Xscreensaver fails password [SOLVED]

[binro]

After porting an existing system to a new box the screen-saver won't let me log back on to my session. I thought it was a bug in version 5.45 but I have just upgraded to V6.0 and I get the same problem. The system is identical to the old one except for the host name and, AFAICT, Xscreensaver doesn't use that. You can circumvent the problem by doing C-A-F1 to a console and killing xscreensaver, which makes it a bit useless from a security point of view! In the security log I see:

Jun 18 23:02:49 localhost unix_chkpwd[23824] check pass; user unknown
Jun 18 23:02:58 localhost unix_chkpwd[25282] check pass; user unknown
Jun 18 23:02:58 localhost unix_chkpwd[25282] password check failed for user (robin)
Jun 18 23:02:58 localhost xscreensaver-auth pam_unix(xscreensaver:auth): authentication failure;
logname= uid=1000 euid=1000 tty=:0 ruser= rhost= user=robin
Jun 18 23:03:00 localhost xscreensaver-auth[23823] Failed login on display ":0" for "robin"

Any ideas?

Thanks
_________________
"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling

[alamahant]

Maybe try

[Hu]

How exactly did you create the new system? We somewhat routinely see people make imperfect copies, and the bits that get lost (such as suid/xattr) show up as authentication problems.

[binro]

[binro]

[alamahant]

You need

[binro]

Thanks for the rsync parameters. I am going to have to find the moral fibre to repeat the migration when almost everything works OK.
_________________
"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling

[alamahant]

You dont have to repeat it.
Just re rsync it with the above parameters.
--delete will delete any files in <new> not present in <old>.
Do you want that?
_________________

[Hu]

If I am right, you could also fix this by reinstalling the package(s) for which the xattrs/ACLs were lost, since Portage should set them properly at install time. Start with xscreensaver and pam.

[binro]

Ok, reinstalling pam fixed it. If I get any more weirdness I guess that's the solution.

Thanks to all.
_________________
"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling