Bug#279651: gdm: gdm repeatedly exits - gnome problem?

[Nigel Stephens]

Package: gdm
Version: 2.6.0.4-1
Severity: grave

This started happening only after I did a update/upgrade cycle with
synaptic two days ago. My previous upgrade had probably been a week or
two before.

The problem is that gdm starts, the X server displays its default
initial "checkerboard" root window, the cursor changes to a revolving
wheel, and the gdm exits or crashes. This repeats 6 times until the
error is reported via a text screen and I can then run /etc/init.d/gdm
stop.

If I run the X server manually I can get a basic X server and xterm to come
up (no window manager). So the basic X server is OK.

If I run "startx" which I think should bring up a gnome desktop
session, then this hangs and/or eventually exits after bring up the
default X server initial root screen a couple of time.

So I think that this is probably an underlying gnome problem, rather
than a bug in gdm, but I don't know how to diagnose this.  Perhaps you
can suggest how to get some more useful logs, or insight into the
problem.

Thanks

Nigel Stephens

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.6-1-686
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C

Versions of packages gdm depends on:
ii  adduser                   3.59           Add and remove users and groups
ii  debconf                   1.4.36         Debian configuration management sy
ii  dpkg                      1.10.23        Package maintenance system for Deb
ii  gksu                      1.2.2-1        graphical frontend to su
ii  gnome-session             2.6.2-6        The GNOME 2 Session Manager
ii  gnome-terminal [x-termina 2.6.1-6        The GNOME 2 terminal emulator appl
ii  libart-2.0-2              2.3.16-6       Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0               1.6.1-5        The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libattr1                  2.4.18-1       Extended attribute shared library
ii  libaudiofile0             0.2.6-4        Open-source version of SGI's audio
ii  libbonobo2-0              2.6.2-7        Bonobo CORBA interfaces library
ii  libbonoboui2-0            2.6.1-1        The Bonobo UI library
ii  libbz2-1.0                1.0.2-1        A high-quality block-sorting file 
ii  libc6                     2.3.2.ds1-18   GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii  libcroco3                 0.6.0-2        a generic Cascading Style Sheet (C
ii  libesd-alsa0 [libesd0]    0.2.35-2       Enlightened Sound Daemon (ALSA) - 
ii  libgconf2-4               2.6.4-2        GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libgcrypt11               1.2.0-6        LGPL Crypto library - runtime libr
ii  libglade2-0               1:2.4.0-1      Library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0              2.4.7-1        The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnome-keyring0         0.2.1-3        GNOME keyring services library
ii  libgnome2-0               2.6.1.2-2      The GNOME 2 library - runtime file
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0         2.6.1.1-2      A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgnomeui-0              2.6.1.1cvs-1   The GNOME 2 libraries (User Interf
ii  libgnomevfs2-0            2.6.2-2        The GNOME virtual file-system libr
ii  libgnutls11               1.0.16-9       GNU TLS library - runtime library
ii  libgpg-error0             1.0-1          library for common error values an
ii  libgsf-1                  1.10.1-1       Structured File Library - runtime 
ii  libgtk2.0-0               2.4.13-1       The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libice6                   4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 Inter-Client Exchange library
ii  libjpeg62                 6b-9           The Independent JPEG Group's JPEG 
ii  liborbit2                 1:2.10.2-1.1   libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii  libpam-modules            0.76-22        Pluggable Authentication Modules f
ii  libpam-runtime            0.76-22        Runtime support for the PAM librar
ii  libpam0g                  0.76-22        Pluggable Authentication Modules l
ii  libpango1.0-0             1.4.1-4        Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libpopt0                  1.7-5          lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii  librsvg2-2                2.8.1-1        SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  libselinux1               1.16-2         SELinux shared libraries
ii  libsm6                    4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 X Window System Session Management
ii  libtasn1-2                0.2.10-4       Manage ASN.1 structures (runtime)
ii  libwrap0                  7.6.dbs-6      Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers libra
ii  libx11-6                  4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 X Window System protocol client li
ii  libxext6                  4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 X Window System miscellaneous exte
ii  libxml2                   2.6.11-5       GNOME XML library
ii  metacity [x-window-manage 1:2.8.1-4      A lightweight GTK2 based Window Ma
ii  xbase-clients             4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 miscellaneous X clients
ii  xlibs                     4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 X Window System client libraries m
ii  xterm [x-terminal-emulato 4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 X terminal emulator
ii  zlib1g                    1:1.2.2-1      compression library - runtime

-- debconf information:
  gdm/daemon_name: /usr/bin/gdm
  shared/default-x-display-manager: gdm