bug#28578: xorg not starting on x200 due to recent commit

[Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org>]

Christopher Allan Webber writes:

> Chris Marusich writes:
>
>> Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name> writes:
>>
>>> On Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 05:15:02PM -0700, Chris Marusich wrote:
>>>> Christopher Allan Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org> writes:
>>>>
>>>> > The following commit to guix makes it so that I can't start xorg:
>>>> >
>>>> >   c68c201fdd429140da1c606861c9296b9cb01265
>>>> >   Author: Andy Wingo <wingo@igalia.com>
>>>> >   CommitDate: Wed Sep 20 15:40:31 2017 +0200
>>>> >
>>>> >   gnu: xorg-server: Prefer intel driver only for older GPUs.
>>>> >
>>>> >   * gnu/packages/xorg.scm (xorg-server): Add patch to only prefer the intel
>>>> >     driver for older Intel GPUs.
>>>> >
>>>> > The commit seems useful, but unfortunately I think I'm not the only x200
>>>> > user, and this is breaking things for me!  I wonder if there's a way to
>>>> > keep the commit's purpose/feature without breaking xorg on x200s?

It's been several months since I filed this, but I was in last-minute
crunch with ActivityPub so I decided to just hold off on addressing
it... "mabye a later upgrade would fix it" I figured.

Unfortunately, it hasn't. :(  When I try to boot into any newer version
of a system profile since this commit I still can't pull up xorg.  It
just hangs, and xorg's logs tell me nothing useful as to why.  But since
it only happened since *immediately after* this commit, I must assume
it's for that reason.

It's not fun being unable to upgrade your system profile... I'm worried
about falling behind on serious security issues.

>>>> For what it's worth, I use an X200, I did a guix pull followed by a
>>>> system reconfigure just yesterday, and it boots fine for me.  I wonder
>>>> what is different about my setup compared to yours?
>>>
>>> I don't know if it's relevant, but note that the X200 and X200s are
>>> different models.
>>
>> It might be relevant.  I thought Chris was using the word "x200s" as in
>> "two or more x200 computers", but perhaps he meant the model "x200s".  I
>> do not have an x200s; I have an x200.
>>
>> Also, yes, I use Libreboot, but I am not sure why that would matter for
>> something like xorg, which comes into action late in the boot process,
>> long after Libreboot hands off control to the operating system.
>
> I run an x200 as well.  In case it is useful, here is the output of
> lspci cut down to video-relevant stuff.
>
> 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
> 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
> 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)

It seems that others aren't having troubles with this on their x200
machines, but well, I still am (though mine is a refurbished x200, and
there are some differences between different x200 machines anyway, so
maybe that accounts for the difference).  Unfortunately being unable to
upgrade my x200 system profile is fairly serious.  (Does anyone mind
pasting their equivalent lspci output who's saying "it works for me" on
an x200?  I wonder if we can find the soruce of the difference.)

Andy, do you know how urgent this patch is?  I'd like to propose
reverting it if it's not serious to anyone else, because otherwise else
it looks like I will be forced to switch machines or something else
drastic, and I'd really rather not...

 - Chris