Bug#557721: gdm fails to start gnome nor apparently to try

[Jeff Abrahamson]

Package: gdm
Version: 2.20.10-1
Severity: important


On logging in from gdm, I'm dropped in a default session (no wm, no
gnome, etc.)  It appears that /etc/gdm/Xsession is not trying to
execute a gnome-session.  (See attached .xsession-errors, in
particular the line 'echo "$0: Executing $command failed, will try to
run x-terminal-emulator"' and the absence of actually executing
$command.)

I'm not sure what the right fix for this is and would prefer not to
start with hacks to files like /etc/gdm/Xsession.

I suspect this is a matter of misconfiguration somewhere rather than
outright bug, although perhaps that leaves a bug concerning a missing
error message somewhere.

Pointers much appreciated.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.30-2-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages gdm depends on:
ii  adduser                     3.111        add and remove users and groups
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]       1.5.28       Debian configuration management sy
ii  gksu                        2.0.2-2+b1   graphical frontend to su
ii  gnome-session [x-session-ma 2.26.2-1     The GNOME Session Manager
ii  gnome-terminal [x-terminal- 2.28.1-1     The GNOME terminal emulator applic
ii  libart-2.0-2                2.3.20-2     Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0                 1.28.0-1     The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libattr1                    1:2.4.44-1   Extended attribute shared library
ii  libaudit0                   1.7.13-1     Dynamic library for security audit
ii  libc6                       2.10.1-7     GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcairo2                   1.8.8-2      The Cairo 2D vector graphics libra
ii  libdbus-1-3                 1.2.16-2     simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libdbus-glib-1-2            0.82-2       simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libdmx1                     1:1.0.2-3    X11 Distributed Multihead extensio
ii  libfontconfig1              2.6.0-4      generic font configuration library
ii  libfreetype6                2.3.11-1     FreeType 2 font engine, shared lib
ii  libglade2-0                 1:2.6.4-1    library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0                2.22.2-2     The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0           2.26.0-1     A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgtk2.0-0                 2.18.3-1     The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libpam-modules              1.1.0-4      Pluggable Authentication Modules f
ii  libpam-runtime              1.1.0-4      Runtime support for the PAM librar
ii  libpam0g                    1.1.0-4      Pluggable Authentication Modules l
ii  libpango1.0-0               1.26.0-1     Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  librsvg2-2                  2.26.0-1     SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  librsvg2-common             2.26.0-1     SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  libselinux1                 2.0.88-1     SELinux runtime shared libraries
ii  libwrap0                    7.6.q-18     Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers libra
ii  libx11-6                    2:1.2.2-1    X11 client-side library
ii  libxau6                     1:1.0.5-1    X11 authorisation library
ii  libxdmcp6                   1:1.0.2-3    X11 Display Manager Control Protoc
ii  libxext6                    2:1.0.4-1    X11 miscellaneous extension librar
ii  libxi6                      2:1.2.1-2    X11 Input extension library
ii  libxinerama1                2:1.0.3-2    X11 Xinerama extension library
ii  libxml2                     2.7.6.dfsg-1 GNOME XML library
ii  lsb-base                    3.2-23       Linux Standard Base 3.2 init scrip
ii  metacity [x-window-manager] 1:2.28.0-2   lightweight GTK+ window manager
ii  sawfish [x-window-manager]  1:1.3.5.2-1  a window manager for X11
ii  twm [x-window-manager]      1:1.0.4-2    Tab window manager
ii  xterm [x-terminal-emulator] 250-1        X terminal emulator

Versions of packages gdm recommends:
ii  dialog                    1.1-20080819-1 Displays user-friendly dialog boxe
ii  gdm-themes                0.6.2          Themes for the GNOME Display Manag
ii  whiptail                  0.52.10-4.1    Displays user-friendly dialog boxe
ii  xserver-xephyr            2:1.6.5-1      nested X server
ii  xserver-xorg              1:7.4+4        the X.Org X server
ii  zenity                    2.28.0-1       Display graphical dialog boxes fro

Versions of packages gdm suggests:
ii  libpam-gnome-keyring          2.28.1-1   PAM module to unlock the GNOME key
ii  locales                       2.10.1-7   GNU C Library: National Language (
ii  pm-utils                      1.2.5-4    utilities and scripts for power ma

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