inconvenience, but please don't post to
> multiple lists just because you don't get a quick response.

I didn't do that entirely because I hadn't seen a response.  I 
considered the possibility that this was caused by an issue outside of 
the X server itself.

>> When I run "startxwin", it just
>> says "failed to activate core devices".
> [snip]
>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Failed to load keymap. Loading default keymap instead.
>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>> [498342.089] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
>> [498342.089] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or
>> incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
>> [498342.089] Fatal server error: Failed to activate core devices.
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> I looked in the FAQ for the entry corresponding to this error, but none of the
>> steps found any issues.  I've tried doing "rebaseall" according to the
>> instructions, but that hasn't made any difference.  In fact, my problems
>> started when I ran "rebaseall" to fix a different problem.  I was getting
>> "Doing vfork: resource temporarily unavailable" when I started up Emacs, and
>> some advice I found suggested running "rebaseall".
> Unfortunately, rebaseall is a rather limited workaround, rather than a
> solution for these issues (for reasons which have been discussed extensively
> in the past)
>
> There has been a recent cygwin DLL change which *might* help in this
> situation, so I'd suggest you try the 2011-04-07 snapshot from [1] and see if
> that makes a difference. (I wouldn't recommend later ones as they seem to have
> a regression in a different area)
>
> [1] http://cygwin.com/snapshots/

Thanks, I'll move towards that.

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Re: Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

[David M. Karr]

On 4/25/2011 10:07 AM, Christopher Faylor wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 04:23:56PM +0100, Jon TURNEY wrote:
>> On 23/04/2011 17:47, David M. Karr wrote:
>>> Almost a week ago now, I've been unable to run my XServer, and thus any of the
>>> apps that normally run with it, like Emacs.
>> I realise this situation is an inconvenience, but please don't post to
>> multiple lists just because you don't get a quick response.
>>
>>> When I run "startxwin", it just
>>> says "failed to activate core devices".
>> [snip]
>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Failed to load keymap. Loading default keymap instead.
>>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>>> [498342.089] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
>>> [498342.089] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or
>>> incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
>>> [498342.089] Fatal server error: Failed to activate core devices.
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> I looked in the FAQ for the entry corresponding to this error, but none of the
>>> steps found any issues.  I've tried doing "rebaseall" according to the
>>> instructions, but that hasn't made any difference.  In fact, my problems
>>> started when I ran "rebaseall" to fix a different problem.  I was getting
>>> "Doing vfork: resource temporarily unavailable" when I started up Emacs, and
>>> some advice I found suggested running "rebaseall".
>> Unfortunately, rebaseall is a rather limited workaround, rather than a
>> solution for these issues (for reasons which have been discussed extensively
>> in the past)
>>
>> There has been a recent cygwin DLL change which *might* help in this
>> situation, so I'd suggest you try the 2011-04-07 snapshot from [1] and see if
>> that makes a difference. (I wouldn't recommend later ones as they seem to have
>> a regression in a different area)
>>
>> [1] http://cygwin.com/snapshots/
> Also, I've found that using a different base address with rebaseall
> seems to help with some X problems:
>
> dash -c "rebaseall -b 0x77000000"
>
> http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2011-04/msg00306.html
>

Ok, that appears to have fixed my problem.  Is that a "permanent" fix?

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Re: Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

[Larry Hall (Cygwin-X)]

On 4/26/2011 1:16 AM, David M. Karr wrote:
> On 4/25/2011 10:07 AM, Christopher Faylor wrote:
>> On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 04:23:56PM +0100, Jon TURNEY wrote:
>>> On 23/04/2011 17:47, David M. Karr wrote:
>>>> Almost a week ago now, I've been unable to run my XServer, and thus any
>>>> of the
>>>> apps that normally run with it, like Emacs.
>>> I realise this situation is an inconvenience, but please don't post to
>>> multiple lists just because you don't get a quick response.
>>>
>>>> When I run "startxwin", it just
>>>> says "failed to activate core devices".
>>> [snip]
>>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Failed to load keymap. Loading default keymap
>>>> instead.
>>>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>>>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>>>> [498342.089] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
>>>> [498342.089] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or
>>>> incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
>>>> [498342.089] Fatal server error: Failed to activate core devices.
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> I looked in the FAQ for the entry corresponding to this error, but none
>>>> of the
>>>> steps found any issues. I've tried doing "rebaseall" according to the
>>>> instructions, but that hasn't made any difference. In fact, my problems
>>>> started when I ran "rebaseall" to fix a different problem. I was getting
>>>> "Doing vfork: resource temporarily unavailable" when I started up Emacs, and
>>>> some advice I found suggested running "rebaseall".
>>> Unfortunately, rebaseall is a rather limited workaround, rather than a
>>> solution for these issues (for reasons which have been discussed extensively
>>> in the past)
>>>
>>> There has been a recent cygwin DLL change which *might* help in this
>>> situation, so I'd suggest you try the 2011-04-07 snapshot from [1] and see if
>>> that makes a difference. (I wouldn't recommend later ones as they seem to
>>> have
>>> a regression in a different area)
>>>
>>> [1] http://cygwin.com/snapshots/
>> Also, I've found that using a different base address with rebaseall
>> seems to help with some X problems:
>>
>> dash -c "rebaseall -b 0x77000000"
>>
>> http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2011-04/msg00306.html
>>
>
> Ok, that appears to have fixed my problem. Is that a "permanent" fix?

