Bug#344480: gdm: system hangs when X won't start due to missing input devices

[Douglas Bagnall]

Package: gdm
Version: 2.8.0.6-2
Severity: important


X was not starting due to an input device (aiptek tablet) symlink not 
existing.  Gdm tried a few times then threw up a text screen offering to
show the error.  Unfortunately it refused to take any keyboard input.  I 
couldn't even swap virtual consoles or ctl-alt-delete.  Restarting by 
resetting the computer caused some filesystem corruption, and of course 
didn't solve the problem.

I suggest this behaviour is a whole lot less user-friendly than merely 
crashing.

To fix it I restarted in single user mode and put an exit at the top of 
/etc/init.d/gdm


The last words in syslog before it turns to gobbledegook are:

Dec 23 10:52:56 rudy gdm[3609]: gdm_slave_xioerror_handler: Fatal X error - Restarting :0
Dec 23 10:53:02 rudy gdm[3751]: gdm_slave_xioerror_handler: Fatal X error - Restarting :0
Dec 23 10:53:07 rudy gdm[3768]: gdm_slave_xioerror_handler: Fatal X error - Restarting :0
Dec 23 10:53:07 rudy gdm[3604]: deal_with_x_crashes: Running the XKeepsCrashing script

/var/log/gdm/:0.log.[34] report a range of errors with the missing aiptek 
device, and finish with "Caught signal 11.  Server aborting".  





-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.14.3
Locale: LANG=en_NZ.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_NZ.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)

Versions of packages gdm depends on:
ii  adduser                  3.80            Add and remove users and groups
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]    1.4.65          Debian configuration management sy
ii  gksu                     1.3.6-1         graphical frontend to su
ii  gnome-session            2.10.0-8        The GNOME 2 Session Manager
ii  gnome-terminal [x-termin 2.10.0-3        The GNOME 2 terminal emulator appl
ii  libart-2.0-2             2.3.17-1        Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0              1.10.3-1        The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libattr1                 2.4.25-1        Extended attribute shared library
ii  libaudiofile0            0.2.6-6         Open-source version of SGI's audio
ii  libbonobo2-0             2.10.1-1        Bonobo CORBA interfaces library
ii  libbonoboui2-0           2.10.1-1        The Bonobo UI library
ii  libbz2-1.0               1.0.2-11        high-quality block-sorting file co
ii  libc6                    2.3.5-9         GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii  libcroco3                0.6.0-2         a generic Cascading Style Sheet (C
ii  libdmx1                  6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 Distributed Multihead X client lib
ii  libesd0                  0.2.36-1        Enlightened Sound Daemon - Shared 
ii  libgconf2-4              2.10.1-6        GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libgcrypt11              1.2.2-1         LGPL Crypto library - runtime libr
ii  libglade2-0              1:2.5.1-2       library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0             2.8.4-2         The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnome-keyring0        0.4.5-1         GNOME keyring services library
ii  libgnome2-0              2.10.1-1        The GNOME 2 library - runtime file
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0        2.10.2-2        A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgnomeui-0             2.10.1-1        The GNOME 2 libraries (User Interf
ii  libgnomevfs2-0           2.10.1-5        The GNOME virtual file-system libr
ii  libgnutls11              1.0.16-14       GNU TLS library - runtime library
ii  libgpg-error0            1.1-4           library for common error values an
ii  libgsf-1-113             1.13.3-1        Structured File Library - runtime 
ii  libgtk2.0-0              2.8.9-2         The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libice6                  6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 Inter-Client Exchange library
ii  libjpeg62                6b-11           The Independent JPEG Group's JPEG 
ii  liborbit2                1:2.12.4-1      libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii  libpam-modules           0.79-3          Pluggable Authentication Modules f
ii  libpam-runtime           0.79-3          Runtime support for the PAM librar
ii  libpam0g                 0.79-3          Pluggable Authentication Modules l
ii  libpango1.0-0            1.10.1-2        Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libpopt0                 1.7-5           lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii  librsvg2-2               2.9.5-6         SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  libselinux1              1.26-1          SELinux shared libraries
ii  libsm6                   6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X Window System Session Management
ii  libtasn1-2               0.2.17-1        Manage ASN.1 structures (runtime)
ii  libwrap0                 7.6.dbs-8       Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers libra
ii  libx11-6                 6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X Window System protocol client li
ii  libxau6                  6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X Authentication library
ii  libxdmcp6                6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X Display Manager Control Protocol
ii  libxext6                 6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X Window System miscellaneous exte
ii  libxi6                   6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X Window System Input extension li
ii  libxinerama1             6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X Window System multi-head display
ii  libxml2                  2.6.22-2        GNOME XML library
ii  metacity [x-window-manag 1:2.10.3-2      A lightweight GTK2 based Window Ma
ii  pterm [x-terminal-emulat 0.58-3          PuTTY terminal emulator
ii  xbase-clients            6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 miscellaneous X clients
ii  xlibs                    6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X Window System client libraries m
ii  xterm [x-terminal-emulat 6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 X terminal emulator
ii  zlib1g                   1:1.2.3-9       compression library - runtime

Versions of packages gdm recommends:
ii  gdm-themes                    0.4.1      Themes for the GNOME Display Manag
ii  whiptail                      0.51.6-31  Displays user-friendly dialog boxe
ii  zenity                        2.10.1-1   Display graphical dialog boxes fro

-- debconf information excluded