Can't Create Child Process - No Usable X11

[Kenneth Jacker <khj@be.cs.appstate.edu>]

[sarge/testing;  2.6.8-1-686]

I am currently unable to run 2.6.8 and X11 with 'xterm's and other
graphical applications though I get the 'gdm' initial screen and login.

The exact error message dialog from what appears to be a Gnome
terminal (though I'm using KDE sessions) says:

   There was an error creating the child process for this terminal.

The GUI is pretty much dead ...


My hunch is somehow 'udev' stopped working correctly ... maybe borked
"pseudo terminals"?  I say this due to messages I've seen and behavior
after recovering from a "power fail" a few weeks ago. Then, after
rebooting, /dev/null's permissions had been changed to 660 causing
*many* things to break.  Also, there were no /dev/pty* created (though
they were under /.dev).  Finally, the XF86Config-4 file was modified.

I'm running OK under a 2.4.x kernel, but want to return to 2.6!

Thanks for your ideas,
-- 
Prof Kenneth H Jacker       khj@cs.appstate.edu
Computer Science Dept       www.cs.appstate.edu/~khj
Appalachian State Univ
Boone, NC  28608  USA