Only root wants to run gdm ?? SOLVED

Cosmin · Last edited by Cosmin on Tue Dec 23, 2003 9:12 am; edited 1 time in total

Hello everybody!
I'm new to Gentoo (1 month), so please be patient.
I started installing Gentoo from stage 1. I emerged almost everything I needed (more or less) like: kde, gnome, openoffice, dependencies included. Since i am at work most of the time, it was OK to leave the computer working all by itself...

I created one user account ('cosmin') belonging to groups user, sound and wheel. Now, everytime I try to start gdm from user 'cosmin', I get this message:
'Only root wants to run gdm'
I have the same problem with kdm and xdm. I can start X as an ordinary user, but not gdm. I thought it might be because of /tmp acces rights and I changed them to be rwxrwxrwx. No improvement... Can anybody help me, please?
If I am root, I can run gdm without problem.
Thank you!

P.S.: I think I saw somewhere in this forum something similar, but I can't find it. I would appreciate if you could point me to the right direction.

ralph · Advocate Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 2001 Location: Hamburg

But that is the way it should be. You start gdm as root and then log in as an other user.

To start up gdm automatically just edit your rc.conf and rc-update add xdm default.

Have fun.
_________________
The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.
- Frank Zappa

Cosmin · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:39 am Post subject:

Ok. But I don't want to give away the root password in order to start the graphical interface. What can I do, because I won't be the only one who will use the computer? More that that, I want the computer to start in console, not in graphical interface... I want to start and stop it as I need it, and it would be nice to do this as a normal user.
I haven't add X server in the default runlevel, but I think I should. Please advise.
Thank you!

ralph · Advocate Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 2001 Location: Hamburg

If you don't want it to start up with a graphical login simply use startx to start the Xserver.

You can do that as a user and all you have to do is edit the .xinitrc file in your home directory to your liking. If you want to start kde for example put startkde in .xinitrc type startx and off you go.

Have fun.

P.S.: You should take a look at the desktop guide from the gentoo user docs. :wink:

_________________
The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.
- Frank Zappa

Cosmin · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:38 am Post subject:

Thank you! I'll do that!

Stormy Eyes · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 1:49 pm Post subject:

ecatmur · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 6:37 pm Post subject:

You are aware that even when gdm is running, you can still log into console from a different vt?
Regardless, to give users the right to e.g. start and stop gdm, you should look into using sudo (app-admin/sudo)

Cosmin · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 1:20 pm Post subject:

Thank you Stormy Eyes, but I try to avoid running the graphical login at startup... There are times when I start the computer just for management tasks. I don't need X for that... Anyway, thank you, you are very kind! I don't know many people that wouldn't have told me rtfm! I apreciate that.
The solution that ralph gave me seems to be what I need. My other users can start kde/gnome/whatever by hand (typing) or using a login script. I'm new to Gentoo, but they came directly from Windows, so using a login script might be a good idea.
As for using sudo, yes, I think I might use it for my user account. Thank you for pointing this to me!