[Bug 2037825] [NEW] support for undocumented 'xforcevesa' boot option should be dropped?

[Steve Langasek]

Public bug reported:

https://git.launchpad.net/casper/tree/scripts/casper-bottom/20xconfig
implements a boot option for live images called 'xforcevesa', which is
intended to be an option to generate a "failsafe" xorg.conf using the
vesa driver.

The option is not used in the grub menu on any current images; the safe
graphics mode we use sets 'nomodeset'.

The option is not documented anywhere; a Google search for 'ubuntu
xforcevesa' gives as a first result
https://askubuntu.com/questions/4985/why-does-the-xforcevesa-command-
throw-me-onto-the-command-line, which is a post from *2010* (the option
was implemented in 2009) saying that it doesn't work.

Trying the option manually in a qemu VM using a qxl video device and
UEFI firmware boots successfully to the desktop, but /var/log/Xorg.0.log
shows that the vesa driver was not used and it auto-probed qxl anyway
and used that for the display.  (The vesa failure was: xf86EnableIO:
failed to enable I/O ports 0000-03ff (Operation not permitted))

The behavior is the same using a VGA video device in qemu.

If I boot in a VM using qxl but BIOS firmware instead of UEFI, I do not
get the same error about "Operation not permitted" in the logs, but the
qxl driver still winds up being used instead of vesa; vesa is "Ignoring
device with a bound kernel driver".

So I think this script should just be dropped as obsolete?

** Affects: casper (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Medium
         Status: New

** Changed in: casper (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided => Medium

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2037825

Title:
  support for undocumented 'xforcevesa' boot option should be dropped?

Status in casper package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  https://git.launchpad.net/casper/tree/scripts/casper-bottom/20xconfig
  implements a boot option for live images called 'xforcevesa', which is
  intended to be an option to generate a "failsafe" xorg.conf using the
  vesa driver.

  The option is not used in the grub menu on any current images; the
  safe graphics mode we use sets 'nomodeset'.

  The option is not documented anywhere; a Google search for 'ubuntu
  xforcevesa' gives as a first result
  https://askubuntu.com/questions/4985/why-does-the-xforcevesa-command-
  throw-me-onto-the-command-line, which is a post from *2010* (the
  option was implemented in 2009) saying that it doesn't work.

  Trying the option manually in a qemu VM using a qxl video device and
  UEFI firmware boots successfully to the desktop, but
  /var/log/Xorg.0.log shows that the vesa driver was not used and it
  auto-probed qxl anyway and used that for the display.  (The vesa
  failure was: xf86EnableIO: failed to enable I/O ports 0000-03ff
  (Operation not permitted))

  The behavior is the same using a VGA video device in qemu.

  If I boot in a VM using qxl but BIOS firmware instead of UEFI, I do
  not get the same error about "Operation not permitted" in the logs,
  but the qxl driver still winds up being used instead of vesa; vesa is
  "Ignoring device with a bound kernel driver".

  So I think this script should just be dropped as obsolete?

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