X on tty1 in Rawhide/F10

[shmuel siegel]

Dan Nicholson wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 6:44 AM, shmuel siegel
> <fedora at shmuelhome.mine.nu> wrote:
>   
>> Dan Nicholson wrote:
>>     
>>> Why is it significant what tty any program runs on? Isn't the
>>> assumption that getty will be on tty1 just as faulty as the assumption
>>> X will be on tty7?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dan
>>>
>>>       
>> Because you are changing a user interface. What is going to happen when the
>> user switches to tty1 and nothing happens? The basic logic of putting X on
>> tty7 is to get it out of the way. Humans will use the lowest numbered ttys
>> first. Besides breaking existing documentation, including advice on various
>> forums, is not a good idea.
>>     
>
> The basic logic of X starting on tty7 is because it was the first open
> VT because getty is already running on tty1-6. I can show you the code
> in the X server where it picks the first available VT. This is just
> changing it so that X will start on tty1. What interface is that
> breaking? A broken assumption that tty1 == !X?
>
> --
> Dan
>
>   
Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, the code did that 
deliberately? Maybe someone thought that it would be a good idea for 
usable consoles numbers to start at 1?  Or someone thought that once 
people started down a certain path with conventions, it shouldn't be 
changed unless the people saw a real benefit. I don't think that it is a 
broken assumption that I should know where my usable consoles are. 
Forcing the user to guess where the console is is a broken interface. 
Maybe this cartoon will make the point 
http://www.lesher.ws/queryinterface.html.