[needs 1.9] X server should fallback to vesa when a monitor isn't connected

Thanks for reporting this Mario, I think it is a Wishlist item since you are asking for functionality that doesn't exist yet. This behavior isn't a regression from previous Ubuntu versions, is it?

Surely the bug here is the intel driver failing to start with no monitor connected?

The underlying problem here - not starting X when there are no displays connected - has recently been fixed in Xserver master for most cards, and will be in 1.9 which we will get in Maverick.

Marking as fix committed to make it easier to find when we upload 1.9

This bug was fixed in the package xorg-server - 2:1.8.99.905-1ubuntu1

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xorg-server (2:1.8.99.905-1ubuntu1) maverick; urgency=low

  * Merge from (unreleased) Debian experimental. Remaining Ubuntu changes:
    - rules, control:
      + Disable SELinux, libaudit-dev is not in main yet (LP 406226).
        Drop libaudit-dev from build-deps.
    - rules: Enable xcsecurity (LP 247537).
    - local/xvfb-run*: Add correct docs about error codes (LP 328205)
    - rules: Add --with-extra-module-dir to support GL alternatives.
    - control: Xvfb depends on xauth, x11-xkb-utils. (LP 500102)
    - rules, local/64-xorg-xkb.rules: Don't use keyboard-configuration
      until it's available.
    - control: Update some versioned Breaks for Ubuntu versions.
    - debian/patches:
      + 100_rethrow_signals.patch:
        When aborting, re-raise signals for apport
      + 109_fix-swcursor-crash.patch:
        Avoid dereferencing null pointer while reloading cursors during
        resume. (LP 371405)
      + 111_armel-drv-fallbacks.patch:
        Add support for armel driver fallbacks.
      + 121_only_switch_vt_when_active.diff:
        Add a check to prevent the X server from changing the VT when killing
        GDM from the console.
      + 122_xext_fix_card32_overflow_in_xauth.patch:
        Fix server crash when “xauth generate” is called with large timeout.
      + 157_check_null_modes.patch, 162_null_crtc_in_rotation.patch,
        166_nullptr_xinerama_keyrepeat.patch, 167_nullptr_xisbread.patch
        169_mipointer_nullptr_checks.patch,
        172_cwgetbackingpicture_nullptr_check.patch:
        Fix various segfaults in xserver by checking pointers for NULL
        values before dereferencing them.
      + 165_man_xorg_conf_no_device_ident.patch
        Correct man page
      + 168_glibc_trace_to_stderr.patch:
        Report abort traces to stderr instead of terminal
      + 184_virtual_devices_autodetect.patch:
        Use vesa for qemu device, which is not supported by cirrus
      + 187_edid_quirk_hp_nc8430.patch:
        Quirk for another LPL monitor (LP 380009)
      + 188_default_primary_to_first_busid.patch:
        Pick the first device and carry on (LP 459512)
      + 189_xserver_1.5.0_bg_none_root.patch:
        Create a root window with no background.
      + 190_cache-xkbcomp_output_for_fast_start_up.patch:
        Cache keyboard settings.
      + 191-Xorg-add-an-extra-module-path.patch:
        Add support for the alternatives module path.
      + 197_xvfb-randr.patch:
        Adds xrandr support to xvfb. (LP 516123)
      + 198_nohwaccess.patch:
        Adds a -nohwaccess argument to make X not access the hardware
        ports directly.
      + 200_randr-null.patch:
        Clarify a pointer initialization.
  * Update changelog entries for 1.8.1.902-1 which became 1.8.99.904-1
  * Drop 196_xvfbscreeninit-handling.patch: it's semantically empty, and now
    doesn't apply. Merge remaining #include change into 197_xvfb-randr.patch
  * New upstream version will start correctly when no outputs are connected,
    as long as the video driver can dynamically resize the framebuffer
    (true for all KMS drivers) (LP: #337889)
...