On Thu, Aug 17, 2000 at 04:06:58PM -0500, John Reinke wrote: > I'm glad this question was asked - I'm learning a lot on this list. > > I plan to set my system up like this, so I don't boot directly into X, but > how should I start xdm? If I run xdm or switch to a runlevel with X, will > I still be logged in as root? What if X crashes and returns the system to > non-X, will whoever is using it then have console access as root? Unlike startx, xdm is a daemon that accepts logins, usually on tty7. Changing runlevels (e.g. "telinit 3") just sends a signal to initd, which controls the whole rc.d system and everything else. In either case, as long as you don't forget to go back to the console and log out your root session, no one can get back to a root session without exploiting some security hole (or, of course, logging in again as root). I'd have to say the 'best' way to start xdm in that situation would be to change to the xdm-enabled runlevel. This could also start the X font server or whatever else you like to have running at the same time as X. -- finger for GPG public key.
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