Thursday, December 17, 2009

Configuring Locales

To install fr_FR.UTF-8 in case your girlfriend does not speak English:

$ dpkg-reconfigure locales

And you should be all set !

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

(acroread-en:26300): Gtk-WARNING **: /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/libclearlooks.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64

Today I started looking at this annoying warning everytime I start acroread:
$ acroread ./medical/dicom/2008/08_02pu.pdf
(acroread-en:26300): Gtk-WARNING **: /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/libclearlooks.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64

Looking in the bug tracker it seems this is:

* http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=490947

But as reported here, this is a recent regression:

* http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=544324#15

I could not figure out how this lib is actually being pulled in.

Monday, December 14, 2009

PDF Library

In GDCM, I needed a PDF library in order to cope with Encapsulated PDF Storage (1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.1.104.1)

I thought poppler would fit the need, but anytime a new release would come out, the API would be badly broken. Eg:

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=555959

Today I found out, there is a new effort:

http://planet.gnu.org/gnupdf/

I'll have to keep an eye on it, and drop poppler which is only a rendering library (it pulls dependencies to fonts library !).

XBMC on debian

After some digging it appears XBMC got uploaded on debian-multimedia (Thanks Christian!)

$ apt-cache policy xbmc
xbmc:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 9.11~b2-0.0
Version table:
9.11~b2-0.0 0
100 http://www.debian-multimedia.org unstable/main Packages

I have to try at home now

RT Ion Plan Storage in GDCM




GDCM 2.x trunk now support loading or RT Ion Plan Storage (1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.1.481.8).

The code is available at:

http://gdcm.svn.sf.net/viewvc/gdcm/trunk/Utilities/VTK/Examples/Cxx/gdcmrtionplan.cxx?view=markup

Enjoy !

Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 643: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!

I could not start skype on my debian/stable machine so I had to follow instructions from:

* https://developer.skype.com/jira/browse/SCL-510?focusedCommentId=35740&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels%3Acomment-tabpanel#action_35740

which leads to:

* http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=543448

Steps:

wget http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/pool/main/t/tcp-wrappers/libwrap0_7.6.q-16_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gdbm/libgdbm3_1.8.3-3_i386.deb
dpkg -X libgdbm3_1.8.3-3_i386.deb bla
dpkg -X libwrap0_7.6.q-16_i386.deb bla
sudo cp -avi bla/usr/lib/libgdbm* /usr/lib32/
sudo cp -avi bla/lib/libwrap.so.0 bla/lib/libwrap.so.0.7.6 /lib32/


Cheers

Le contre-appel des scientifiques incultes

Ref:
* http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101607895-le-contre-appel-des-scientifiques-incultes

Friday, December 4, 2009

TestPRandomGraphSource

I am playing with TestPRandomGraphSource on the cluster here. But already I am getting some issues:

