Re: Bug#60891: xdm: Installs default tty7 line in Xservers -- break s system
I just send this mail to debian-x list only.
In article <[🔎] 200003222030.MAA16740@muggy.gg.caltech.edu>,
at Wed, 22 Mar 2000 12:30:03 -0800,
on Re: Bug#60891: xdm: Installs default tty7 line in Xservers -- break s system,
Mark Montague <monty@gg.caltech.edu> writes:
> Sven LUTHER <luther@debian.org> writes:
>
> > Just a stupid clueless idea, but what if we start the xserver from the
> > inittab, or at least have some line in the inittab saying that the
> > Xserver/gdm/whatever will use the vtxx, in the same way that init starts
> > getty's on his specific vt's ?
>
> This is what HPUX does, for what that's worth. It seems to work OK.
Some Linux (maybe RedHat and Slackware) do the same, but with this setup,
if a user does mistake on his setting for X (ex. some typo in /etc/X11/XF86Config)
and make X impossible to start correctly, then a disaster will fall on him.
if X or xdm is written in /etc/inittab with "respawn", and if X can not
startup correctly, then the user can not login using the normal text console,
becuase init will continue to try to start up X, and X will continue to fail,
and all the time during this, the console always switches here and there.
# I know a beginner who has such a trouble with TurboLinux-J, when
# he choose "the graphics login" method on install. His machine had
# an old (ISA) graphics card, and X does not start correctly without
# mysterious (for him, of course ;) options.
So I can understand Branden's concern.
I know at least one merit of starting xdm by inittab. When you shutdown
the system from a terminal window on X, init kill the xdm (and X) before
it switches the runlevel, and you can read the messages from the scripts
in /etc/rc6.d/ on your console. I don't know why, but when xdm is not started
from inittab, the console switching will delay some amount of time, and
I can not read most of the messages from the scripts.
> > BTW, should we have a runlevel with X and a runlevel without X ? or do we
> > already have such a thing ?
I personally edit /etc/init.d/xdm to not start on runlevel 2 and 3.
%%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%%
case "$1" in
start)
# for runlevel 2 or 3, not start xdm
if [ "$RUNLEVEL" -eq 2 ]; then echo "xdm stopped at level 2"; exit 0; fi
if [ "$RUNLEVEL" -eq 3 ]; then echo "xdm stopped at level 3"; exit 0; fi
echo -n "Starting X display manager: xdm"
%%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%% %%%%%
I don't think it is very destructive that just having the comment out setting
in /etc/inittab, or /etc/init.d/xdm, as a hint for users, with the enough caution,
though.
--
Taketoshi Sano: <sano@debian.org>,<sano@debian.or.jp>,<kgh12351@nifty.ne.jp>
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