[xorg][systemd] Failed to start X: systemd-logind Operation not permitted · Issue #13943 · systemd/systemd

@iainlane

Devices referred to by `DeviceAllow=` sandboxing are resolved into their
corresponding major numbers when the unit is loaded by looking at
`/proc/devices`. If a reference is made to a device which is not yet
available, the `DeviceAllow` is ignored and the unit's processes cannot
access that device.

In both logind and nspawn, we have `DeviceAllow=` lines, and `modprobe`
in `ExecStartPre=` to load some kernel modules. Those kernel modules
cause device nodes to become available when they are loaded: the device
nodes may not exist when the unit itself is loaded. This means that the
unit's processes will not be able to access the device since the
`DeviceAllow=` will have been resolved earlier and denied it.

One way to fix this would be to re-evaluate the available devices and
re-apply the policy to the cgroup, but this cannot work atomically on
cgroupsv1. So we fall back to a second approach: instead of running
`modprobe` via `ExecStartPre`, we move this out to a separate unit and
order it before the units which want the module.

Closes systemd#14322.
Fixes: systemd#13943.