Recompile F16 XServer for F17

[Premium Ookwee]

As you know, the new ATI 12.6 drivers are needed to get F17 working. However, the new 12.6 ATI drivers don't recognize my laptop's radeon 4650M HD. After checking google I found out that ATI thought this card is too old and should be forsaken. Considering my laptop is only 3 years old I think this is a terrible move and learned the hard way not to buy ATI graphics. Fedora 16 support will not last forever so I have attempted to recompile fedora 16's xserver packages and what I assume are its dependencies. I setup fedora 17 in a virtual machine ready to compile. Here is what I have downloaded.

[me@MyLaptop x11]$ ls
xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.6.99.901-7.20120118git9d9c9870c.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-drv-fbdev-0.4.2-2.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-drv-keyboard-1.6.0-2.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-drv-mouse-1.7.1-2.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-1.5.0-2.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-drv-vesa-2.3.0-9.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-font-utils-7.5-6.fc15.src.rpm
xorg-x11-server-1.11.4-1.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-server-utils-7.5-7.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-utils-7.5-3.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-xauth-1.0.6-1.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-xinit-1.3.1-1.fc16.src.rpm
xorg-x11-xkb-utils-7.5-5.fc16.src.rpm

I did install all the build dependencies for xorg-x11-server...src.rpm but I get this error when trying to recompile

[A@VBox x11]$ rpmbuild --rebuild xorg-x11-server*.rpm
In file included from ../include/dixstruct.h:28:0,
                 from ../include/selection.h:51,
                 from xselinux_hooks.c:36:
../include/dix.h:532:22: warning: redundant redeclaration of 'ffs' [-Wredundant-decls]
xselinux_hooks.c: In function 'SELinuxLabelClient':
xselinux_hooks.c:151:11: warning: cast discards '__attribute__((const))' qualifier from pointer target type [-Wcast-qual]
xselinux_hooks.c: In function 'SELinuxLog':
xselinux_hooks.c:319:5: warning: function might be possible candidate for 'gnu_printf' format attribute [-Wmissing-format-attribute]
xselinux_hooks.c:319:5: warning: function might be possible candidate for 'gnu_printf' format attribute [-Wmissing-format-attribute]
xselinux_hooks.c:304:9: warning: variable 'rc' set but not used [-Wunused-but-set-variable]
xselinux_hooks.c: In function 'SELinuxFlaskInit':
xselinux_hooks.c:851:12: error: missing braces around initializer [-Werror=missing-braces]
xselinux_hooks.c:851:12: error: (near initialization for 'avc_option.<anonymous>') [-Werror=missing-braces]
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
make[1]: *** [xselinux_hooks.lo] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/A/rpmbuild/BUILD/xorg-server-1.11.4/Xext'
make: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
error: Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.G0zJ6L (%build)

I'm really at quite a loss as to how to fix this. Your help is appreciated. If there is a simpler way around this problem please let me know. Unfortunately, I cannot use the open source driver since the CPU and GPU temperatures all go up by at least 10 degrees Celsius and I need this laptop to last for a good long while. I cannot even test if this is a viable solution or not since the core xserver package will not compile.

Try this guide and downgrade xorg

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Fed...allation_Guide

and use the akmod from f16 testing (it's already patched to work with the 3.4 kernel).

http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfr...-catalyst.html

su
yum --nogpgcheck install http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm
yum erase xorg-x11-drv-intel
yum --releasever 16 install libxcb* xcb-util startup-notification*
yum --releasever 16 downgrade *xcb* xorg*
yum --releasever 16 --enablerepo rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testing install akmod-catalyst xorg-x11-drv-catalyst  xorg-x11-drv-catalyst-libs.i686
mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-catalyst.img
dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)
reboot

[Premium Ookwee]

Originally Posted by Yellowman

Try this guide and downgrade xorg

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Fed...allation_Guide

and use the akmod from f16 testing (it's already patched to work with the 3.4 kernel).

