On Thu, Mar 21, 2024 at 10:29:51AM +1100, Ralph Ronnquist via Dng wrote:

Ralph, thanks for your patience!

My .xinitrc is:

#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)

  if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
    for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
      [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
    done
    unset f
  fi

exec startfluxbox

Xorg.0.log starts:

  [293324.757]
  X.Org X Server 1.21.1.7
  X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
  [293324.757] Current Operating System: Linux lenin 6.1.0-17-amd64 #1 
    SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.69-1 (2023-12-30) x86>
  [293324.757] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.1.0-17-amd64 
    root=UUID=c581c272-29b9-40d1-81a6-1a33ed539bb9 ro
  [293324.757] xorg-server 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u2devuan1 
    (https://www.devuan.org/os/community)
  [293324.758] Current version of pixman: 0.42.2
  [293324.758]    Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
    to make sure that you have the latest version.
  [293324.758] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) 
    default setting,
    (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
    (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
  [293324.758] (==) Log file: 
    "/home/haines/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log", Time: Thu Mar 21 
    05:05:58 2024
  [293324.759] (==) Using system config directory 
    "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
  [293324.759] (==) No Layout section.  Using the first Screen 
    section.
  [293324.759] (==) No screen section available. Using defaults.
  [293324.759] (**) |-->Screen "Default Screen Section" (0)
  [293324.759] (**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
  [293324.759] (==) No monitor specified for screen "Default Screen 
    Section".
    Using a default monitor configuration.
  [293324.759] (==) Automatically adding devices

There are warnings that don't seem significant

  [293324.910] (II) modeset(0): using drv /dev/dri/card0
  [293324.910] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fbdev
  [293324.910] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw"
  [293324.910] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
  [293324.911] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
  [293324.911] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
  [293324.911]    compiled for 1.21.1.7, module version = 0.0.2
  [293324.911]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 25.2
  [293324.911] (WW) VGA arbiter: cannot open kernel arbiter, no 
    multi-card support
  [293324.911] (II) modeset(0): Creating default Display subsection in 
    Screen section 

It terminates abruptly:

  [293325.180] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Barcode 
    Reader  Consumer Control" (type: KEYBOARD, id 17)
  [293325.180] (**) Option "xkb_model" "pc105"
  [293325.180] (**) Option "xkb_layout" "us"
  [293325.180] (**) Option "xkb_options" "compose:ralt"

as for ~/.xsession-errors, no file was created when non-root user
logged in and ran startx.

In /var/log I find that startx created a big binary wtmp file and a
syslog. I find that syslog has changed its format. Its lines used to
start like Mar 17 13:45.... In the syslog today they start
2024-03-20T22:37:33.488234-04:00... It looks not only a sensible new
date format but that it seems garbled.

Oddly, auth.log has mostly dozens of open and close of CRON [22238]:
pam_unix(cron:session)by root user. But what worries me is

  sudo:   haines : TTY=pts/2 ; PWD=/var/log ; USER=root ; 
    COMMAND=/usr/local/bin/nano syslog
  sudo: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by 
    (uid=1000)

root did not not log in.

When I'm prompted for password with when I issue $ su command, my
password is now the same as that for user. I usually have passwords
that differ a bit, but I could be wrong. It is possible that when
non-root user does $ startx it opens X that belongs to root rather
than non-root user?

--

     Haines Brown