HOWTO: xorg-server with no hal dependency (was: xorg-server-screw-hal)

Question

it annoys me that hal and evdev are hard depends of xorg-server-1.5.3 and autoAddDevices is enabled by default.  i realize the fix is actually fairly trivial, but there's just someting inelegant about installing a package, disabling a feature, then uninstalling the dependencies for that feature.  so here's a PKGBUILD that suits my taste.  maybe it'll make your life just a bit easier.
EDIT: SCRATCH EVERYTHING BELOW.  the change to the patch will almost guarantee failure if you do this my way.  it doesn't change the default config; it removes the configuration option enitrely.  i get 'epic fail' for that one.  also, x still complains and fails to start if libhal.so.1 is missing, even if you're not using it.  grrrr....
p.s.: you'll want to open xserver-1.5.3-AEI-on-by-default.patch, go to line 101, and change TRUE to FALSE.  this turns off autoAddDevices by default.  then run makepkg -g and replace the last md5 sum with the new for the changed patch file.
# $Id: PKGBUILD 21903 2008-12-17 20:32:54Z jgc $ Maintainer: Alexander
# Baldeck <[email protected]> Contributor: Jan de Groot
# <[email protected]>
pkgname=xorg-server
pkgver=1.5.3
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="X.Org X servers"
arch=('i686' 'x86_64')
license=('custom')
url="http://xorg.freedesktop.org"
depends=('libx11>=1.1.5'
'libxkbui>=1.0.2' 'libgl' 'libxfont>=1.3.3' 'openssl>=0.9.8h'
'libxxf86misc>=1.0.1' 'libpciaccess>=0.10.5' 'libxv>=1.0.4'
'libxaw>=1.0.4' 'pixman>=0.11.10' 'xcursor-themes'
'xkeyboard-config>=1.3' 'xorg-server-utils' 'xorg-utils'
'xorg-fonts-misc' 'xbitmaps' 'libdrm>=2.3.1' 'diffutils')
makedepends=('glproto>=1.4.9' 'xf86driproto>=2.0.4'
'mesa>=7.2' 'randrproto>=1.2.2' 'renderproto>=0.9.3'
'scrnsaverproto>=1.1.0' 'fontsproto>=2.0.2' 'videoproto>=2.2.2'
'compositeproto>=0.4' 'trapproto>=3.4.3' 'resourceproto>=1.0.2'
'xineramaproto>=1.1.2' 'evieext>=1.0.2' 'libxkbfile>=1.0.5'
'libxmu>=1.0.4' 'libxpm>=3.5.7' 'libxxf86dga>=1.0.2' 'inputproto>=1.4.4'
'xcmiscproto>=1.1.2' 'bigreqsproto' 'libdrm=2.3.1' 'xtrans')
optdepends=( 'xf86-input-evdev: to provide input device hotplugging'/
'hal>=0.5.11: to provide input devices for hotplugging' )
options=('!libtool')
provides=('x-server')
groups=('xorg')
install=xorg-server.install
source=(${url}/releases/individual/xserver/${pkgname}-${pkgver}.tar.bz2
xserver-1.5-branch-4970d.patch
001_fedora_extramodes.patch
xorg-redhat-die-ugly-pattern-die-die-die.patch
xserver-1.5.0-force-SwitchCoreKeyboard-for-evdev.patch
xserver-1.5.3-AEI-on-by-default-AAD-off.patch)
md5sums=('308971036e25250e7fe3cccfd5a120f8'
'61f9bb524501247dce647b218ad14347'
'033427f2b406cba8dd6103ff374e7156'
'1a336eb22e27cbf443ec5a2ecddfa93c'
'7b03ba9b75d795e4f7fdfaa550d97159'
'06e2c673e83b8210c528e27b4051790d')
build() {
cd "${srcdir}/${pkgname}-${pkgver}"
# Upstream commits from server-1.5 branch
patch -Np1 -i "${srcdir}/xserver-1.5-branch-4970d.patch" || return 1
# extramodes
patch -Np1 -i "${srcdir}/001_fedora_extramodes.patch" || return 1
# Get rid of the ugly pattern
patch -Np3 -i "${srcdir}/xorg-redhat-die-ugly-pattern-die-die-die.patch" || return 1
# Patch from Fedora to fix FS#12248
patch -Np1 -i "${srcdir}/xserver-1.5.0-force-SwitchCoreKeyboard-for-evdev.patch" || return 1
# Upstream patch to fix evdev issues with >=2.1.0
patch -Np1 -i "${srcdir}/xserver-1.5.3-AEI-on-by-default.patch" || return 1
# Fix dbus config path
sed -i -e 's/\$(sysconfdir)/\/etc/' config/Makefile.* || return 1
./configure --prefix=/usr \
--enable-ipv6 \
--enable-dri \
--disable-dmx \
--enable-xvfb \
--enable-xnest \
--enable-composite \
--enable-xcsecurity \
--enable-xorg \
--enable-xtrap \
--enable-xevie \
--enable-xephyr \
--enable-glx-tls \
--enable-xorgcfg \
--enable-kdrive \
--enable-install-setuid \
--enable-config-hal \
--enable-config-dbus \
--disable-xfbdev \
--disable-xfake \
--disable-xsdl \
--disable-kdrive-vesa \
--disable-dri2 \
--disable-xprint \
--disable-static \
--sysconfdir=/etc/X11 \
--localstatedir=/var \
--with-default-font-path=/usr/share/fonts/misc,/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/TTF,/usr/share/fonts/Type1 \
--with-xkb-path=/usr/share/X11/xkb \
--with-xkb-output=/var/lib/xkb \
--with-dri-driver-path=/usr/lib/xorg/modules/dri || return 1
make || return 1
make DESTDIR="${pkgdir}" install || return 1
rm -rf "${pkgdir}/var/log" || return 1
install -m755 -d "${pkgdir}/etc/X11" || return 1
install -m755 -d "${pkgdir}/var/lib/xkb" || return 1
# No longer needed, but as nvidia-utils mangles these files, keep them
# like this so they can be restored
mv "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so" \
"${pkgdir}/usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so.1.4" || return 1
# Needed for non-mesa drivers, libgl will restore it
mv "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so" \
"${pkgdir}/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.xorg" || return 1
mv "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.so" \
"${pkgdir}/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.xorg" || return 1
install -m755 -d "${pkgdir}/usr/share/licenses/${pkgname}"
install -m644 COPYING "${pkgdir}/usr/share/licenses/${pkgname}/" || return 1
Last edited by kludge (2009-01-04 20:41:22)

