* Haines Brown <brownh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> [13/11/2004 2011EST]: > [...] > Xsession: X session started for brownh at ... > open: Permission denied > > However, user can start the x server to bring up a graphical xterm by > doing: > > $ xinit > [...] > The "classic" reason for the problem is apparently having the wrong > permissions for the /var directory. However, there is no apparent > ownership or permission problem that I can see. Debian sarge installed > /var with: > > drwxr-xr-x root root > > However, people are often told that the permissions should be: > > drwxrwxrwt Mode 1777 on /var/ ? Hrmmmm... I don't know of any filesystem hierarchy standard that calls for 1777 on /var/. /var/tmp/, sure, but not /var/. /var/ has always been 0755 as far as I can remember. :) Given your 'man' example below, I suspect that permissions on one or more temp directories are screwed. Check permissions on such dirs as /tmp/, /var/tmp/, perhaps even /usr/tmp/. All should be 1777. If they are mounted as a 'tmpfs' filesystem you will get this 1777 mode automagically. > I tried that, but without luck either. I suspect Debian is just being > a bit different from the norm here, for the first set of permissions > works fine on my current system (debian sarge, kernel 2.4.18-bf2.4). > > Significantly, the user can write to the directory: > > $ touch /var/test > > but can't do: > > $ man man > > because: > > ... > write(2, "man: ", 5) = 5 > write(2, "can\'t create a temporary filenam"..., 33) = 33 > write(2, ": Permission denied", 19) = 19 > write(2, "\n", 1) = 1 > > The user command: > > $ echo $HOME > /home/brownh > > Here's the full XFree86.0.log (it reports no errors). [...] > Could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list! Well this line claims your X server was trying to grab fonts from a local font server (xfs) which probably wasn't running. You might want to check this out too. -- Keith R. John Warno (SA) |< /\ Y /\ >| www.kayakinteractive.com I n t e r a c t i v e _______________________________________________ XFree86 mailing list XFree86@xxxxxxxxxxx http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xfree86
