Okay, I got my error again. Note: This occurs with rxvt v2.21 (latest vsn) and rxvt 2.20 (from XFree-3.3). This is therefore not a Debian-specific problem.
> /usr/X11R6/bin/rxvt rxvt: can't open pseudo-tty rxvt: aborting > strace rxvt [much stuff deleted] geteuid() = 1000 getegid() = 1000 getuid() = 1000 setreuid(65535, 1000) = 0 getgid() = 1000 setregid(65535, 1000) = 0 open("/dev/ptyp0", O_RDWR) = -1 EIO (I/O error) open("/dev/ptyp1", O_RDWR) = -1 EIO (I/O error) open("/dev/ptyp2", O_RDWR) = -1 EIO (I/O error) open("/dev/ptyp3", O_RDWR) = -1 EIO (I/O error) open("/dev/ptyp4", O_RDWR) = 4 access("/dev/ttyp4", R_OK|W_OK) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied) close(4) = 0 open("/dev/ptyp5", O_RDWR) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied) open("/dev/ptyp6", O_RDWR) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied) [more of the same...] open("/dev/ptysf", O_RDWR) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied) open("/dev/ptyt0", O_RDWR) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) [more of the same...] open("/dev/ptyzf", O_RDWR) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) > ls -l /dev/pty* crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 2, 0 Jul 2 16:04 /dev/ptyp0 crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 2, 1 Jul 3 09:48 /dev/ptyp1 crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 2, 2 Jul 2 11:06 /dev/ptyp2 crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 2, 3 Jul 3 09:44 /dev/ptyp3 crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 2, 4 Jul 3 09:44 /dev/ptyp4 crw-r--r-- 1 root sys 2, 5 May 19 21:33 /dev/ptyp5 crw-r--r-- 1 root sys 2, 6 May 19 21:33 /dev/ptyp6 crw-r--r-- 1 root sys 2, 7 May 19 21:33 /dev/ptyp7 [etc...] The weirdest thing is that (1) I could open rxvt's yesterday when I left (and the PC was left untouched overnight) (2) After a few errors, the command works again. Any clues? -- Peter Galbraith, research scientist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Maurice-Lamontagne Institute, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada P.O. Box 1000, Mont-Joli Qc, G5H 3Z4 Canada 418-775-0852 - FAX 418-775-0546 -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .