Bug#860482: Missing dependencies for *xinit* and *dbus-x11* used in systemd service unit

[Johannes Schauer]

On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 18:39:24 +0200 Paul Menzel <pm.debian at googlemail.com> wrote:
> The systemd service unit file `/lib/systemd/system/kodi.service`
> currently needs the binaries `/usr/bin/xinit` and `/usr/bin/dbus-
> launch` [1].
> 
> ```
> ExecStart=/usr/bin/xinit /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/kodi-standalone -- :0 -nolisten tcp vt7
> ```
> 
> Both executables are currently not present as the packages providing
> these files -- *xinit* and *dbus-x11* -- are not dependencies.
> 
> As the service file is disabled by default, I am unsure what rule
> applies here. I'd prefer a dependency over a recommendation. Currently,
> the installed size of *xinit* is 80 kB, and of *dbus-x11* 140 kB.

That is not entirely correct. You also have to consider the reverse
dependencies here. If installing these packages on a minimal system, then
including Recommends, apt reports that "334 MB of additional disk space will be
used."

Without Recommends this goes down to 6354 kB but then you are also left without
xserver-xorg or x-session-manager/x-window-manager.

But even when these packages are installed, the provided kodi.service is still
not functional because:

/usr/bin/Xorg.wrap: Only console users are allowed to run the X server

So in addition to installing these packages, one also has to edit
/etc/X11/Xwrapper.config and add:

allowed_users = anybody

But even then it is questionable whether starting kodi like this via systemd is
the right approach. Kodi is not a system-wide service. As it is implemented
here, it is not possible to have a separate instance for each session. And
according to FernetMenta, the author of Kodi's X11 windowing system kodi should
never be started without a window manager [1]. The article under [1] also
includes the kodi.service file from the Debian package but is declared as
outdated.

On the other hand, I was also unable to find the "right" way to start kodi
automatically on bootup as the only running graphical application. I would
suspect that the right way involves crafting a custom session that start all
the necessary programs? So like a .desktop file in /usr/share/xsessions/.

But I'm not an expert either. Just my 2c.

Thanks!

cheers, josch


[1] http://kodi.wiki/view/Archive:HOW-TO:Autostart_Kodi_for_Linux
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