Thanks for the reply. I've discovered that I also have both the i386 and the amd64 versions of libpng16-16 installed - seems to be an mtpaint dependency and a non-conflicting variant of libpng-12-0.

I have multiarch support:

bash(root)# dpkg --print-foreign-architectures;dpkg --print-architecture
i386
amd64
bash(root)# 

sources.list:

stripws /etc/apt/sources.list
deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://deb.devuan.org/merged ascii          main contrib non-free
deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://deb.devuan.org/merged ascii-updates  main contrib non-free
deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://deb.devuan.org/merged ascii-security main contrib non-free
deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://deb.devuan.org/merged ascii-backports main contrib non-free
bash(root)#

but:

bash(root)# apt-get download libpng12-0:i386
E: Can't find a source to download version '1.2.50-2+deb8u3' of 'libpng12-0:i386'
bash(root)#

Interestingly, I get the same result if I try to just "download libpng12-0", but saying "apt-get install libpng12-0" tells me that it is already at the latest version(?).

bash(root)# apt-get download libpng12-0
E: Can't find a source to download version '1.2.50-2+deb8u3' of 'libpng12-0:amd64'
bash(root)# apt-get install libpng12-0
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
libpng12-0 is already the newest version (1.2.50-2+deb8u3).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
bash(root)#

Well, color me confused.

@FM81: I mean is there a statement in the rules file that causes the section you're interested in to be skipped, like this

[19] bryan: cat /etc/udev/rules.d/28-pemicro.rules
ACTION!="add", SUBSYSTEM!="usb", GOTO="kcontrol_rules_end"

ATTR{idVendor}=="15a2", ATTR{idProduct}=="0035", MODE:="0666"
ATTR{idVendor}=="15a2", ATTR{idProduct}=="0042", MODE:="0666"
ATTR{idVendor}=="15a2", ATTR{idProduct}=="0058", MODE:="0666"
ATTR{idVendor}=="15a2", ATTR{idProduct}=="005e", MODE:="0666"
ATTR{idVendor}=="15a2", ATTR{idProduct}=="005f", MODE:="0666"
ATTR{idVendor}=="1357", MODE:="0666"

LABEL="kcontrol_rules_end"
[20] bryan:

(Don't know what pemicro is. It's just an example.) BTW, this "enp..." stuff is all news to me. Wasn't aware that "eth..." was old-style.

As another SWAG, you might try changing the KERNEL match part of your rules file lines to read 'KERNEL=="*"'

Good luck,

I read what looked like the relevant sections of the release notes and thought I understood them. Guess not.
When I next logged in after applying the changes described above, it was rejected with:

[278857.622] (EE) systemd-logind: failed to get session: Launch helper exited with unknown return code 1

I eventually found that with my configuration - xserver-xorg-legacy (with needs_root_rights=yes), XFCE4, console login, and calling startx from .bash_profile - I had to use consolekit for things to work.

Here is the section I had trouble with:

?

Your screen output doesn't seem to show a complaint about being unable to resolve a symlink. The line "No rule to make target 'modules'" means that target can't be found in a Makefile. The kernel Makefile has "modules:" as a target.

Have you installed a kernel header package? Alternatively, have you installed a kernel source tree?

Have you done a "make prepare"?

GNUser:

How about closing your eyes and just typing in root<CR>, then your password<CR> and see what happens?

I recall at least one instance when I screwed something up that the VC was really alive and responsive - just nothing was being displayed.

.... or, maybe not.

Here's a one liner that I paste into a file in my home directory, which I source when I want to use it:

xterm -fn 10x20 -g 80x54+616+28 -fg black -bg white -cr DarkGray -bc -sb -rightbar -sl 500 -aw -rw

The "-g 80x54..." bit sets the number of lines to stretch from top to bottom in my monitor, given the font specification. Change it to suit.

... or you could also just define an alias:

alias myxterm='xterm -fn 10x20 -g 80x54+616+28 -fg black -bg white -cr DarkGray -bc -sb -rightbar -sl 500 -aw -rw'

(No thread drift here, right?)

Hi Steve,

Looks like you're still working this problem. I don't have a fix, but here are some links that might help:

First, Intel_graphics says

FWIW, my Devuan Jessie has

[7]  bryan: egrep -R i915 /etc/modprobe.d
/etc/modprobe.d/i915-kms.conf:options i915 modeset=1:

even though I'm actually using a somewhat elderly Radeon 3000. "dpkg -S" can't find any package it belongs to, so I'm not sure exactly where that comes from.

Second, Kernel mode setting says

Finally, enforcing the mode talks about EDID issues, just in case the i915 has issues there.

Hope this is helpful.

