Several weeks ago, Patrick Hausen reported a problem with "xconsole"
core-dumping under "wdm" if he used a DES-encrypted root password.
I ran into the same problem with "xconsole", but I'm using "xdm" and
an MD5-encrypted root password (4.1-RELEASE and 4.2-RELEASE).
After fiddling around with the XFree86 code a bit, I managed to
narrow the problem down to XFree86's _XGetpwuid() wrapper macro,
and I also came up with a workaround. I added the following lines
to my /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0 startup script, just before
the "xconsole" invocation:
export USER=root
export HOME=/root
Actually, I suspect it's probably enough just to set HOME. The
relevant portion of "xconsole" is trying to get the home directory
path name -- if possible from $HOME, or else from $USER (followed
by an OS-specific-wrapped getpwnam() call), or via getuid() and a
wrapped getpwuid() call if neither of these environment variables is
set. Apparently, there's something wrong with the way _XGetpwuid()
is being expanded for the FreeBSD environment.
I've reported this problem to the XFree86 people. I also submitted
a FreeBSD PR (misc/23168), though this report got shot down on the
grounds that X isn't part of the FreeBSD base system. (I did post
a followup to my PR, with the above workaround, just in case anyone
else with the problem goes looking for help in the GNATS database.)
Rich Wales [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.webcom.com/richw/
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