Compaq Netscape problem on Debian 2.1 Alpha system

[fea@fea.rrd.ornl.gov (James D. Freels)]

The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
that has been posted to comp.os.linux.alpha,comp.windows.x.kde as well.


I have a problem getting the new Compaq-donated
netscape package to work correctly on my Debian 2.1 
(slink) Alpha machine.  Here are the facts:

(1) stock Debian 2.1 (stable slink) for Alpha with
    the kde 1.1.2 .deb packages for Alpha additionally 
    added 

(2) downloaded the netscape-4.7.rpm file

(3) used alien to create a companion .dev file

(4) installed the package (which did not actually install 
    left me with a .tar.gz and an install script)

(5) hacked the install script so that it would install

(6) runs netscape under root and kde fine 

(7) running as a general user, netscape under kde works 
    fine, but only the *FIRST TIME* it is executed and 
    then exited.

(8) the second and any subsequent time I run netscape
    as a general user under kde, the X11 system hangs and I
    have to cntrl-alt-backspace to get out X11

(9) the only error message I can find that occurs during the
    X11 hang is (and this does not occur under root)

    "kaudioserver Catching fatal X IO Error. Cleaning Up."

(10) I have tried sever things including changing 
     permissions, ownerships, etc.  of files, devices, etc.
     but nothing seems to fix the problem except to run as root.

Any help on fixing this problem would be appreciated.