http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfr...-catalyst.html

su
yum --nogpgcheck install http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm
yum erase xorg-x11-drv-intel
yum --releasever 16 install libxcb* xcb-util startup-notification*
yum --releasever 16 downgrade *xcb* xorg*
yum --releasever 16 --enablerepo rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testing install akmod-catalyst xorg-x11-drv-catalyst  xorg-x11-drv-catalyst-libs.i686
mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-catalyst.img
dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)
reboot

When I try to install libxcb* xcb-util startup-notification* I get an error glibc-common 2.14 can't be installed because glibc-common 2.15 is already installed. I get a similar error for trying to install libX11-common 1.4.3. It can't be installed because libX11-common 1.4.4 is already there. I have a feeling that glibc shouldn't be changed because a lot of other things probably depend on it??

Try

su
yum install libxcb* xcb-util startup-notification* -x libxcb-devel,startup-notification-devel
yum --releasever 16 downgrade startup-notification\* *\xcb\* xorg\*

Also post the full output for the yum transaction.

[Premium Ookwee]

Originally Posted by Yellowman

Try

su
yum install libxcb* xcb-util startup-notification* -x libxcb-devel,startup-notification-devel
yum --releasever 16 downgrade startup-notification\* *\xcb\* xorg\*

Also post the full output for the yum transaction.

It'll be hard to post the exact terminal output since the first step is to switch to run level 3 and virtualbox won't let met copy and paste.

I uninstalled libxcb-devel first since it was previously installed from trying to recompile xserver. The first command only installed libxcb-doc. The second command worked and asked me whether I wanted to do the transaction or not. I said yes but then I got this error

Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading packages:
warning: rpmts_HdrFromFdno: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID a82ba4b7: NOKEY
Retrieving key from file:///etc/pki/rpg-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-x86_64

The GPG keys listed for "Fedora 16 - x86_64" repository are already installed but they are not correct for this package.
Check that the correct key URLs are configured for this repository.

Failing package is: libxcb-doc-1.7-3.fc16.noarch
GPG Keys are configured as: file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-x86_64

I just typed that part of the terminal output so there may be a few typos so don't take it as the exact literal output but it should be pretty accurate.

Originally Posted by Premium Ookwee

It'll be hard to post the exact terminal output since the first step is to switch to run level 3 and virtualbox won't let met copy and paste.

I uninstalled libxcb-devel first since it was previously installed from trying to recompile xserver. The first command only installed libxcb-doc. The second command worked and asked me whether I wanted to do the transaction or not. I said yes but then I got this error

Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading packages:
warning: rpmts_HdrFromFdno: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID a82ba4b7: NOKEY
Retrieving key from file:///etc/pki/rpg-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-x86_64

The GPG keys listed for "Fedora 16 - x86_64" repository are already installed but they are not correct for this package.
Check that the correct key URLs are configured for this repository.

Failing package is: libxcb-doc-1.7-3.fc16.noarch
GPG Keys are configured as: file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-x86_64

I just typed that part of the terminal output so there may be a few typos so don't take it as the exact literal output but it should be pretty accurate.

Try (there is no need to switch to runlevel, 5 will do)

su
yum --releasever 16 --nogpgcheck downgrade startup-notification\* *\xcb\* xorg\*

[Premium Ookwee]

Originally Posted by Yellowman

Try (there is no need to switch to runlevel, 5 will do)

su
yum --releasever 16 --nogpgcheck downgrade startup-notification\* *\xcb\* xorg\*

Thanks That worked perfectly. I was able to install the mate desktop and virtualbox guest additions are running flawlessly on the old xserver. Because of the update I added this line to yum.conf