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply. I think so. Here's what I have in /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://auto.mirror.devuan.org/merged jessie-backports main contrib non-free

Good?
After "apt-get update" I show:

[109] bryan: aptitude versions libdbus-1-3
Package libdbus-1-3:                        
i A 1.8.20-1+devuan1.1                            stable                    500 

Package libdbus-1-3:i386:
i A 1.8.20-1+devuan1.1                            stable                    500 
[110] bryan:

Doesn't seem to be showing anything tagged with "backports", though, even though it "got" all the entries.

initramfs-tools emits bug message

I was eventually able to make this work by

1. clearing out /var/lib/initramfs-tools per PeteGozz. (Didn't even know that was there. No idea why I needed to clean it out, but it did remove cruft.)

2. using "update-initramfs -k 4.12.0 -ut". Did not work without the -t parameter, even after emptying /var/lib/initramfs-tools. After doing this once, I was able to delete the -t parameter

This has the feeling that perhaps consistency checks have become a little too strict, and might be relaxed to accept a wider variety of invocations while still producing valid results.

xfce only has 1280x1024 resolution

See [SOLVED] XFCE (Really Xorg) Max Resolution Problem

network-manager ends up being installed

Probably pilot error. Somewhere along the line in later installation attempts, network-manager did not end up being installed, even after removing the hold suggested by PeteGozz.

Thanks for the reply. How do I do that?

I'm beginning to think this may be more of an installation than a desktop problem (see Post Install Config Problems).
Since my window manager (fvwm) and desktop (xfce4) both depend on the X server, I restored my wheezy disk image and tried to install just Devuan xorg with the idea of finding the minimum error causing configuration. Doing just that still pulls in a boatload of packages, but nevertheless seemed to be as minimal as I could get.

I did the install as root using a virtual terminal. The install seemed to go OK, but trying to use either the desktop or just fvwm, I ended up still being stuck with a max 1280x1024 resolution. Trying to do "X -configure" per PeteGozz's suggestion resulted in X segfaulting:

...
EE) Backtrace:
(EE) 0: X (xorg_backtrace+0x56) [0xc25a9b3e06]
(EE) 1: X (0xc25a7fd000+0x1bafe9) [0xc25a9b7fe9]
(EE) 2: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x7f65f6350000+0x350e0) [0x7f65f63850e0]
...

Here's the full output:

bash(root)# X -configure
_XSERVTransSocketOpenCOTSServer: Unable to open socket for inet6
_XSERVTransOpen: transport open failed for inet6/Pentium90:0
_XSERVTransMakeAllCOTSServerListeners: failed to open listener for inet6

X.Org X Server 1.16.4
Release Date: 2014-12-20
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 4.9.0-3-amd64 x86_64 Debian
Current Operating System: Linux Pentium90 4.12.3 #5 SMP Sun Jul 23 14:40:26 PDT 2017 x86_64and line: BOOT_IMAGE=4.12 ro root=805 resume=/dev/sda2 console=tty8 rootfstype=ext4 July 2017  01:40:19PM
xorg-server 2:1.16.4-1+deb8u1+b1 (http://www.debian.org/support) 
Current version of pixman: 0.32.6
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sun Aug  6 12:08:01 2017
List of video drivers:
        nouveau
        tdfx
	ati
        neomagic
        intel
        sisusb
        vesa
        fbdev
        modesetting
(++) Using config file: "/root/xorg.conf.new"
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
        intel
        sisusb
        vesa
        fbdev
        modesetting
(++) Using config file: "/root/xorg.conf.new"
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(II) [KMS] drm report modesetting isn't supported.
(EE) 
(EE) Backtrace:
(EE) 0: X (xorg_backtrace+0x56) [0xc25a9b3e06]
(EE) 1: X (0xc25a7fd000+0x1bafe9) [0xc25a9b7fe9]
(EE) 2: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x7f65f6350000+0x350e0) [0x7f65f63850e0]
(EE) 
(EE) Segmentation fault at address 0x0
(EE) 
Fatal server error:
(EE) Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting
(EE) 
(EE) 
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support 
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help. 
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
(EE) 
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
Aborted
bash(root)#

~root/xorg.conf.new exists, but is basically garbage. /var/log/Xorg.0.log basically reproduces the information already shown.

As far as I can tell from my script output, libc6 does get pulled in as a dependency of Xorg. But possibly because of disturbances in the force caused by GUI interaction(s) contained therein, I don't see exactly libc6:amd64 among the various libc6 flavors getting installed.

[rant]It's a little hard to tell what the contents of Devuan packages are supposed to be. You have a package browsing facility, but it doesn't seem to have the capability to see what files are contained therein a la Debian and Ubuntu. I basically look at Debian Jessie packages and SWAG it from there.[/rant]

As previously posted, xrandr and read-edid fail as described therein. I think those failures are effects of the basic xorg problem on my system.

Again, thanks for any assistance anyone can provide,

Well, thanks to Pete Gozz, golinux, and miroR, items one and three in my original post are good enough. For item two - the display resolution, I'm starting a separate thread in the "Desktop and MultiMedia" section.