$ mpirun --hostfile ~/mpicluster -x DISPLAY=localhost:10.0 /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/TestPRandomGraphSource ~/Kitware/VTK-gcc
Testing simple random generator (100, 200)...
...done.
Testing simple tree+random generator (100, 200)...
...done.
Breadth-first search... done in 0.0102899 seconds
Vertex coloring... done in 0.00678277 seconds
Verifying vertex coloring... done in 0.00980902 seconds
Connected components...[dhcp-67-182:15734] *** Process received signal ***
[dhcp-67-181:16211] *** Process received signal ***
[dhcp-67-181:16211] Signal: Segmentation fault (11)
[dhcp-67-181:16211] Signal code: (128)
[dhcp-67-181:16211] Failing at address: (nil)
[dhcp-67-182:15734] Signal: Segmentation fault (11)
[dhcp-67-182:15734] Signal code: (128)
[dhcp-67-182:15734] Failing at address: (nil)
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 0] /lib/libc.so.6 [0x7fa832501fd0]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 0] /lib/libc.so.6 [0x7f08aaf61fd0]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 1] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost3putINS_25shared_array_property_mapINS_18default_color_typeENS_16vtkGraphIndexMapEEERS2_xS2_EEvRKNS_14put_get_helperIT0_T_EET1_RKT2_+0x2a) [0x7fa838518ce4]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 1] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost3putINS_25shared_array_property_mapINS_18default_color_typeENS_16vtkGraphIndexMapEEERS2_xS2_EEvRKNS_14put_get_helperIT0_T_EET1_RKT2_+0x2a) [0x7f08b0f78ce4]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 2] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost18depth_first_searchINS_14local_subgraphIKP18vtkUndirectedGraphEENS_6detail19components_recorderINS_21iterator_property_mapIN9__gnu_cxx17__normal_iteratorIPmSt6vectorImSaImEEEENS_16vtkGraphIndexMapEmRmEEEENS_25shared_array_property_mapINS_18default_color_typeESG_EEEEvRKT_T0_T1_NS_12graph_traitsISN_E17vertex_descriptorE+0xd7) [0x7fa838537c3e]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 2] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost18depth_first_searchINS_14local_subgraphIKP18vtkUndirectedGraphEENS_6detail19components_recorderINS_21iterator_property_mapIN9__gnu_cxx17__normal_iteratorIPmSt6vectorImSaImEEEENS_16vtkGraphIndexMapEmRmEEEENS_25shared_array_property_mapINS_18default_color_typeESG_EEEEvRKT_T0_T1_NS_12graph_traitsISN_E17vertex_descriptorE+0xd7) [0x7f08b0f97c3e]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 3] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost18depth_first_searchINS_14local_subgraphIKP18vtkUndirectedGraphEENS_6detail19components_recorderINS_21iterator_property_mapIN9__gnu_cxx17__normal_iteratorIPmSt6vectorImSaImEEEENS_16vtkGraphIndexMapEmRmEEEENS_15graph_visitor_tENS_11no_propertyEEEvRKT_RKNS_16bgl_named_paramsIT0_T1_T2_EE+0x12b) [0x7fa838537ff0]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 3] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost18depth_first_searchINS_14local_subgraphIKP18vtkUndirectedGraphEENS_6detail19components_recorderINS_21iterator_property_mapIN9__gnu_cxx17__normal_iteratorIPmSt6vectorImSaImEEEENS_16vtkGraphIndexMapEmRmEEEENS_15graph_visitor_tENS_11no_propertyEEEvRKT_RKNS_16bgl_named_paramsIT0_T1_T2_EE+0x12b) [0x7f08b0f97ff0]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 4] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost20connected_componentsINS_14local_subgraphIKP18vtkUndirectedGraphEENS_21iterator_property_mapIN9__gnu_cxx17__normal_iteratorIPmSt6vectorImSaImEEEENS_16vtkGraphIndexMapEmRmEEEENS_15property_traitsIT0_E10value_typeERKT_SI_NS_11enable_if_cIXsrNS_19is_base_and_derivedINS_21vertex_list_graph_tagENS_12graph_traitsISL_E18traversal_categoryEEE5valueENS_5graph6detail12no_parameterEE4typeE+0x6b) [0x7fa8385380a2]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 4] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost20connected_componentsINS_14local_subgraphIKP18vtkUndirectedGraphEENS_21iterator_property_mapIN9__gnu_cxx17__normal_iteratorIPmSt6vectorImSaImEEEENS_16vtkGraphIndexMapEmRmEEEENS_15property_traitsIT0_E10value_typeERKT_SI_NS_11enable_if_cIXsrNS_19is_base_and_derivedINS_21vertex_list_graph_tagENS_12graph_traitsISL_E18traversal_categoryEEE5valueENS_5graph6detail12no_parameterEE4typeE+0x6b) [0x7f08b0f980a2]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 5] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost5graph11distributed9cc_detail29parallel_connected_componentsIP18vtkUndirectedGraphNS_8parallel24distributed_property_mapINS1_17mpi_process_groupENS_18vtkVertexGlobalMapEP14vtkIdTypeArrayEEEEvRT_T0_+0x188) [0x7fa83853823c]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 5] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN5boost5graph11distributed9cc_detail29parallel_connected_componentsIP18vtkUndirectedGraphNS_8parallel24distributed_property_mapINS1_17mpi_process_groupENS_18vtkVertexGlobalMapEP14vtkIdTypeArrayEEEEvRT_T0_+0x188) [0x7f08b0f9823c]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 6] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN26vtkPBGLConnectedComponents11RequestDataEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x537) [0x7fa838502887]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 6] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkParallel.so.5.5(_ZN26vtkPBGLConnectedComponents11RequestDataEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x537) [0x7f08b0f62887]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 7] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN17vtkGraphAlgorithm14ProcessRequestEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x54) [0x7fa833bc901e]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 7] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN17vtkGraphAlgorithm14ProcessRequestEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x54) [0x7f08ac62901e]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 8] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN12vtkExecutive13CallAlgorithmEP14vtkInformationiPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x7d) [0x7fa833ba7dad]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 8] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN12vtkExecutive13CallAlgorithmEP14vtkInformationiPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x7d) [0x7f08ac607dad]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [ 9] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN23vtkDemandDrivenPipeline11ExecuteDataEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x65) [0x7fa833b91fc5]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [ 9] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN23vtkDemandDrivenPipeline11ExecuteDataEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x65) [0x7f08ac5f1fc5]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
mpirun noticed that process rank 1 with PID 16211 on node mpi1 exited on signal 11 (Segmentation fault).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [10] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN23vtkDemandDrivenPipeline14ProcessRequestEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x4a4) [0x7fa833b96226]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [10] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN23vtkDemandDrivenPipeline14ProcessRequestEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x4a4) [0x7f08ac5f6226]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [11] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN32vtkStreamingDemandDrivenPipeline14ProcessRequestEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x34d) [0x7fa833d0cc7b]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [11] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN32vtkStreamingDemandDrivenPipeline14ProcessRequestEP14vtkInformationPP20vtkInformationVectorS3_+0x34d) [0x7f08ac76cc7b]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [12] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN23vtkDemandDrivenPipeline10UpdateDataEi+0x2bb) [0x7fa833b95d73]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [12] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN23vtkDemandDrivenPipeline10UpdateDataEi+0x2bb) [0x7f08ac5f5d73]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [13] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN32vtkStreamingDemandDrivenPipeline6UpdateEi+0xc9) [0x7fa833d0b717]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [13] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN32vtkStreamingDemandDrivenPipeline6UpdateEi+0xc9) [0x7f08ac76b717]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [14] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN12vtkExecutive6UpdateEv+0x3d) [0x7fa833ba87f7]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [14] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN12vtkExecutive6UpdateEv+0x3d) [0x7f08ac6087f7]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [15] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN23vtkDemandDrivenPipeline6UpdateEv+0x15) [0x7fa833b9413f]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [15] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN23vtkDemandDrivenPipeline6UpdateEv+0x15) [0x7f08ac5f413f]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [16] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN32vtkStreamingDemandDrivenPipeline6UpdateEv+0x15) [0x7fa833d03341]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [16] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN32vtkStreamingDemandDrivenPipeline6UpdateEv+0x15) [0x7f08ac763341]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [17] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN12vtkAlgorithm6UpdateEv+0x26) [0x7fa833b1a6aa]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [17] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkFiltering.so.5.5(_ZN12vtkAlgorithm6UpdateEv+0x26) [0x7f08ac57a6aa]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [18] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/TestPRandomGraphSource(main+0x12a9) [0x4654dd]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [18] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/TestPRandomGraphSource(main+0x12a9) [0x4654dd]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [19] /lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xfd) [0x7fa8324eeabd]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [19] /lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xfd) [0x7f08aaf4eabd]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] [20] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/TestPRandomGraphSource [0x463f39]
[dhcp-67-181:16211] [20] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/TestPRandomGraphSource [0x463f39]
[dhcp-67-182:15734] *** End of error message ***
[dhcp-67-181:16211] *** End of error message ***
[dhcp-67-182][[20651,1],2][../../../../../../ompi/mca/btl/tcp/btl_tcp_frag.c:216:mca_btl_tcp_frag_recv] [dhcp-67-181][[20651,1],0][../../../../../../ompi/mca/btl/tcp/btl_tcp_frag.c:216:mca_btl_tcp_frag_recv] mca_btl_tcp_frag_recv: readv failed: Connection reset by peer (104)
mca_btl_tcp_frag_recv: readv failed: Connection reset by peer (104)


