Devuan bug report logs - #937
elogind: SwayWM fails to launch from vTTY: Could not take device: No such file or directory

Package: src:elogind; Maintainer for src:elogind is Mark Hindley <mark@hindley.org.uk>;

Reported by: Nathan Schulte <public@desmas.net>

Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 19:26:02 UTC

Severity: grave

Tags: patch

Found in version elogind/255.17-4

Full log

🔗 View this message in rfc822 format

Subject: bug#937: elogind: SwayWM fails to launch from vTTY: Could not take device: No such file or directory
Reply-To: Andrew Bower <andrew@bower.uk>, 937@bugs.devuan.org
Resent-From: Andrew Bower <andrew@bower.uk>
Resent-To: devuan-bugs@lists.dyne.org
Resent-CC: Mark Hindley <mark@hindley.org.uk>
Resent-Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2026 19:24:01 +0000
Resent-Message-ID: <handler.937.B937.176936896532577@bugs.devuan.org>
Resent-Sender: owner@bugs.devuan.org
References: <aXTxAewx_Dfipw1f@shenstone.ab8.net> <Ebb3IokxY5iTIfgVS7a1A2GzbW2UyI4bLwvQybbY1V0tvbG29LH7QxEBQlfYw3MEcr8LFjHBsyBB_dnkNpjvZT1w9hDErAIhSyuunHTVfjY=@desmas.net> <aXX6bc32OL9pq5Od@shenstone.ab8.net> <AjiPqLeGnaXYHikPoKEtmYFHJZ3levS3USxQ1D9RRqAb2-AxK6C8sEghJhdPu9hGmM3XemacXuJblCOYHkdwqHdFPaM4POuQ5rQFa2IsQFc=@desmas.net> <TApNvbVBVivJwgIYZqIIXozxt3Sy3vJbp5sJLK0wI28obQhFrxOul9aGYozJKN-Xoumx1vpNV9XhVgR6ohxmZBlGyUb89StfNl6GaKcqqQY=@desmas.net> <aXZkkvwiIbWp_Jd-@shenstone.ab8.net> <aXZmH-qltlHnhqwr@shenstone.ab8.net> <5lwDWAzFVgO0qJvAwWKDgJDugs-J0m_YmZuHh-EiotjlVKsI3mtqLpJrW5hsG_qHXYcb1mbEkCpF6Rg-H8u8lrIO5tVhqQLIJOiZLUaEj48=@desmas.net> <aXZpxAlx-TsyvpRh@shenstone.ab8.net> <7mNBwywdoAN79Oaj5pO9iAzPG3ta4A_iwhFdrl82DopmmP88qhVyH9s-Fml5_8XvGxZHotFzH1pAfqif16VsKFaPho1iSLgAIS4Qh4aZ7cI=@desmas.net> <176919624261.27301.12565388510718151229.reportbug@desmas-l-fa617xt.desmas>
Received-SPF: Pass (mailfrom) identity=mailfrom; client-ip=2a00:1098:0:82:1000:0:2:1; helo=mx2.mythic-beasts.com; envelope-from=andrew@bower.uk; receiver=bugs.devuan.org 
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2026 19:21:45 +0000
From: Andrew Bower <andrew@bower.uk>
To: public@desmas.net
Cc: Mark Hindley <mark@hindley.org.uk>, 937@bugs.devuan.org
Message-ID: <aXZtSb99Wa3n5bNw@shenstone.ab8.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <7mNBwywdoAN79Oaj5pO9iAzPG3ta4A_iwhFdrl82DopmmP88qhVyH9s-Fml5_8XvGxZHotFzH1pAfqif16VsKFaPho1iSLgAIS4Qh4aZ7cI=@desmas.net>
User-Agent: Mutt/2.2.13 (2024-03-09)

On Sun, Jan 25, 2026 at 07:14:58PM +0000, public@desmas.net wrote:
> On Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 13:06, Andrew Bower <andrew@bower.uk> wrote:
> > I have a hunch this will do it...
> > 
> > The error is indeed coming from a call that will cause failure. Setting
> > this argument to 'true' will deconfigure use of the notify socket once
> > we've signalled readiness.
> > 
> > $ git diff
> > diff --git a/src/shared/daemon-util.h b/src/shared/daemon-util.h
> > index 711885bba..6823cc31d 100644
> > --- a/src/shared/daemon-util.h
> > +++ b/src/shared/daemon-util.h
> > @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
> > 
> > static inline const char *notify_start(const char *start, const char *stop) {
> > if (start)
> > - (void) sd_notify(false, start);
> > + (void) sd_notify(true, start);
> > 
> > return stop;
> > }
> 
> Winner, winner!  This seems to do the trick, with an unmolested elogind initscript (255.17-4).

Exellent!

Now I don't reckon this is a good enough production patch because
someone could write a service manager (that isn't systemd!) that wanted
to use the sd readiness protocol for the whole life of a service.

I think we need to change pid_notify_with_fds_internal() in
src/shared/daemon-util.h so that if the send fails with ENOENT, the call
returns successfully and unsets NOTIFY_SOCKET from the environment:

  n = sendmsg(fd, &msghdr, MSG_NOSIGNAL);
  if (n < 0) {
          if (!send_ucred)
                  return log_debug_errno(errno, "Failed to send notify message to '%s': %m", e);

I'm not 100% sure this is the right thing always to do so a carefully
constructed comment might be appropriate to warn future developers of
why we did it. A safe thing to do would be to return success but not
clear the environment but it would be nice to stop repeated pointless
behaviour.

> Kudos!

Thanks for being prepared to try an untested patch!

Send a report that this bug log contains spam.

Devuan bug report logs - #937 elogind: SwayWM fails to launch from vTTY: Could not take device: No such file or directory

Devuan bug report logs - #937
elogind: SwayWM fails to launch from vTTY: Could not take device: No such file or directory