Thanks for providing this; the effort here to "go the
extra mile" in fully documenting the situation is
appreciated.

I will try an update on my 6.0 machine over the
weekend and report if everything is resolved.

I will also give the "testing" kernel a try too!

   David.


On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 11:13 PM, Pat Riehecky <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> There have been a number of questions regarding problem with starting X
> after the recent security update.  This email is an attempt to summarize the
> situation, provide insight, demonstrate the process as a whole, and clear up
> some confusion with the solution.
>
> Solution:
>
> It is believed that anyone who runs 'yum clean all; yum update' at this time
> will have the problem fixed.
>
>
>
> Praise for the SL community from Pat and Connie:
>
> The community immediately started working together to get this resolved.
> The attitude expressed by the 20+ emails on the list was generally
> wonderful.  Helpful details were given, explanations were provided to people
> of all sorts of skill sets - in general people started pitching in and being
> wonderfully helpful.  People mostly provided fixes or troubleshooting
> information.
>
> Thanks for that, it means a lot witnessing how helpful everyone on the list
> can be in times like this!
>
>
> Cause:
>
> At the root of the problem was the security update for xorg-x11-server
> published on July 9th.  The problem was caused by a change in the module ABI
> for loading xorg drivers that happened in SL6.2.  That change was a bugfix
> and not a security update, so it was not pushed out to earlier releases.
> The security update for xorg-x11-server uses the new ABI. The package,
> however, does not force the use of these newer drivers though any rpm
> dependency tools - such as requires, conflicts, or obsoletes. Thus the
> xorg-x11-drv update can be installed without incident, even though it will
> not work as expected.  Our usual dependency resolution process is unable to
> locate and report dependencies that are not listed by the package.  The
> change in the ABI happened with SL6.2, but none of the xorg packages were
> security errata at that time.  So, we didn't catch the problem then as we
> didn't have to integrate the 6.2 ABI with the 6.1 ABI.
>
>
> On the period in testing:
>
> The xorg-x11-server package was in the sl-testing repository for 12 days
> before the date of release.
> I received a few reports from people who tested the packages while they were
> in testing.  It appears that those testers were on 6.2 and thus didn't run
> into the incompatibility problem.  There were no problems reported with this
> package during the testing window.
> I tested these packages.  My test system was SL6.2 and uses the ERRepo
> nvidia kmod.  So I did not encounter any problems.
>
>
> Details on the solution:
>
> Several packages that were present in SL6.2 have been placed in the security
> tree for SL6.1 and SL6.0.[1]  They have been working on 6.2 for some time
> now, and I have many reports of things working as expected for people using
> them. SL6.0-SL6.2 have also received some driver updates that will be
> present in SL6.3.  It is believed that this is exactly what upstream has
> done for their release.
>
>
> Forward looking resolution:
>
> A bug has been filed with upstream to have the 'conflicts' section updated.
> The upstream bug number is 840078.  If the fix listed there is placed in the
> next version of this rpm by upstream the problem should not reoccur.
>
>
> Answers to common questions:
>
> Q: Who was affected?
> A: Anyone who was running Scientific Linux 6.0 or 6.1 and dependent on the
> xorg-x11-drv provided drivers for running the X server.
>
> Q: Why didn't you just automatically include all the drivers?
> A: We provide the older point releases as an attempt to provide a reasonably
> unchanging platform.  Many of our users have their applications certified
> with very specific versions of things.  When putting new security packages
> in older releases our approach is simply, "If nothing forces me to add this
> package I wont add it."  Nothing in the package itself said that these
> drivers were required for functionality.  Furthermore, with SL6.2 the
> x11-xorg-drv-* packages provided with the initial release seem to work just
> fine with this new xorg-x11-server package.  This is part of the upstream
> attempt to preserve a consistent ABI.  Usually when the ABI changes this is
> noted in either a 'requires' section or a 'conflicts' section.
>
> Q: Shouldn't I just get new drivers every time there is a new X?
> A: Not necessarily.  For example, with SL6.1 the wacom and xgi drivers were
> identical to the SL6.0 packages.  Upstream didn't update them for that
> release.  And with 6.3 the only updated drivers are currently for ati,
> intel, mga, and wacom.  If they didn't rebuild it there shouldn't be a need
> for us to rebuild it.
>
> Q: Can you just make it your policy to release X drivers every time there is
> a new X?
> A: If this is something you need, I would encourage you to instead move to
> the 6x release.  As we are trying to keep the releases as unchanging as
> possible while remaining secure.  Adding non-security packages only happens
> to resolve dependency issues.
>
> Q: Some of these packages are from February, aren't they too old?
> A: No, the packages from February are those that came with SL6.2.  They have
> been working for a while with the updated xorg ABI.  The packages are 'new'
> to 6.1 and 6.0, but have been around since February as a part of the SL6.2
> tree.
>
> Q: Why did it take 3 days to fix?
> A: Many of the early problem reports required additional research. Several
> of the people reporting problems are many hours off from the people working
> with them to get more information.  Additionally, several users were quick
> to discover moving to 6.2 corrected the issue.  This was wonderful, however,
> many people simply moved to SL6.2 rather than installing the packages posted
> to testing.  This makes sense as SL6.2 was available instantly, while the
> testing packages were being assembled and having their dependencies checked.
> This is not a criticism of that solution.  However, getting independent
> verification that the packages in testing actually fixed the problem was a
> priority before they got pushed out.  If they had compounded the issue
> rather than resolving it, the additional problems would have further made a
