Debian X package shouldn't install XDM by default
So who's the rocket scientist who decided that if XWindows gets
installed, then XDM should be enabled?
I hadn't messed with my new debian PPC installation since I downloaded
all the packages, but when I did download them, I retrieved the complete
X11 package, then after the packages were installed a logged in via the
tty screen which I guess runs under the Mac framebuffer, and was able to
start X but then I found that the mouse didn't work.
Imagine my suprise when I started my debian installation up again for
the first time in a few days and found the XDM login prompt. Well,
that's OK, just press ctrl-command-delete and it kills the x server,
then I can login and - whoa! - the X server restarts and I have the XDM
login prompt.
I could log in alright, but I couldn't move the mouse. XWindows is not
yet doing me a whole lot of good and what was really upsetting was that
I could not log in at the console to disable it.
I tried to telnet in from another machine but there was no telnet
server. Ah, but I had installed ssh - but debian installs ssh1 and my
other machine had ssh2. So I forcibly rebooted it and brought it up
single user mode and started removing the xdm startup scripts from the
/etc/rc*.d/ directories.
Please, please, please whoever is responsible for maintaining these
packages don't install a startup script that's going to render a user's
system unusable until the user has had the opportunity to verify that it
works on their own, personal, particular system.
Mike
--
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc. - Expert Software Development and Consulting
http://www.goingware.com/
crawford@goingware.com
Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow.
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