From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Dec 19 12:25:17 1996 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id MAA09334 for questions-outgoing; Thu, 19 Dec 1996 12:25:17 -0800 (PST) Received: from xmission.xmission.com (softweyr@xmission.xmission.com [198.60.22.2]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP id MAA09325 for ; Thu, 19 Dec 1996 12:25:13 -0800 (PST) Received: (from softweyr@localhost) by xmission.xmission.com (8.8.4/8.7.5) id NAA08581; Thu, 19 Dec 1996 13:24:53 -0700 (MST) From: Softweyr LLC Message-Id: <199612192024.NAA08581@xmission.xmission.com> Subject: Re: Stuck in xdm-Land To: cbooth@onyx.interactive.net (Christopher J. Booth) Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 13:24:52 -0700 (MST) Cc: questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: from "Christopher J. Booth" at Dec 18, 96 10:00:18 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > But now I can't get rid of it. The xdm login comes up at boot, and it won't > let me log in as root. I hadn't set up my alter-ego users as permitted to > run as su. Control-alt-delete just causes xdm to restart, and I can't > interrupt. Likewise control-c. And it is living on alt-F1 through alt-F2. > As the man in the Fiat yelled to the man in the sports car racing down the > highway, "How do I get this thing our of second gear?" I've seen two other responses, both helpful about stopping xdm, but not how to get you using xdm. To summarize: o Ctrl-Alt-F1 will get you to the "F1" console. You can login as root there and fix things. o Run xdm from /etc/rc.local rather than /etc/ttys. Now, on to how to *use* xdm: When xdm starts a session for a user, it looks in the user's home directory for an executable .xsession file, which will setup the X client programs to run. If it doesn't find one, it uses it's default, which starts an xterm, twm, and a few other bits. The default is stored somewhere in the xdm configuration directory: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm Go find the default xsession file (sorry, I don't remember its name). Look at it. Look at your current X startup file, whatever that might be, and merge in your settings for window manager, etc. chmod +x your shiny new .xsession file. Logout and log back in. Presto chango, it works! If it doesn't work; i.e. if you get thrown right back out to Xdm, login as root and look at the .xsession-errors file in the user's home directory. Fix the problem it's whining about, remove the file (so you won't get confused the next time it pukes) and login again. Suggestion: leave the 'root' login alone. It may be ugly, but it works. -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com