Bug 2251988 - SDDM can't start if DisplayServer=x11 override is present
Summary: SDDM can't start if DisplayServer=x11 override is present
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED EOL
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: sddm
Version: 40
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Linux
unspecified
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Neal Gompa
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2023-11-28 21:10 UTC by Yevhen Popok
Modified: 2025-05-16 07:48 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2025-05-16 07:48:10 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


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System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Github sddm sddm issues 1835 0 None open SDDM fails to start when DisplayServer=x11 is set on distro without X11 support 2023-11-29 10:51:09 UTC

Description Yevhen Popok 2023-11-28 21:10:49 UTC
SDDM fails to start if it's config has an override to force X11

/etc/sddm.conf.d/force_x11.conf
[General]
DisplayServer=x11

journalctl -u sddm.service shows such errors:

    Nov 28 22:37:45 test systemd[1]: Started sddm.service - Simple Desktop Display Manager.
    Nov 28 22:37:45 test sddm[1471]: Failed to start display server process.
    Nov 28 22:37:45 test sddm[1471]: Attempt 1 starting the Display server on vt 2 failed
    Nov 28 22:37:47 test sddm[1471]: Tried to start Xorg before previous instance exited
    Nov 28 22:37:47 test sddm[1471]: Attempt 2 starting the Display server on vt 2 failed
    Nov 28 22:37:49 test sddm[1471]: Tried to start Xorg before previous instance exited
    Nov 28 22:37:49 test sddm[1471]: Attempt 3 starting the Display server on vt 2 failed

Override to force X11 mode was useful in cases when Wayland mode caused problems (for example performance issues with legacy proprietary nvidia-470 driver).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Set an override "DisplayServer=x11" for SDDM
printf '[General]\nDisplayServer=x11\n' | sudo tee  /etc/sddm.conf.d/force_x11.conf
2.Restart sddm.service
Actual Results:  
SDDM tries to use X11 mode and fails to start

Expected Results:  
SDDM ignores override when operating system doesn't support X11

Upstream bugreport: https://github.com/sddm/sddm/issues/1835

Comment 1 Neal Gompa 2023-11-29 10:49:57 UTC
Unfortunately, I can't do much about this right now. While KDE Plasma and Sway spins both use SDDM in Wayland mode, the LXQt spin still uses SDDM in X11 mode for now.

It looks like upstream SDDM does not believe it should do anything in the event an X server is not installed, so I will likely have to come up with some kind of downstream fix for this...

Comment 2 Aoife Moloney 2024-02-15 23:06:09 UTC
This bug appears to have been reported against 'rawhide' during the Fedora Linux 40 development cycle.
Changing version to 40.

Comment 3 Aoife Moloney 2025-04-25 10:11:23 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora Linux 40 is nearing its end of life.
Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora Linux 40 on 2025-05-13.
It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no longer
maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as EOL if it remains open with a
'version' of '40'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
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Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not 
able to fix it before Fedora Linux 40 is end of life. If you would still like 
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version 
of Fedora Linux, you are encouraged to change the 'version' to a later version
prior to this bug being closed.

Comment 4 Aoife Moloney 2025-05-16 07:48:10 UTC
Fedora Linux 40 entered end-of-life (EOL) status on 2025-05-13.

Fedora Linux 40 is no longer maintained, which means that it
will not receive any further security or bug fix updates. As a result we
are closing this bug.

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