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Re: X Windows



On Wed, 15 May 1996, Dale Scheetz wrote:

> When I try xdm as a user (with the server up and running via root) I get
> told:
> Only root wants to use xdm
> Have I got some permissions wrong? Or have I just missunderstood...again.

You have misunderstood. When it is set up correctly, xdm can be started 
as part of the boot process. It will start an X server and provide a 
login window.

If you don't want it to be started automatically, you can still configure
it and start it from a root shell. 

By 'configured' I really mean that there should be a line in 
/etc/X11/xdm/Xservers to start your local X server. It should look like:
:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X

You should be prompted about this when you install the X packages. If you 
aren't, you've probably said either Yes or No to it in the past. If you 
are using the latest version of the X packages, see /etc/X11/config in 
conjunction with /usr/doc/X11/debian.README

If you want to run xdm, but don't want it to run an X server, you can 
remove that line from /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers (and set the 
no-xdm-start-server option in /etc/X11/config). You can then start an X 
server and get a login window with a command like:

/usr/X11R6/bin/X -query hostname

...where hostname is your machine's name.

Steve Early
sde1000@cam.ac.uk


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