"disabling libseat integration" info in Xorg.0.log, what does it mean?

tux_99 · 2026-10-17 20:31:15

Devuan 6 + X11 + XFCE

In /var/log/Xorg.0.log i found the following message that I don't understand and that sounds concerning to me:

[  4559.714] (II) seat-libseat: libseat integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling libseat integration

Do I have to be concerned about the "disabling libseat integration" part?

Do I need seatd integration and if yes where should this "-keeptty" parameter go to enable the integration?

seatd is installed an running:

$ ps -ef|grep seat
root      2098     1  0 20:55 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/seatd -g video

A web search about this message didn't come up with anything useful.

Last edited by tux_99 (2026-10-17 20:32:25)

tux_99 · 2026-10-18 14:02:53

Ok, according to the Xorg man page -keeptty is a parameter of Xorg.

In which config file would I have to set this?

Is it advisable to set this -keeptty parameter and what exactly do I gain by the libseat integration (or what do I lose by not having this integration)?

Does anyone have insight into this?

Last edited by tux_99 (2026-10-18 14:05:47)

kaiyel · Yesterday 19:40:48

I had an hour to dive into this as I am building out a Devuan Excalibur Mate XRDP service. I noted the same error in /var/log/Xorg.0.log :

# grep -iE 'seat|libseat' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[     4.648] (II) seat-libseat: libseat integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling libseat integration

I'm using the (default) lightdm desktop manager, so it was a trivial experiment to edit the "/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf" file, uncomment the "#xserver-command=X" line, add "-keeptty" to the end as "xserver-command=X -keeptty", and reboot just to see what happens.

And what happened was ... the login dialog on the console was replaced after boot with a blinking cursor on a black screen. My XRDP service remained, and I had SSH open as well, so I was able to revert easily enough. Everything worked but the graphical login at the console.

Going the other way, I used "sysv-rc-conf" to disable the startup of seatd and rebooted just to see what happens.

And the system rebooted just fine, with a login dialog on the console, and both XRDP and SSH working per normal, but ... the "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" entry "(II) seat-libseat: libseat integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling libseat integration" persisted.

The (II) in the message indicates this is an information message only. As such, it is not a great cause for concern. But I do not like having both "seatd" and "elogind" running as competing session managers, so I will leave seatd disabled for the time being until something I use breaks due to its absence.

I don't have an answer for you. And I agree having both seatd and elogind running concurrently feels unnecessarily redundant. But I don't know why I should prefer one over the other, or how to get seatd to do the job of both successfully, so I'll stick to elogind for now.

Cheers,
--K

tux_99 · Yesterday 22:13:12

@kaiyel Thanks for reporting the results of your experiments, even though they still leave unanswered questions as you say yourself.

It would be great if some Devuan Dev who is familiar with seatd and elogind and their purpose could clarify why Devuan has both enabled by default even though only one of them (elogind) apparently seems to be enough.

Last edited by tux_99 (Yesterday 22:15:58)

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 2026-10-17 20:31:15

"disabling libseat integration" info in Xorg.0.log, what does it mean?

#2 2026-10-18 14:02:53

Re: "disabling libseat integration" info in Xorg.0.log, what does it mean?

#3 Yesterday 19:40:48

Re: "disabling libseat integration" info in Xorg.0.log, what does it mean?

#4 Yesterday 22:13:12

Re: "disabling libseat integration" info in Xorg.0.log, what does it mean?

Board footer