[Nix-dev] xpra not working

[Bjørn Forsman]

Hi all,

I'm testing xpra (Persistent remote applications for X) on NixOS. It
fails with the following log:

XKB: Failed to compile keymap
Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or incorrect
setup of xkeyboard-config.
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) Failed to activate core devices.(EE)
could not connect to X server on display ':100' after 3 seconds


Searching online suggests that either /var/tmp doesn't have 777 perms
(it does here) or that xkbcomp or xkeyboard-config isn't installed (it
is here, via nix-env).

I'm guessing it's likely due to the non-standard install paths used by
nix, but I don't know how to dig further. So far I've googled, used
strace -f on xpra, looked in /var/log/kdm.log, /var/log/X.0.log
(nothing interesting as far as I can tell). But nothing has so far
gotten me closer to finding the root cause.

I'm not familiar with xkbcomp, xkeyboard-config or X in general, so
that doesn't help either :-)

Any hints or tips appreciated!


How to reproduce:

$ nix-env -i python2.7-xpra  # or just "xpra" when the channel updates

$ xpra start :100
Entering daemon mode; any further errors will be reported to:
  /home/bfo/.xpra/:100.log

$ cat /home/bfo/.xpra/:100.log
Initializing built-in extension Generic Event Extension
Initializing built-in extension SHAPE
Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
Initializing built-in extension XTEST
Initializing built-in extension BIG-REQUESTS
Initializing built-in extension SYNC
Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
Initializing built-in extension XC-MISC
Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
Initializing built-in extension XFIXES
Initializing built-in extension RENDER
Initializing built-in extension RANDR
Initializing built-in extension COMPOSITE
Initializing built-in extension DAMAGE
Initializing built-in extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
Initializing built-in extension DOUBLE-BUFFER
Initializing built-in extension RECORD
Initializing built-in extension DPMS
Initializing built-in extension X-Resource
Initializing built-in extension XVideo
Initializing built-in extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
Initializing built-in extension GLX
XKB: Failed to compile keymap
Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or incorrect
setup of xkeyboard-config.
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) Failed to activate core devices.(EE)
could not connect to X server on display ':100' after 3 seconds
2014-02-02 21:27:35,803 removing socket /home/bfo/.xpra/nixos-laptop-100

Best regards,
Bjørn Forsman