Version: (using KDE KDE 3.4.0) Installed from: SuSE RPMs OS: Linux since kde 3.4, kdm ignores the system-wide Xservers file, which is a bad thing because that file is there for a good reason. on SuSE 9.2, this (in combination with the fact that SuSEconfig writes a kdmrc that is for an older version, hence totally different) leads to kdm starting X on vt2 which is also used by mingetty... so when you enter your password, its fed into mingetty as a random string instead... no login. no switching to other consoles, either. now, imagine the clueless newbie. only one machine, no network, no idea of passing "init 3" to grub or lilo, and has just updated to kde 3.4 and cannot login anymore...
that's a feature and compile from source if you want to avoid any trouble with SUSE binaries
ignoring a system-wide config file to have the very same stuff in your own config shouldn't be considered as a feature. at least, there should be an option to use the system-wide Xservers file (as it used to be with earlier versions). quote from a post in kde-devel: Torsten Kasch wrote: Well, although it's noted in kdebase/kdm/ChangeLog, I do not like this either. I was looking forward to introduce kdm when updating our site to KDE 3.4 but since we provide ~200 SunRay appliances as the users' desktops, kdm isn't an option anymore. :-(:-( The SunRay server software creates and maintains an Xservers file that has to be reread by the display manager when HUPed. And at least in a "fail over group" with multiple server machines there doesn't seem to be a workaround... oh and it's not the right way to close this before the author of kdm had a chance to respond.
if it makes you more happy: change this to a wish reading: "KDM should not ignore the systemwide Xservers file anymore"
there is no such thing as a "system wide Xservers file". it just happened to be sharable between xdm and kdm because of their common roots. this changed now for various reasons.
which reasons are these?
because we need finer grained options than the fixed one-line-with-complete-command-line-per-display layout: - bug #75288 - bug #88285 - it's more straight-forward to add new displays now - the config is more uniform now. this also saves code. :) i'm sure i can come up with more ...
>on SuSE 9.2, this (in combination with the fact that SuSEconfig writes a kdmrc >that is for an older version, hence totally different) leads to kdm starting X >on vt2 which is also used by mingetty... so when you enter your password, its >fed into mingetty as a random string instead... no login. no switching to other >consoles, either. >now, imagine the clueless newbie. only one machine, no network, no idea of >passing "init 3" to grub or lilo, and has just updated to kde 3.4 and cannot >login anymore... I am such a newbie with suse-9.2. I have the problem, that kdm starts on VT2. I could not login, and everytime I boot, I have to make this procedure: pass init 3 to grub, login as root, start init 5 manually. (It took a long time to find out this workaround!) What do I have to change in kdmrc or other configuration files, that it works as before (kde 3.3) on VT7?