Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!ncar!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU!converse
From: converse@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Donna Converse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: How do I get xdm to run "." files?
Message-ID: <8901271919.AA29467@expo.lcs.mit.edu>
Date: 27 Jan 89 19:19:21 GMT
References: <00oC837YkJ10107ZMTw@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Organization: X Consortium, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
Lines: 23


>  If you don't supply config information, xdm is smart enough to run the
>  appropriate shell of a user "correctly" (it reads the .profile, .cshrc,
>  etc).  However, if you supply config information (including the .Xsession
>  supplied) it just comes up in a user's shell - the "." file information
>  is never read.

Actually xdm never reads $HOME/.login, $HOME/.cshrc, and so on.
xterm reads them.  I can speculate on the problem:

If your $HOME/.xsession file is not executing, then perhaps 
there is a file name mismatch between the reference to the file
$HOME/.xsession in /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession and the name your gave
your .xsession file.  

Perhaps something is ill-specified in your .xsession file, causing
it to loose its cookies before you get your xterm going.

Did you give xterm the -ls argument to have your .login file, etc. 
executed?  See the xterm man page.

Here's the final line from my .xsession file:
exec xterm -geometry 80x10+5+5 -ls -sb -bw 3 -cr red -ms red