sigh :(

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x88 on isa0060/serio0)

I was trying to get the combo Fn+F2 working on a DELL MS6300, but got stuck on the following message:


[ 118.586044] atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code
0x88 on isa0060/serio0).
[ 118.586044] atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e008 ' to make it known.


I quickly found this page:

* http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=475851

I found out that the hal-info in testing did contained the proper info:

* http://packages.qa.debian.org/h/hal-info.html

But I really got it working for most of the F1 - F12 keys : *after* installing the following package: hotkey-setup:

* http://packages.qa.debian.org/h/hotkey-setup.html

cheers

Option "XkbLayout" "gb"

I am not sure why but since debian/Lenny, one need to explicitely state the XkbLayout for the X session. device console where ok though:


Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
EndSection

PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection

After much struggle, I finally was able to get the network for my wifi ENABLED (and not DISABLED):

$ sudo lshw
...
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
logical name: wmaster0
version: 61
serial: 00:21:5c:a0:55:17
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn latency=0 module=iwlagn multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn


The trick was to use a 2.6.30 kernel !
Ref:

* http://wiki.debian.org/iwlagn#Lenny

I still get the annoying HAL problem:

[ 167.662866] atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x88 on isa0060/serio0).
[ 167.662874] atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e008 ' to make it known.

