Error in linux console : Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

linux fedora gnome-terminal
gyok picture gyok · Feb 5, 2015 · Viewed 26.2k times · Source

When I start Terminal the first 2 messages that i see it is :

Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console
Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

and then prompt from console , and nothing another , also this problem creates when type setfont :

[gyok@localhost ~]$ setfont
Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

if I go to Ctrl+Alt+F2 terminal all works fine and without this messages , same situation in root console, so can you try help me to repair this ? I have Fedora 21 whith Gnome, my laptop model is Y570.

Answer

wojtow picture wojtow · Feb 5, 2015

setfont modifies the font in the VGA console (what you get when you press CTRL-ALT-F1, etc) It won't do anything in Terminal.

Normally only the root user can access the console device that setfont needs to connect to in order to make the font change. This is why you get an error message when you run it from your normal user account. An exception is when a user is logged into the VGA console... then the user has access to the console and setfont succeeds.

The fact that you get the error message whenever you start Terminal, means that you likely have some command in your .bashrc, .bash_profile, .bash_login, .profile or /etc/profile that is run whenever you start a terminal. Could it be that you have setfont in one of these places? otherwise, look for something else that may be accessing the console.

Related questions

bash: __vte_prompt_command: command not found

bash: __vte_prompt_command: command not found Whenever I open a terminal, I am greeted with this line. Also, this is printed each time I enter a command in the terminal. I am a linux-noob, and would be happy to …

Read More
How to list the contents of a package using YUM?

I know how to use rpm to list the contents of a package (rpm -qpil package.rpm). However, this requires knowing the location of the .rpm file on the filesystem. A more elegant solution would be to use the package …

Read More
curl: (6) Could not resolve host: google.com; Name or service not known

when I try to load a web page to terminal it gives curl: (6) Could not resolve host error. I have internet in my PC and trying from my home internet connection. So as I there is no any proxy involve …

Read More