Xvfb question

[Glynn Clements]

wx4caster wrote:

> I am running Fedora Core 5.  I see Xvfb in /usr/bin.  I typed the following
> in a terminal:
> 
> /usr/bin/Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1280x1024x24 -shmem &
> [1] 5559
> screen 0 shmid 1933334
> Could not init font path element /usr/share/X11/fonts/OTF, removing from
> list!
> Could not init font path element /usr/share/X11/fonts/CID/, removing from
> list!
> 
> Do these lines mean Xvfb started and is running?  How can I tell?

"ps 5559" will tell you if it's running. Or "xdpyinfo -display :1".

> If not, what do I do to start it correctly?   And shut it down correctly?
> (- terminate)???

"kill %1".

> I need to run Xvfb so I can run a program from CRON that requires its own X
> frame buffer...auto-generating GIFs.  CRON doesn't have access to console X
> Server, whose magic cookie is not known to my shell scripts.  I have to
> setenv = DISPLAY localhost:1 in their scripts so they can function outside
> of display 0.
> 
> Is there a way to start Xvfb with DISPLAY = localhost:1 at boot up?

You can start Xvfb at boot. Environment variables are per-process; it
doesn't make sense to try to set them outside of the cron scripts.

Also, you should either use "nolisten -tcp" and set the permissions on
/tmp/.X11-unix/X1 so that it is only accessible to the account under
which the cron scripts will be run, or use -auth.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>