Strange xinit problem

Question

I am using LFS-based custom Linux. When I try to start "xinit" then it fails to start with following error:

Fatal server error:

(EE) Cannot move old log file "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" to "/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old"

But strangely, If I take SSH session of this machine then try to execute the same command then X start without any issue.

Both times, I executed this command by root only.

Answer 1

This happens when you don't close the X session peacefully. Running

rm /var/log/Xorg.X.log.old is safe. You can also back up this log somewhere else.

EDIT: After you make a space for it, you should either move this log file "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" to "/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old", or to remove it. These logs are usually saved by ascending the index number /var/log/Xorg.0.log, /var/log/Xorg.1.log, and they can't be overwritten.

rm /var/log/Xorg.X.log