Oh well giving up on this one for now.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Xvfb on MPI Cluster

I have finally finished setting up the MPI cluster. It is still not as I imaginged (only a single NIC is used for now).

I wanted to start playing with it using the ParallelBFS from VTK, but enter quickly into some troubles. I could not figure out how to redirect the DISPLAY to my main machine, so I ended up having :

$ mpirun --hostfile ~/mpicluster -np 3 /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/ParallelBFS
ERROR: In /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK/Rendering/vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow.cxx, line 344
vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow (0x2ab3b910): bad X server connection. DISPLAY=ERROR: In /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK/Rendering/vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow.cxx, line 344
vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow (0x2ab3b910): bad X server connection. DISPLAY=ERROR: In /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK/Rendering/vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow.cxx, line 344
vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow (0x2ab3b910): bad X server connection. DISPLAY=[dhcp-67-180:21108] *** Process received signal ***
[dhcp-67-180:21108] Signal: Segmentation fault (11)
[dhcp-67-180:21108] Signal code: Address not mapped (1)
[dhcp-67-180:21108] Failing at address: 0xe0
[dhcp-67-180:21108] [ 0] /lib/libpthread.so.0 [0x7fd3f82f0a80]
[dhcp-67-180:21108] [ 1] /usr/lib/libXt.so.6(_XtAppCreateShell+0x48) [0x7fd3fbcd9198]
[dhcp-67-180:21108] [ 2] /usr/lib/libXt.so.6(XtVaAppCreateShell+0x156) [0x7fd3fbd07466]
[dhcp-67-180:21108] [ 3] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/libvtkRendering.so.5.5(_ZN26vtkXRenderWindowInteractor10InitializeEv+0x597) [0x7fd3fdacb837]
[dhcp-67-180:21108] [ 4] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/ParallelBFS(main+0x320) [0x409760]
[dhcp-67-180:21108] [ 5] /lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe6) [0x7fd3f785c1a6]
[dhcp-67-180:21108] [ 6] /home/mpiuser/Kitware/VTK-gcc/bin/ParallelBFS(__gxx_personality_v0+0x369) [0x409349]
[dhcp-67-180:21108] *** End of error message ***
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
mpirun noticed that process rank 0 with PID 21108 on node mpi0 exited on signal 11 (Segmentation fault).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Oh well that is ok I can just install xvfb on the first node and try it again. But then again Xvfb failed:

$ Xvfb :9 -ac -screen 0 300x300x24
error opening security policy file /etc/X11/xserver/SecurityPolicy
(EE) XKB: Couldn't open rules file /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi, removing from list!
[config/hal] couldn't initialise context: (null) ((null))

^CFreeFontPath: FPE "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc" refcount is 2, should be 1; fixing.


Ok, doing a google search reveal:

xvfb: Should depend on xfonts-base package
* http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=497926

No this is not it, I have the xfonts-base:

$ apt-cache policy xfonts-base
xfonts-base:
Installed: 1:1.0.0-5
Candidate: 1:1.0.0-5
Version table:
1:1.0.0-6 0
200 http://ftp.fr.debian.org testing/main Packages
100 http://ftp.fr.debian.org unstable/main Packages
*** 1:1.0.0-5 0
500 http://ftp.fr.debian.org lenny/main Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status


Doing another google search reveal:

error opening security policy file /usr/lib/xserver/SecurityPolicy
* http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=362246

Ha ! I do not have the package, let's install it:

$ sudo apt-get install xserver-common
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
xserver-common
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 51.6kB of archives.
After this operation, 143kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ftp.fr.debian.org testing/main xserver-common 2:1.6.5-1 [51.6kB]
Fetched 51.6kB in 0s (1132kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package xserver-common.
(Reading database ... 57388 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking xserver-common (from .../xserver-common_2%3a1.6.5-1_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up xserver-common (2:1.6.5-1) ...


And let's try again:

$ Xvfb :9 -screen 0 300x300x24
error opening security policy file /etc/X11/xserver/SecurityPolicy
(EE) XKB: Couldn't open rules file /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi, removing from list!
[config/hal] couldn't initialise context: (null) ((null))


Ok I have no clue...time to hit the debian-users list.