exclude=xorg*,xcb*,startup-notification*,ConsoleKit*,libxcb*

Here is what yum.log says about the xserver downgrade

Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: libxcb-1.7-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: xcb-util-0.3.6-2.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: ConsoleKit-libs-0.4.5-1.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: ConsoleKit-0.4.5-1.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: ConsoleKit-x11-0.4.5-1.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:04 Installed: xorg-x11-server-utils-7.5-7.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:04 Installed: 1:xorg-x11-xauth-1.0.6-1.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:04 Installed: xorg-x11-xkb-utils-7.5-5.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:04 Installed: xorg-x11-server-common-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse-12.7.0-2.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.14.3-4.20120201git36c190671.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-void-1.4.0-2.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-vesa-2.3.0-9.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-0.2.904-16.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-qxl-0.0.21-13.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.6.99.901-7.20120118git9d9c9870c.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-wacom-0.12.0-1.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-mga-1.4.13-8.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-cirrus-1.3.2-10.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: 1:xorg-x11-drv-nouveau-0.0.16-27.20110720gitb806e3f.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-ast-0.91.10-7.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-dummy-0.3.4-7.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-fbdev-0.4.2-2.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-1.5.0-2.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-vmware-11.0.3-6.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-server-Xephyr-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-xinit-1.3.1-1.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: startup-notification-0.12-1.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: xorg-x11-utils-7.5-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: 1:xorg-x11-font-utils-7.5-6.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: xorg-x11-util-macros-1.15.0-1.fc16.noarch
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: xorg-x11-proto-devel-7.6-12.fc16.noarch
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: xorg-x11-xtrans-devel-1.2.6-2.fc15.noarch
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: libxcb-doc-1.7-3.fc16.noarch

Will I have to do this for every fedora update like fedora 18, 19, 20 indefinitely? I don't mind doing a virtualbox test run but I assume at some point the xserver 1.11 fedora 16 rpm will be depending on files that have long been updated. Can I do this indefinitely forever? I am going to be using this laptop for a while.

[droidhacker]

Originally Posted by Premium Ookwee

Thanks That worked perfectly. I was able to install the mate desktop and virtualbox guest additions are running flawlessly on the old xserver. Because of the update I added this line to yum.conf

exclude=xorg*,xcb*,startup-notification*,ConsoleKit*,libxcb*

Here is what yum.log says about the xserver downgrade

Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: libxcb-1.7-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: xcb-util-0.3.6-2.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: ConsoleKit-libs-0.4.5-1.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: ConsoleKit-0.4.5-1.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:03 Installed: ConsoleKit-x11-0.4.5-1.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:04 Installed: xorg-x11-server-utils-7.5-7.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:04 Installed: 1:xorg-x11-xauth-1.0.6-1.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:04 Installed: xorg-x11-xkb-utils-7.5-5.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:04 Installed: xorg-x11-server-common-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse-12.7.0-2.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.14.3-4.20120201git36c190671.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-void-1.4.0-2.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-vesa-2.3.0-9.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-0.2.904-16.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-qxl-0.0.21-13.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:05 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.6.99.901-7.20120118git9d9c9870c.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-wacom-0.12.0-1.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-mga-1.4.13-8.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-cirrus-1.3.2-10.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: 1:xorg-x11-drv-nouveau-0.0.16-27.20110720gitb806e3f.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-ast-0.91.10-7.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-dummy-0.3.4-7.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-fbdev-0.4.2-2.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-1.5.0-2.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-drv-vmware-11.0.3-6.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-server-Xephyr-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: xorg-x11-xinit-1.3.1-1.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:06 Installed: startup-notification-0.12-1.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: xorg-x11-utils-7.5-3.fc16.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: 1:xorg-x11-font-utils-7.5-6.fc15.x86_64
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: xorg-x11-util-macros-1.15.0-1.fc16.noarch
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: xorg-x11-proto-devel-7.6-12.fc16.noarch
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: xorg-x11-xtrans-devel-1.2.6-2.fc15.noarch
Jun 12 21:13:07 Installed: libxcb-doc-1.7-3.fc16.noarch

Will I have to do this for every fedora update like fedora 18, 19, 20 indefinitely? I don't mind doing a virtualbox test run but I assume at some point the xserver 1.11 fedora 16 rpm will be depending on files that have long been updated. Can I do this indefinitely forever? I am going to be using this laptop for a while.

You don't have to do that AT ALL.
AMD is dropping support for your GPU from FGLRX because your GPU is supported by the open source RADEON driver, which work far far better than fglrx.

[Premium Ookwee]

Originally Posted by droidhacker

You don't have to do that AT ALL.
AMD is dropping support for your GPU from FGLRX because your GPU is supported by the open source RADEON driver, which work far far better than fglrx.

