what is dbus daemon and why vlc needs it

Question

I have cross-compiled VLC (version 2.1.2) media player using buildroot for an arm board. I have connected the board to my linux PC using serial cable. When I try to run the player using "vlc" command in minicom, which is located in /usr/bin of my root filesystem. I get the following error:

inhibit interface error: Failed to connect to the D-Bus session daemon: /usr/bin/dbus-launch terminated abnormally with the following error: Autolaunch error: X11 initialization failed.

Can anyone please clarify what this error means and also can any one please tell me what is a dbus and why it is required for my VLC player.

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

I am working on a minimal rootfs based on buildroot. This error is solved for me after I have included the package "twm" in my rootfs. Then after the board is up I run following commands on the terminal:

export DISPLAY=:0
startx &

then run vlc

vlc

This way I got rid of this error.

Answer 2

Since you say that you have cross compiled vlc and facing dbus launch issues, I expect you are working on a minimal root fs.

Try doing this in your terminal before you run vlc:

$ export DISPLAY=:0

If you have compiled dbus with x11 support, then dbus-launch will succeed.