problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

jarav · 2009-10-18 07:16:14

After the recent upgrade to gnome 2.28, I tried changing the way I start gdm. According to the Arch Wiki the recommended way is to start gdm from /etc/inittab using:
...
id:5:initdefault:
...
x:5:respawn:/usr/sbin/gdm -nodaemon

It was unsuccessful. I got a few of these error messages:

gdm-binary: ... WARNING ...Couldn't connect to system bus ...Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket : No such file or directory..

followed by the message:
INIT: Id "x" spawning too fast ... waiting for 5 minutes.

Then after 5 minutes it starts gdm and everything is fine.

Can anyone help me resolve the issue? I had so far been starting gdm using the DAEMONS list in /etc/rc.conf. But after the recent upgrade, once in a while I am left at the console login prompt and gdm does not start. This is why I thought of switching over to the inittab way of starting gdm. But apparently that turned out to be even worse. By the way i do have hal in my DAEMONS list and so dbus does get started but apparently not fast enough for gdm( I guess ).

bernarcher · 2009-10-18 12:56:48

Apparently dbus is not ready when init tries to execute this inittab line. How do you start dbus/hal?

Last edited by bernarcher (2009-10-18 12:57:11)

jarav · 2009-10-18 20:26:54

hal is started from the DAEMONS list in /etc/rc.conf. I have mentioned this. How do I start dbus/hal before that line is executed in inittab?

bernarcher · 2009-10-18 20:49:37

Could you post your DAEMONS line, please.

jarav · 2009-10-18 21:30:35

Thanks for trying to help.

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hal !network !netfs @crond @alsa @cpufreq )

This is the one I used when i used inittab to start gdm.

bernarcher · 2009-10-18 22:06:00

The DAEMONS look ok so far, thanks. It's all guessing, then.

Well asking the obvious first, are there any hints from the logs? dmesg? Same, if you put GDM back into DAEMONS. Something does not start properly in the init sequence, thus the timeout which in turn did force you to the console.

You could as well try to remove items one by one from the DAEMONS list. Perhaps this way the culprit will be detected.

insanemal · 2009-10-19 09:23:19

Yeah there are other issues when spawing GDM from your daemons list too...

believe it or not.. rc.local is starting to look pretty good for gdm.

But I would say the issues you have found are also pointing out what is causing the GDM spawning on TTY2 issue.

Not that I know what that is.

gpan · 2009-11-11 20:20:18

Any other suggestion to this problem?

jarav · 2009-11-17 10:47:17

With the new gdm, the inittab method of starting gdm seems to be working again.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-10-18 07:16:14

problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

#2 2009-10-18 12:56:48

Re: problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

#3 2009-10-18 20:26:54

Re: problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

#4 2009-10-18 20:49:37

Re: problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

#5 2009-10-18 21:30:35

Re: problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

#6 2009-10-18 22:06:00

Re: problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

#7 2009-10-19 09:23:19

Re: problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

#8 2009-11-11 20:20:18

Re: problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

#9 2009-11-17 10:47:17

Re: problems starting gdm from /etc/inittab

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