On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 03:32:49 -0400, Walter wrote in message
<MTAwMDA0NS53ZG5lc2RheQ.1750750450@pnsh>:

> This is *NOT* remote X; everything is local.

..oh yeah? ;oD

> My X display, under
> ICEWM, crashed to text console mode a few days ago. I restarted X.

..if you're half as lazy as me, you leave X up for weeks, missing
the impacts of your daily applied "security" updates from our
naively beloved upstream Debian systemd fanbois, until you.......
impacts the long ago done dayly[0] applied "security" updates
from our naively beloved upstream Debian systemd fanbois...

..[0]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dayly

> Then I noticed mc (Midnight Commander) failing to launch gnumeric. It
> also fails from an xterm. At first I thought it was just gnumeric.
> Interestingly gnumeric does launch properly from the ICEWM menu, and I
> can navigate to the file I want. I can't launch (u)rxvt from xterm
> either so it's probably not gnumeric. A couple of sessions...
>
> =====================================================
>
> [dev2][waltdnes][~/tv] echo ${DISPLAY}
> :0
> [dev2][waltdnes][~/tv] gnumeric bduquarterly.gnumeric
> Cannot open display:
> Run 'gnumeric --help' to see a full list of available command line
> options.
>
> =====================================================
>
> [dev2][waltdnes][~] echo ${DISPLAY}
> :0
> [dev2][waltdnes][~] rxvt
> urxvt: can't open display :0, aborting.
> [dev2][waltdnes][~] urxvt
> urxvt: can't open display :0, aborting.
>
> =====================================================
>
> Could this be a weird permission problem? I tried checking with
> "xhost" but got...
>
> =====================================================
>
> [dev2][waltdnes][~/tv] echo ${DISPLAY}
> :0
> [dev2][waltdnes][~/tv] xhost
> xhost: unable to open display ":0"

..you _should_ see something like:
arnt@dvn:~$ xhost
access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect
SI:localuser:arnt

..try: 'ssh -X root@127.0.0.1 ', then
'ssh -v -X root@127.0.0.1 ' and
'ssh -v -Y root@127.0.0.1 to see _how_ they fail,
so the clued in can help you.
Also worth trying to ssh in from a lan box.

> [dev2][waltdnes][~/tv] xhost +
> xhost: unable to open display ":0"
>
> =====================================================
>
> What the bleep?!?!?

..just a peril of keeping Debian as our only upstream.

..the systemd crew is moving Debian away from being
a multitasking, multi-user distro towards becoming
a single user distro, destroying it in the long term
as a viable IT etc business distro basis, by the
classic creepy mission creepy way of "Embrace, extend,
and extinguish", AKA "embrace, extend, and exterminate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish


..we (Devuan) failed to get and keep this very multi-user
idea in focus while forking away from the systemd crowd,
probably from a lack of multitasking capacity in each of
us naughty and naive multitasking multi-users.


..we (https://devuan.org/) should decide and clarify how
we feel and WTF we do about not only systemd, but also on
whether we want to remain a multitasking, multi-user distro
by ditching the systemd style usrmerge and amproll' in any
viable multitasking, multi-user upstreams like Slackware, or,
whether we want to become a SINGLE-USER distro by keeping the
systemd style usrmerge and follow Debian all the wayland etc
way down towards Lennart Pöttering's Endsieg.

..I get the impression Debian is being kept alive until we
(Devuan etc non-systemd distros) die off from systemd-isms
in our (only?) upstream Debian packages containing snuck
in undeclared and hidden-away "permission settings" and
dependsies "supported only under" Pöttingers CoreOS, so
the systemd crew can claim "Not even forking away with
Devuan could save Debian from obsolescence", or somesuch.

..remember, Debian USED to be the Too Damned Good For Its
Own Damned Good go-to distro for serious sysadmins and
serious IT business back in the good old days before the
systemd coup d'etat in Debian.org.


..today on Tue Jun 24 18:28:10 CEST 2025, our beloved
https://devuan.org/ makes _NO_ mention of even trying
to offer any future-proof multitasking, multi-user OS
nor distro.

..our flawed history: https://devuan.org/os/announce/
https://devuan.org/os/announce/newsletter-12014-12-22
https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=120652

--
..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt Karlsen
...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry...
Scenarios always come in sets of three:
best case, worst case, and just in case.