For now, yes. ;-)

-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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Re: Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

[Jon TURNEY]

On 26/04/2011 16:37, Larry Hall (Cygwin-X) wrote:
> On 4/26/2011 1:16 AM, David M. Karr wrote:
>> On 4/25/2011 10:07 AM, Christopher Faylor wrote:
>>> On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 04:23:56PM +0100, Jon TURNEY wrote:
>>>> On 23/04/2011 17:47, David M. Karr wrote:
>>>>> Almost a week ago now, I've been unable to run my XServer, and thus any
>>>>> of the
>>>>> apps that normally run with it, like Emacs.
>>>> I realise this situation is an inconvenience, but please don't post to
>>>> multiple lists just because you don't get a quick response.
>>>>
>>>>> When I run "startxwin", it just
>>>>> says "failed to activate core devices".
>>>> [snip]
>>>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>>>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>>>>> [498341.949] (EE) XKB: Failed to load keymap. Loading default keymap
>>>>> instead.
>>>>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Could not invoke xkbcomp
>>>>> [498342.089] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
>>>>> [498342.089] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
>>>>> [498342.089] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or
>>>>> incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
>>>>> [498342.089] Fatal server error: Failed to activate core devices.
>>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> I looked in the FAQ for the entry corresponding to this error, but none
>>>>> of the
>>>>> steps found any issues. I've tried doing "rebaseall" according to the
>>>>> instructions, but that hasn't made any difference. In fact, my problems
>>>>> started when I ran "rebaseall" to fix a different problem. I was getting
>>>>> "Doing vfork: resource temporarily unavailable" when I started up Emacs, and
>>>>> some advice I found suggested running "rebaseall".
>>>> Unfortunately, rebaseall is a rather limited workaround, rather than a
>>>> solution for these issues (for reasons which have been discussed extensively
>>>> in the past)
>>>>
>>>> There has been a recent cygwin DLL change which *might* help in this
>>>> situation, so I'd suggest you try the 2011-04-07 snapshot from [1] and see if
>>>> that makes a difference. (I wouldn't recommend later ones as they seem to
>>>> have
>>>> a regression in a different area)

Looking into this a bit more, it's not quite clear what's going on here:

There's a few failure modes which can be reported as "XKB: Could not invoke
xkbcomp", but the assumption that this is a fork() failure seems likely, given
that the problem can be made to go away by rebasing.

But I think that, at the point which fork() is invoked, XWin hasn't loaded any
DLLs yet, so the fork() failure shouldn't be due to an inability to remap DLLs
in the child to the same address as the parent.

>>>> [1] http://cygwin.com/snapshots/
>>> Also, I've found that using a different base address with rebaseall
>>> seems to help with some X problems:
>>>
>>> dash -c "rebaseall -b 0x77000000"
>>>
>>> http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2011-04/msg00306.html
>>>
>>
>> Ok, that appears to have fixed my problem. Is that a "permanent" fix?
> 
> For now, yes. ;-)

Humour-impaired persons, please note smiley

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Re: Still can't run XServer or any apps that require it

[Ryan Johnson]

On 2:59 PM, Jon TURNEY wrote:
> Looking into this a bit more, it's not quite clear what's going on here:
>
> There's a few failure modes which can be reported as "XKB: Could not invoke
> xkbcomp", but the assumption that this is a fork() failure seems likely, given
> that the problem can be made to go away by rebasing.
>
> But I think that, at the point which fork() is invoked, XWin hasn't loaded any
> DLLs yet, so the fork() failure shouldn't be due to an inability to remap DLLs
> in the child to the same address as the parent.
The address space layout randomization feature as implemented in 
Win7-x64 (and probably Vista/x86 as well) means that *any* dll can fail 
to map to the same address as its parent. Often it's the parent that's 
messed up, which means no subsequent fork() is likely to succeed.

That's why the problem comes in spurts: if you get a good parent, where 
nothing got pushed around the wrong way, fork() will eventually succeed 
thanks to Win7's feature which restarts crashed processes automatically 
(essentially retrying the fork until a "good" child arrives). If you get 
a bad parent, though, the chances of getting a compatibly bad child are 
pretty low. I see this a lot in emacs; Windows usually gives up after 
5-6 crashes in a row.

Enabling the tsaware bit for every dll should also help (see docs for 
peflagsall), because Windows will at least do its best to not clobber 
any dll with any other dll, but it still doesn't prevent a random thread 
stack or heap placement from pushing a dll out of its way.

>>>>> [1] http://cygwin.com/snapshots/
>>>> Also, I've found that using a different base address with rebaseall
>>>> seems to help with some X problems:
>>>>
>>>> dash -c "rebaseall -b 0x77000000"
>>>>
>>>> http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2011-04/msg00306.html
>>>>
>>> Ok, that appears to have fixed my problem. Is that a "permanent" fix?
>> For now, yes. ;-)
> Humour-impaired persons, please note smiley
AFAICT, that's actually a 100% accurate description of rebaseall. The 
"fix"will last until the next time Windows hands you a badly laid-out 
parent process (transient problem, just restart the parent), or until 
the next run of cygwin setup replaces rebased dlls with 
newer-but-not-rebased versions (permanent, have to re-rebaseall).

Ryan

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