[cc: to Bill because he did the 3dfx work AFAIR] Due to broken permissions on /dev/dri, only root can use hardware accel 3D in the default config. pam_console gives ownership of "/dev/dri/*" to the console user, which is great. Unfortunately, the /dev/dri directory itself remains accessible only to root! We cannot really give ownership of the /dev/dri directory itself to the console user, for security reasons. I found an OK solution: in the XF86Config-4 file, I added to the DRI section the line "Mode 0601". This gives access to /dev/dri/ without giving everyone access to the graphics card file /dev/dri/card0. pam_console nicely gives the console user ownership of /dev/dri/card0. The best solution of all, though, is this (i.e. probably the proper one): - Change the X server so it NEVER messes with the permissions of /dev/dri or anything below. - Ship /dev/dri owned by root, mode drwxr-xr-x. /dev/dri could be owned by e.g. the "dev" package. - Leave pam_console as it is
*** Bug 25491 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Still problematic in BETA3 /dev/dri the directory has restricted permissions /dev/dri/card0 also has restricted permissions The release notes make a fuss about new 3dfx hardware acceleration working out of the box. It would be nice if this were the case for people other than root ;-)
THe permissions on DRI now allow non-root to use DRI in what I believe is a safe manner..