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