x-server does not start

[johanmattssonm (Johan Mattsson)]

Xorg builds but I get runtime errors when I try to start x on Leopard:

m90-129-67-92:~ johanmattsson$ startx
font_cache: Scanning user font directories to generate X11 font caches
font_cache: Updating FC cache
font_cache: Done
xauth:  file /Users/johanmattsson/.serverauth.2042 does not exist

xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
xinit: server error

syslog;

Thu Jan 24 15:38:11 m90-129-67-92 org.macports.X11.stub[2121] <Warning>: Xquartz: Unable to locate waiting server: org.macports.X11
Thu Jan 24 15:38:11 m90-129-67-92 org.macports.X11.stub[2121] <Error>: Xquartz: Unable to find application for org.macports.X11

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Has duplicate #37776.

[jeremyhu (Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia)]

Don't use startx directly. Just run your application (gimp, xterm, etc), and it should run X11.app for you.

Alternatively, open X11.app directly from /Applications/MacPorts/X11.app

[johanmattssonm (Johan Mattsson)]

Replying to jeremyhu@…:

Don't use startx directly. Just run your application (gimp, xterm, etc), and it should run X11.app for you.

They do start an instance of xorg but it seems like all applications launches the Mac OS default x-server and not the MacPorts version. How do I force application to use MacPorts server?

[jeremyhu (Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia)]

Enable the MacPorts LaunchAgent and disable the OS X one. Instructions are printed during activation of xinit, so you can just read it out of the Portfile.

[seanfarley (Sean Farley)]

Replying to jeremyhu@…:

Enable the MacPorts LaunchAgent and disable the OS X one. Instructions are printed during activation of xinit, so you can just read it out of the Portfile.

There's got to be a better way than this. I've run into this at least two or three times before and googling is difficult due to the common keywords. The instructions that are printed for xinit fly by the screen too fast and it's easily forgotten … especially when most instructions talk about the xorg-server port.

Could these instructions also be added to xorg-server? Or, at the very least, the FAQ / Xquartz / whatever sites be updated to have (in large, blinking, red letters) "launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/org.macports.startx.plist"?

By the way, I've experienced this when upgrading to Mountain Lion (and needing a way to get X working) so it's not like this is a really old problem.

[mf2k (Frank Schima)]

The instructions for the xinit port should be converted to use "notes" instead of "ui_msg" like they are now so they are more easily retrievable. I looked into it and gave up because it depends on OS X version. I wasn't sure of the best way to handle it.