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Re: PD: VERY BIZARRE Xperience...



Jim Pick writes:
> "J. Paul Bruns-Bielkowicz" <america@polbox.com> writes:

>> I just ran dselect and tried to install xserver-vga1. I downloaded
>> the current version of Linux (Debian 1.3) about a week ago. During
>> the first installation of xserver-vga1 the system asked me for
>> configuration information. I replied yes. This is the error
>> printout:

>> Not all of the configuration and application default files are
>> installed. The file /usr/X11R6/lib/xinit/xinitrc is missing

> Sounds like a dependency problem...  this might be a bug.  If you
> can figure out why, please report it.

The documentation of 1.3.0 mentions the existence of dependency:
xserver depend on xbase, but this is not made explicit.  A fix under
1.3.1 was promised but I'm under the impression that the problem still
exists.

>> Consequently, I unselected xserver-vga1 and its' accompanying
>> files and removed them from my system using dselect. Next, I tried to
>> install them again.

[Tale of woe deleted.]

>> Do I have to reinstall the whole system again? Should I try
>> installing xserver-vga1 (current version) once more? I see someone
>> else also had a similar problem with X windows. Any advice?

> Is it dying when xdm tries to load?  Maybe you can just switch to a
> regular console using Alt-F1. If not, use your rescue disk (the first
> installation floppy) to boot your system, mount your hard drive, and
> modify /etc/init.d/xdm so that it doesn't start up.  Then I'd purge
> all your existing X packages and try again.

I've had a similar problem while installing 1.3.1 on a Toshiba laptop.
At first I got the xbase/xserver dependency wrong, purged the server,
reinstalled.  After that, everyting seemed to work if X was started
from the CLI, but if xdm was started at boot the keyboard was ignored.
The mouse was still active, so the machine wasn't completely dead,
just unusable.

I went through several rounds of purging xbase+xsvga and reinstalling
but the problem stubbornly resurfaced each time.

In the end, I decided on a complete reinstall of the system.  This
time, I selected xbase almost as the first package to be installed.
The xvga16 server was autoselected, which I replaced with xsvga.
Before the first run of xdm (you're prompted whether to start it now)
I switched consoles and executed the "shadowconfig on" command (as
recommended for the 1.3.0 distribution).  Then I allowed xdm to start.
X has been running flawlessly since.

My none-too-informed best guess is that if you fail to install X
correctly the first time round, it affects some configuration files
in ways that purging X won't recover from.

-- 
Olaf Weber


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