For some reason your X setup is different from mine. Below is a short
description about how my X works. I am using the unstable distribution but it
should be the same for the stable too.
X in Debian is only a small wrapper for the real X servers like XF86_SVGA.
/etc/X11/Xserver stores configuration information about who can run X
and which server to use. The X binary reads this information and then starts
the real X server.
There is also Xserver manual page (available with 'man Xserver') but it has
nothing to do with the /etc/X11/Xserver file. The manual page describes the X
server in general and it is probably only a coincidence that there is also a
configuration file with the same name.
I ran 'strace X' as root (needed to be root since X is a setuid binary) and
it's output shows how /etc/X11/Xserver is used. Here is a snippet from the
output:
[cut]
open("/etc/X11/Xserver", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=0, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
mmap(0, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) =
0x400ae000
read(3, "/usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA\nConsol"..., 4096) = 245
getuid() = 0
execve("/usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA", ["/usr/X11R6/bin/X"], [/* 16 vars */]) = 0
[cut]
As you can see, X opens /etc/X11/Xserver and reads it's contents. According
to the documentation it should then verify if I was console user and start up
the real X server. Since I was running X from console the test passed and it
went on to fire up the real X server, XF86_SVGA.
See also the additional documentation in /usr/doc/xbase.
Here is what ls shows on my system:
% ls -l /usr/X11R6/bin/X
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 4728 Nov 2 03:27 /usr/X11R6/bin/X
% ls -l /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2703004 Nov 2 03:16
/usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA
%
I hope this answers your question :)
// Heikki
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Heikki Vatiainen * [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tampere University of Technology * Tampere, Finland
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