I would love to forgo fglrx and leave it behind forever... BUT if the alternative cooks my laptop, I don't think I have a choice My laptop's CPU normally runs at human body temperature 37C and gpu around 42C. The open source radeon drivers boost the CPU idle to 47C and GPU to idle 60C and that's when you boot the laptop in the morning after it has been sleeping all night. Those temperatures will increase as I use the laptop and will surely decrease the life expectancy as well as kill the little battery life I get out of it. I need this laptop to last for a while. Not to mention the constant fan buzzing that the open source drivers will induce.

Now, I have successfully swapped out the xserver to F16's but I've run into another weird problem. Today I went on to install the usual goddies that I use: VLC, avant window navigator, gimp, avidemux, libreoffice 3.5, and of course MATE DESKTOP! For some reason, I cannot get gdm anymore. I just get the fireworks screen (literally just that picture and no dialog boxes or anything). I also can't get gnome-control-center to work which has an awesome sound card manager that is hard to live without. I attached the yum.log file if it helps.

Your help is still appreciated since I'd really like to have a fully functional F17 with mate desktop. If anybody else has tried this procedure don't be shy: tell your story of how you made it work too

Originally Posted by Premium Ookwee

I would love to forgo fglrx and leave it behind forever... BUT if the alternative cooks my laptop, I don't think I have a choice My laptop's CPU normally runs at human body temperature 37C and gpu around 42C. The open source radeon drivers boost the CPU idle to 47C and GPU to idle 60C and that's when you boot the laptop in the morning after it has been sleeping all night. Those temperatures will increase as I use the laptop and will surely decrease the life expectancy as well as kill the little battery life I get out of it. I need this laptop to last for a while. Not to mention the constant fan buzzing that the open source drivers will induce.

Now, I have successfully swapped out the xserver to F16's but I've run into another weird problem. Today I went on to install the usual goddies that I use: VLC, avant window navigator, gimp, avidemux, libreoffice 3.5, and of course MATE DESKTOP! For some reason, I cannot get gdm anymore. I just get the fireworks screen (literally just that picture and no dialog boxes or anything). I also can't get gnome-control-center to work which has an awesome sound card manager that is hard to live without. I attached the yum.log file if it helps.

Your help is still appreciated since I'd really like to have a fully functional F17 with mate desktop. If anybody else has tried this procedure don't be shy: tell your story of how you made it work too

Try adding nomodeset to the kernel line in /etc/default/grub then run

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

[Premium Ookwee]

Originally Posted by Yellowman

Try adding nomodeset to the kernel line in /etc/default/grub then run

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

Sorry, that didn't work. I didn't have to do that on Fedora 16. Also, I removed rhgb and quiet so I can get the cool verbose boot and added in rdblacklist=radeon for fglrx to work properly.

[Premium Ookwee]

Originally Posted by droidhacker

You don't have to do that AT ALL.
AMD is dropping support for your GPU from FGLRX because your GPU is supported by the open source RADEON driver, which work far far better than fglrx.

I try to avoid double posting but I found some information that might help other people in this situation. First off though, I find this comment somewhat smart-aleky considering I clearly mentioned in my first post this laptop must last for years to come and the open source driver cooks my laptop.

However, I did find an initially workable solution to using the open source drivers which will save me the pain of constantly downgrading xserver indefinetly. See http://askubuntu.com/questions/65570...is-way-too-hot for details. The summary is that the open source driver runs the graphics card at full power when, on most days, it just runs compiz/emerald to produce a nice Windows Vista aero effect (with blur). Full power for Vista aero seems a bit overkill. I just set the card to the low power profile and the idle temperatures are still a bit up but I guess it's doable (43C).

Using vi or nano create the file "/etc/rc.d/rc.local" and add these lines

#!/bin/bash
echo "low" > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_profile

Then, make the file readable and executable by everyone: "chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.local". Hope other people find this information helpful. Although, less learned: never buy ATI discrete graphics again, stick with NVidia. The8600GT in my prescott still gets regular nvidia updates. This solution appears to be working but it's only the first day... only time will tell...