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Date:      Sun, 19 Aug 2012 23:01:19 +0200
From:      Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de>
To:        freebsd@dreamchaser.org
Cc:        FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: user specific xorg.conf?
Message-ID:  <20120819230119.c6030dad.freebsd@edvax.de>
In-Reply-To: <50314EB5.9040900@dreamchaser.org>
References:  <503125EF.1020500@dreamchaser.org> <20120819195118.00427f87.freebsd@edvax.de> <50314EB5.9040900@dreamchaser.org>

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On Sun, 19 Aug 2012 14:38:13 -0600, Gary Aitken wrote:
> Combining a couple of responses into one to cut down traffic...
> 
> On 08/19/12 11:51, Polytropon wrote:
> > On Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:44:15 -0600, Gary Aitken wrote:
> >> In attempting to zero in on my system crash problem,
> >> I need to customize xorg.conf.
> >> As I read the documentation,
> >> there is no way for an ordinary user to provide an xorg.conf;
> >> Xorg looks for files in the normal server search path,
> >> which does not include any user directories --
> >> unless the user is root.
> > 
> > What if you do (as a user) the "startx" command and try
> > to hand the -config <file> to the program, like this:
> > 
> > 	% Xorg -file /home/user/test/xorg.conf
> > 
> > I haven't tried that myself, but according to "man Xorg"
> > this option does exist. However, I'm not sure if xinit
> > or startx honors this option if you use them (to make
> > use of ~/.xinitrc).
> 
> According to the man page:
>   "This option will work for any file when the server is run as root
>    (i.e, with real-uid 0),
>    or  for files relative to a directory in the config search
>    path for all other users."
> The config search path only includes system directories, not user directories.

Read: "config search path". In my interpretation, this applies
to _path names_ in where config files (default name: xorg.conf)
will be searched. This does _not_ contradict to explicitely
naming a _file_ as in:

	% X -config /home/someuser/test/xorg.conf

It could also be possible to give the file a totally different
name. However, the X server might refuse to use that file. You
could easily try it. I have prefixed the example with "%" indicating
that this command could be executed from a user (non-root) terminal,
just the same way you would usually call

	% xinit

or the

	% startx

script to benefit from the ~/.xinitrc startup file. Also you
could try to add the -config option to the two commands mentioned.
I haven't looked into their specific implementation on if and how
they will allow X parameters to be included.



> Again, I think that is for security reasons, but I'm not certain.

Primarily it is, but also about complexity. Imagine the X server
would scan the whole (!) directory structure, beginning in /, to
find a valid configuration file...



> On 08/19/12 12:38, Jeff Tipton wrote:
> > Gary, why do you need user-specific xorg.conf?
> > By default, there's no xorg.conf file,
> > so if you generate one and put it in /etc/X11/xorg.conf,
> > your file will be used instead of the default options.
> > And before putting the file there, you can test it,
> > as suggested in the Manual:
> > 
> > X -config /root/xorg.conf.new -retro
> 
> I wanted a user-specific xorg.conf for test purposes.
> The server already generated one when I first installed it, IIRC.

No. The server can generate a file that is then typically
placed as /root/xorg.conf.new which you'd have to copy to
/etc/X11/ in order to have further X starts recognize and
use it (in case you are _not_ explicitely calling the X server
with the config file at the location in /root).

If the X server does not find a xorg.conf file, it will run
without one. That should be fine in 99% of all cases. Still
there are reasons you intendedly want a xorg.conf file. In
my opinion, the example I mentioned above should be fine for
testing. If you agree with the final result, you can then
install it into the server's default location mentioned
at the top.



> In general, I'd prefer to leave default generated stuff alone,
> as it's easy to screw up and edit the wrong thing,
> not save the original, not properly comment mods to the file, etc.

In that case, put the file under version control. (I use CVS
for that kind of stuff.)



> However, in this case it looks like I'll have to tweak the global file.

_Finally_ you can do this, but try (!) with the idea I mentioned
at the beginning of this message. As I haven't tested it, I cannot
tell you if it works, but I _assume_ that it should work.



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...



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