Answer 1

ok, so i'm almost embarassed to post this.  it's actually pretty trivial.  nevertheless, might as well finish what i've started.
re-statement of the problem:
1) xorg-server 1.5.3 depends on hal and evdev in order to provide input hotplugging.
2) input hotplugging can be turned off, as decsribed here: Arch Wiki Xinput Hotplugging Page.  however, x still requires libhal.so.1 at runtime or it fails.  (it took me ages of googling to figure out that this is indeed the case.)
3) therefore, xorg-server must be rebuilt without hal if you'd like to run v.1.5.3 without installing hal.
how-to correct it:
1) sync abs tree
2) copy xorg-server from the abs tree to your local build directory
3) remove 'hal' and 'xf86-input-evdev' from the depends array
4) change --enable-config-{hal,dbus} to --disable-config-{hal,dbus}  (apparently the server has *some* support for input hotplugging through dbus without hal.  apparently, it also sucked.  so my method is to turn off both, entirely.)
5) makepkg
6) pacman -U
7) add xorg-server to IgnorePkg in /etc/pacman.conf.  the next time xorg-server is upgraded, pacman -Syu will give you a warning and the opportunity to exit.  this is your notice to rebuild and upgrade your local xorg-server.
8?) i suppose you could go through the patches that are applied to xorg-server and figure out which aren't needed.  that would be all neat and clean, but probably not necessary.