Silly Question - New Login

[Berna Massingill]

On Wed, Aug 17, 2005 at 03:21:07AM -0700, Lokrin wrote:

>>  Berna Massingill wrote:
>>  >On Sun, Aug 07, 2005 at 04:11:36AM -0500, Berna Massingill wrote:
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >>>On Sat, Aug 06, 2005 at 10:08:21AM -0400, Jim Cornette wrote:
>>  >>>
>>  >>>>>  Berna Massingill wrote:
>>  >>>>>  
>>  >>>[ snip ]
>>  >>>
>>  >>>>>  >>>Applications --> System tools -->> New Login
>>  >>>>>  >>>
>>  >>>>>  >>>This will let you open different users for different consoles. 
[ snip ]
>>  >>>>>  >The command-line version of this (for those who are into such 
>>  >>>things)
>>  >>>>>  >might be  "X :1 -query <machinename> -once".
>>  >>>>>  >
>>  >>>>>  >I say "might be" because I just tried this on my newly-installed FC4
>>  >>>>>  >system, and got (1) a blank screen with a little X in the middle,
>>  >>>>>  >and (2) error messages when I went back to the original screen
>>  >>>>>  >(with control-alt-F7).  I also tried it from a text console, with
>>  >>>>>  >the same result.  
>>  >>>>>  >
>>  >>>>>  >So I tried your GNOME-GUI way, described above, and that didn't work
>>  >>>>>  >either, though the symptoms were slightly different -- blank screen 
>>  >>>with
>>  >>>>>  >a cursor at the top, very similar to what was happening with the 
>>  >>>text
>>  >>>>>  >consoles before I applied the "copy libvgahw.a from an FC3 system"
>>  >>>>>  >fix discussed recently in this list.
>>  >>>>>  >
>>  >>>>>  >Hm.  Anyone know what's wrong?  This can be a useful thing to have.
>>  >>>
>>  >>>[ snip ]
>>  >>>
>>  >>>>>  The properties in the command is the command "gdmflexiserver" on my 
>>  >>>>>  computer. I ran this from the commandline and it brought up another 
>>  >>>>>  screen for login on F8 While there was still a session on F7. This 
>>  >>>seems >>  to be a function from gdm login manager.
>>  >>>
>>  >>>Do you remember doing anything special to enable this?  I'm wondering
>>  >>>why this (starting a second session as you described previously from
>>  >>>a GNOME menu) would work for you and not for me.
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >Update / some mysteries solved:
>>  >
>>  >(*) On my system gdmflexiserver starts a second graphical session, but
>>  >on virtual terminal 9, not 8. 
>>  >
>>  >(*) "X :1 -query localhost -once" also does *something* with virtual
>>  >terminal 9, but whatever it is is not a huge success -- I get a blank
>>  >screen with a little "X" in the middle.
>>  >
>>  >(*) The following lines appear in /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf:
>>  >
>>  >[xdmcp]
>>  ># Distributions: Ship with this off.  It is never a safe thing to leave
>>  ># out on the net.  Setting up /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny to only
>>  ># allow local access is another alternative but not the safest.
>>  ># Firewalling port 177 is the safest if you wish to have xdmcp on.
>>  ># Read the manual for more notes on the security of XDMCP.
>>  >#Enable=false
>>  >
>>  >I *think*, but I'm not sure, that all of this started working better
>>  >when I changed "#Enable=false" to "Enable=true".  Based on the comments,
>>  >it does seem that "X :1 -query" won't work without this change.
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >Further questions:
>>  >
>>  >(*) Why do these second X sessions use virtual terminal 9 rather than 8?
>>  >
>>  >(*) Why does "X :1 -query" still not work?
>>  >
>>  >(*) Where is the "-query" option to "X" documented, anyway?  It doesn't
>>  >seem to be in the man page for the "X" command.
>>  
>>  
>>  I haven't been following this thread, but what I use from tty1 (vt1, or 
>>  whatever) is the following, which I've got aliased to "startx".  This is 
>>  my home computer and it starts out at init level 5 with kde on vt7  This 
>>  command logs me in as root on vt8.    My two problems are that I would 
>>  prefer KDE over gnome - why, since my default vt7 login is kde, does 
>>  this send me to gnome? - and when I log out of the session it stops the 
>>  X session on VT8 totally and doesn't give me the option of logging in as 
>>  a different user..
>>  
>>  startx -- :1 2>devnul &

Well, that's interesting.  I tried this approach, and I get a(nother)
graphical session, but (1) it's still on vt9, and (2) it doesn't seem
to respond to the GNOME "log out" menu item.

Skimming through /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf, though, I found:

# Automatic VT allocation.  Right now only works on Linux.  This way
# we force X to use specific vts.  turn VTAllocation to false if this
# is causing problems.
#FirstVT=7
#VTAllocation=true

For want of better ideas, I changed the last line to (uncommented)
VTAllocation=false, and now everything works the way I think it should
-- "X :1 -query", your startx, and the other poster's gdmflexiserver --
they all end up in vt8.

Is this a bug?  I didn't find anything in bugzilla.redhat.com, but
maybe I didn't try the right search terms (searched for gdm problems
with VTAllocation in the comments).

-- blm