Xpra: Ticket #2119: start-desktop fluxbox with tiny, unreadable fonts

Dear maintainer,

on my debian testing installation I run xpra (version 2.4.3-r21350M) with the following command:

xpra start-desktop :100 --start="xrandr -s 1024x768" --start="fluxbox -display=:100"

When I attach the display on another machine (I tried different PCs with different operating systems and xpra versions) with the command

xpra attach ssh:hostname:100

a new window with fluxbox with extremely tiny, unreadable fonts appears.

I have tried starting the server with the --dpi=96 or other values but nothing changes.

Here the log file of screen :100

2019-01-23 11:29:02,887 xpra X11 desktop version 2.4.3-r21350M 64-bit
2019-01-23 11:29:02,887  uid=1000 (test), gid=1000 (test)
2019-01-23 11:29:02,887  running with pid 4774 on Linux Debian testing buster
2019-01-23 11:29:02,887  connected to X11 display :100 with 24 bit colors
2019-01-23 11:29:02,888   :100.0 (2167x1084 mm - DPI: 96x95)
2019-01-23 11:29:02,888     monitor 1
2019-01-23 11:29:02,985 xpra is ready.

The command DISPLAY=:100 xpdyinfo returns the following

name of display:    :100
version number:    11.0
vendor string:    The X.Org Foundation
vendor release number:    12003000
X.Org version: 1.20.3
maximum request size:  16777212 bytes
motion buffer size:  256
bitmap unit, bit order, padding:    32, LSBFirst, 32
image byte order:    LSBFirst
number of supported pixmap formats:    7
supported pixmap formats:
    depth 1, bits_per_pixel 1, scanline_pad 32
    depth 4, bits_per_pixel 8, scanline_pad 32
    depth 8, bits_per_pixel 8, scanline_pad 32
    depth 15, bits_per_pixel 16, scanline_pad 32
    depth 16, bits_per_pixel 16, scanline_pad 32
    depth 24, bits_per_pixel 32, scanline_pad 32
    depth 32, bits_per_pixel 32, scanline_pad 32
keycode range:    minimum 8, maximum 255
focus:  window 0x44, revert to PointerRoot
number of extensions:    25
    BIG-REQUESTS
    Composite
    DAMAGE
    DOUBLE-BUFFER
    DRI2
    Generic Event Extension
    MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
    MIT-SHM
    Present
    RANDR
    RECORD
    RENDER
    SECURITY
    SHAPE
    SYNC
    X-Resource
    XC-MISC
    XFIXES
    XFree86-DGA
    XFree86-VidModeExtension
    XINERAMA
    XInputExtension
    XKEYBOARD
    XTEST
    XVideo
default screen number:    0
number of screens:    1
screen #0:
  dimensions:    1024x768 pixels (2167x1084 millimeters)
  resolution:    12x18 dots per inch
  depths (7):    24, 1, 4, 8, 15, 16, 32
  root window id:    0x44
  depth of root window:    24 planes
  number of colormaps:    minimum 1, maximum 1
  default colormap:    0x20
  default number of colormap cells:    256
  preallocated pixels:    black 0, white 16777215
  options:    backing-store WHEN MAPPED, save-unders NO
  largest cursor:    64x64
  current input event mask:    0xda001f
    KeyPressMask             KeyReleaseMask           ButtonPressMask
    ButtonReleaseMask        EnterWindowMask          StructureNotifyMask
    SubstructureNotifyMask   SubstructureRedirectMask PropertyChangeMask
    ColormapChangeMask
  number of visuals:    3
  default visual id:  0x21
  visual:
    visual id:    0x21
    class:    TrueColor
    depth:    24 planes
    available colormap entries:    256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks:    0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
  visual:
    visual id:    0x22
    class:    DirectColor
    depth:    24 planes
    available colormap entries:    256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks:    0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
  visual:
    visual id:    0x42
    class:    TrueColor
    depth:    32 planes
    available colormap entries:    256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks:    0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits

A very very low resolution of 12x18 dots per inch is detected. Maybe is this the reason for the tiny fonts? Any suggestion?

The same behavior occur if I launch openbox instead of fluxbox.

Thank you in advance.



Wed, 23 Jan 2019 10:55:21 GMT - Antoine Martin: status changed; resolution set

My guess is that you're not using the patched dummy driver from xpra's repository, as you did not get xpra 2.4.3 r21350M from us.


Wed, 23 Jan 2019 11:13:06 GMT - Mauro:

I have just installed xpra v2.4.3-r21365 from xpra.org but nothing changed.


Wed, 23 Jan 2019 11:15:49 GMT - Antoine Martin:

I have just installed xpra v2.4.3-r21365 from xpra.org but nothing changed.

What you need is the patched dummy driver which is in the xpra repository for most distribution variants. I don't know what your distro is, so I can't be certain.

To verify, print the version information for the xorg dummy package on your system.


Wed, 23 Jan 2019 11:55:05 GMT - Mauro:

My distribution is debian testing.

I just reinstall completely xpra and xserver-xorg-video-dummy, reboot the system, and now fonts are readable. Thank you for your great help!


Sat, 23 Jan 2021 05:42:43 GMT - migration script:

this ticket has been moved to: https://github.com/Xpra-org/xpra/issues/2119