How to start x as a limited user

MONODA · 2008-03-04 15:04:16

Ok i have installed xfce4 and have been able to load it using startx while running as root, but when I run as a limited user and type startx, sometimes i get a blak screen and am not able to ctrl+alt+backspace out of it, or I get several xterm windows and a clock. Why cant I startx as a limited user?

stefan1975 · 2008-03-04 15:19:13

hello,

this is possibly the install bug that I encountered. maybe this will solve your problem:

$ sudo chmod 1777 /tmp

then you should be able to 'startxfce4' as a regular user.

good luck,
stefan

Last edited by stefan1975 (2008-03-04 15:19:40)

finferflu · 2008-03-04 15:56:11

What's in your user's ~/.xinitrc?
you should have something like "exec startxfce4".

ibendiben · 2008-03-04 16:00:59

You can find out about /tmp permissions with ls -l /tmp. This is how it should look:

$ ls -l -d /tmp
drwxrwxrwt ... /tmp

Most likely you'll need to chmod 1777 /tmp and to add the t:

chmod 1777 /tmp
chmod +t /tmp

Hope this solves your problems...

stefan1975 · 2008-03-04 16:11:14

ibendiben wrote:

You can find out about /tmp permissions with ls -l /tmp. This is how it should look:
$ ls -l -d /tmp
drwxrwxrwt ... /tmp
Most likely you'll need to chmod 1777 /tmp and to add the t:
chmod 1777 /tmp
chmod +t /tmp
Hope this solves your problems...

that is more or less of what I said above apart from the fact that yours is sort of too much, the "1" in "chmod 1777 /tmp" stands for the sticky bit so there is no need to manually do a "chmod +t /tmp" afterwards, that just sets it again.

the values you set before the actual file permission can be as follows:

4=SUID
2=SGID
1=sticky

3=SGID && sticky
5=SUID && sticky
6=SGID && SUID
7=sticky, SUID && SGID

cheers,
stefan

Last edited by stefan1975 (2008-03-04 16:18:20)

ibendiben · 2008-03-04 16:49:36

Ok, I suppose your right, this is how I learned it, and because much people don't have the 't'.
Thanks anyway, the doubling (in my post) was caused, because I took too long, so you posted while I was typing, I didn't want to say anything better or something.

MONODA · 2008-03-04 17:05:16

Ok i followed the steps above but when trying to run as limited user gave me:
unable to lock .Xauthority
or something like that and it did not work.

stefan1975 · 2008-03-04 17:27:18

MONODA wrote:

Ok i followed the steps above but when trying to run as limited user gave me:
unable to lock .Xauthority
or something like that and it did not work.

since you started xfce as root it might be that the .Xauthority file is of the wrong user (ie root). Check the permissions on the file (do a "ls -altr" in your home folder and see if it says root or you own user on the file and check if the permissions are at least rw-rw-r--) and change them if necessary to your regular user with at least 755 permissions i'd say.

It should create the file anew if it is missing so you could also try renaming it to a .Xauthority.org file or something and then try again.

good luck,
stefan

Last edited by stefan1975 (2008-03-04 17:28:58)

MONODA · 2008-03-04 19:04:41

well i have read & write permissions to the .Xauthority file but the same thing keeps on happening...

finferflu · 2008-03-04 19:48:39

Just to be sure, could you post the output of:

ls -la /usr/bin/Xorg

I had some problems in starting X a while ago which involved that file.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-04 15:04:16

How to start x as a limited user

#2 2008-03-04 15:19:13

Re: How to start x as a limited user

#3 2008-03-04 15:56:11

Re: How to start x as a limited user

#4 2008-03-04 16:00:59

Re: How to start x as a limited user

#5 2008-03-04 16:11:14

Re: How to start x as a limited user

#6 2008-03-04 16:49:36

Re: How to start x as a limited user

#7 2008-03-04 17:05:16

Re: How to start x as a limited user

#8 2008-03-04 17:27:18

Re: How to start x as a limited user

#9 2008-03-04 19:04:41

Re: How to start x as a limited user

#10 2008-03-04 19:48:39

Re: How to start x as a limited user

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