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From: mouse@lightning.mcrcim.mcgill.EDU (der Mouse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re:  Help: XDM problems
Message-ID: <9105070725.AA17507@lightning.McRCIM.McGill.EDU>
Date: 7 May 91 07:25:56 GMT
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 43

> I just have finished to build the X11R4 on SPARCs running SunOS
> 4.1.1.  I have some problems with the xdm program:

> 1) When I try to run xdm like a simple user I get the following message:

> 	Only root wants to run xdm

>    When I type "run xdm" I only call the xdm program itself.  Is this
>    way of running xdm right?

Generally not.  As the message says, unless you're doing something very
strange, xdm should not be run except by root.  This is necessary if it
is to function correctly; it needs to be able to verify users'
passwords and start their shells under their UIDs....

>    How can root let to the normal users run xdm?

You probably don't want to.  In normal use, root runs xdm once, usually
at boot time.  It then possibly forks a server; in any case, users can
run the X server and tell it to ask the xdm server for session service.

> 2) As root I try to run xdm but I get the following errors in the
>    /usr/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-errors file.  This file is:

>       Fatal server bug!
>       no screens found

This looks like a problem with the X server itself, not with xdm.  Try
starting X via xinit instead of xdm.  If you have another machine you
can rlogin from, try logging in over the network and running Xsun that
way.  Until you can get X to start up that way, I wouldn't waste your
time wondering why xdm won't behave.

> Which are all my BIG errors?  What have I missing?

The biggest error that I see is that you're trying to make too many
things work at once.  Ignore xdm for now; get the server working.  Then
worry about making xdm behave.

					der Mouse

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