> mess of things.  Once reports came in from two community members that the
> packages in testing fixed the issue, they were pushed.
>
>
>
>
> [1]
> list of 6.2 packages published to 6.0 and 6.1
>
> i386:
> xorg-x11-drivers-7.3-13.3.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-acecad-1.5.0-3.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-aiptek-1.4.1-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-apm-1.2.3-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-ast-0.91.10-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-cirrus-1.3.2-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-dummy-0.3.4-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-elographics-1.3.0-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.6.0-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-evdev-devel-2.6.0-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-fbdev-0.4.2-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-fpit-1.4.0-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-geode-2.11.12-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-glint-1.2.5-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-hyperpen-1.4.1-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-i128-1.3.4-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-i740-1.3.2-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-keyboard-1.6.0-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-mach64-6.9.0-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-mouse-1.7.0-4.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-mutouch-1.3.0-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-neomagic-1.2.5-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-nouveau-0.0.16-13.20110719gitde9d1ba.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-nv-2.1.18-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-0.2.904-4.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-devel-0.2.904-4.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-penmount-1.5.0-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-qxl-0.0.14-13.el6_2.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-r128-6.8.1-3.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-rendition-4.2.4-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-s3virge-1.10.4-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-savage-2.3.2-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-siliconmotion-1.7.5-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-sis-0.10.3-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-sisusb-0.9.4-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-1.4.1-3.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-devel-1.4.1-3.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-tdfx-1.4.3-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-trident-1.3.4-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-v4l-0.2.0-4.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-vesa-2.3.0-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse-12.7.0-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-vmware-11.0.3-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-void-1.4.0-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-voodoo-1.2.4-1.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-xgi-1.6.0-11.el6.i686.rpm
>
> x86_64:
> xorg-x11-drv-acecad-1.5.0-3.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-aiptek-1.4.1-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-apm-1.2.3-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-ast-0.91.10-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-cirrus-1.3.2-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-dummy-0.3.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-elographics-1.3.0-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.6.0-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-evdev-devel-2.6.0-2.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-evdev-devel-2.6.0-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-fbdev-0.4.2-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-fpit-1.4.0-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-glint-1.2.5-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-hyperpen-1.4.1-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-i128-1.3.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-i740-1.3.2-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-keyboard-1.6.0-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-mach64-6.9.0-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-mouse-1.7.0-4.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-mutouch-1.3.0-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-nouveau-0.0.16-13.20110719gitde9d1ba.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-nv-2.1.18-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-0.2.904-4.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-0.2.904-4.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-devel-0.2.904-4.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-devel-0.2.904-4.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-penmount-1.5.0-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-qxl-0.0.14-13.el6_2.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-r128-6.8.1-3.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-rendition-4.2.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-s3virge-1.10.4-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-savage-2.3.2-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-siliconmotion-1.7.5-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-sis-0.10.3-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-sisusb-0.9.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-1.4.1-3.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-devel-1.4.1-3.el6.i686.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-devel-1.4.1-3.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-tdfx-1.4.3-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-trident-1.3.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-v4l-0.2.0-4.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-vesa-2.3.0-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse-12.7.0-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-vmware-11.0.3-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-void-1.4.0-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-voodoo-1.2.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
> xorg-x11-drv-xgi-1.6.0-11.el6.x86_64.rpm