https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49923
--- Comment #9 from ttallink@googlemail.com --- I'll explain, in great detail, my problem again:
wineconsole is still broken for me - granted, I did not try 5.19 due to the nature of my servers (that is, thousands of users being connected at once, any reboot means a forced disconnect and distress to my users so I try to avoid it until it's absolutely necessary, i.e. necessary security updates and the likes).
To add some clarification:
My application, a 12kb sized Windows PE binary, has been compiled in a way so that it does not open any windows or console (-mwindows compiler directive, using GCC 8.1 from mingw-w64), it silently runs in the background, waiting for connections from users using the Winsock API.
This is the systemd unit file used to launch the service:
[Unit] Description=*redacted* After=syslog.target network.target nss-lookup.target
[Service] Type=simple ExecStart=/usr/bin/wineconsole --backend=curses /*redacted*/*redacted*.exe WorkingDirectory=/*redacted* User=*redacted* Group=users Environment=TERM=dumb StandardInput=tty-force TTYPath=/dev/pts/ptmx KillSignal=SIGINT
[Install] WantedBy = multi-user.target
You can see that I am attaching the /dev/pts/ptmx pseudo-terminal in order to make the curses backend happy - any output written to that terminal is of course discarded, but since there is no output in the first place, this was a nice work-around in order to make wineconsole work through systemd without having a 99% CPU usage after starting the service (other, unrelated bug).
Now, that the curses backend was removed, the option to use wineconsole through a systemd service with a pseudo-terminal attached has vanished - it now requires a fully fledged desktop environment along with a display (or so it seems).
Is this wanted behavior?
In my opinion, definitely not - there should be a way to run wineconsole as a service, without any desktop environment, X Server or displays available - however, since Wine 5.18, and the removal of the curses backend, this is no longer possible - only option for me and others is to stay on 5.17 indefinitely , however, I would still like to receive security and optional updates for Wine.
Please consider working around this issue by making wineconsole not require a desktop session / display, optionally only if some certain command line is passed, so we can run it as a service with a pseudo terminal attached.
If anyone has any ideas on how to get this service running on Wine 5.18 or later, on a remote server with no graphics hardware, desktop environment or X Server, then please enlighten me, I'd be truly grateful.
Yours truly, William