[comp.unix.aix] Unable to start X Server - unless root user

attwool@exocet.enet.dec.com (Justyn K Attwool) (03/22/91)

Machine: RS6000 

 Is it normal for ONLY the root user to be able to start up 'xinit' ?, I
hope its not,
 I've added users and choosen their startup environment using SMIT, but
if i login to
 the newly created account I get an error message which reads...
  'Unable to start X server'

 The only way i can correct this is then going into superuser mode then
issuing the
 xinit program.

 The protection on the files 'xinit' and 'X' look ok... are there any
other files I should 
 check ?

 I've been having this problem ever since I've got this machine.. two
weeks ago... I'm 
 starting to think we have a general installation problem, ... the hire
company did the
 installation. 

 Since other problems include:

 InfoManager core dumping/hanging, with memory allocation failures
 infoManager pages containing binary characters..
 man ls  - this command coredumps...

 Justyn

 Good points are..
  That I've got AIX NCS RPC software to talk with DEC's UCX and Ultrix
NCS RPC software.

scott@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Holt) (03/25/91)

In article <1991Mar22.131041.10327@hollie.rdg.dec.com> attwool@exocet.enet.dec.com () writes:
>Machine: RS6000 
>
> Is it normal for ONLY the root user to be able to start up 'xinit' ?, I
>hope its not,
> I've added users and choosen their startup environment using SMIT, but
>if i login to
> the newly created account I get an error message which reads...
>  'Unable to start X server'
>

Did you install this system from a image backup? This seems to happen to
systems installed (or re-installed) from backups. The problem is that 
some entries in /dev get recreated in such a way to only root can access
them. Its been a while since this happened to me, but I think the
offending entry was the one for /dev/tty - it was writable only by
root, but needs to be world writable. 

- Scott
-- 
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Scott Holt                 		Internet: scott@prism.gatech.edu
Georgia Tech 				UUCP: ..!gatech!prism!scott
Office of Information Technology, Technical Services

robin@pensoft.UUCP (Robin Wilson) (03/27/91)

In article <1991Mar22.131041.10327@hollie.rdg.dec.com> attwool@exocet.enet.dec.com () writes:
> Is it normal for ONLY the root user to be able to start up 'xinit' ?, I
>hope its not,
> I've added users and choosen their startup environment using SMIT, but
>if i login to
> the newly created account I get an error message which reads...
>  'Unable to start X server'

Uh... did you by chance install over the network, or do an update over the 
network?  This is the problem:

	the device "/dev/tty" has the wrong permissions.  To correct the problem:

	chmod 666 /dev/tty

There was a problem with one of the old updates that caused the "/dev/tty" 
device to get the wrong permissions set, and install over the network used
to cause the same thing, but resetting the permissions clears it right up.


> InfoManager core dumping/hanging, with memory allocation failures
> infoManager pages containing binary characters..
> man ls  - this command coredumps...

What is your "LANG" set to.  Try the following command: echo $LANG.

It should be either "En_US" or "C".  Next check the "/usr/lpp/info/data"
directory.  The "ispaths" and "ispaths.full" files should be the same 
size (if your using the cdrom, or if info is fully installed on your 
disk).

(BTW, I am assuming that you mean "InfoExplorer" and not "InfoManager".  If
you really mean "InfoManager" I've never heard of it, so none of the above
applies.)


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