Bug#897975: gdm3: System fails to boot due to GDM restarting constantly.

[Detlev Zundel]

Package: gdm3
Version: 3.22.3-3+deb9u1
Followup-For: Bug #897975

Dear Maintainer,

after recent upgrade, gdm3 also fails to start as for the other reportes.  It
doesn't even switch to graphical mode and so the few text boot messages stay
visible.

In contrast to previous reporters, I do not see the "ICELockAuthFile fail"
error in my logs.  To narrow down problems I enabled debug mode in
/etc/gdm3/daemon.conf (as attached) and then gdm3 simply starts.  Disabling
debug mode makes gdm3 fail again.

Funnily enough, the last packages upgraded before the failing boot were pretty
innocent:

Start-Date: 2018-05-07  14:29:16
Commandline: apt dist-upgrade
Requested-By: dzu (1000)
Upgrade: linux-libc-dev:amd64 (4.9.82-1+deb9u3, 4.9.88-1), openjdk-8-jre:amd64
(8u162-b12-1~deb9u1, 8u171-b11-1~deb9u1), linux-image-4.9.0-6-amd64:amd64
(4.9.82-1+deb9u3, 4.9.88-1), libmad0:amd64 (0.15.1b-8, 0.15.1b-8+deb9u1),
openjdk-8-jre-headless:amd64 (8u162-b12-1~deb9u1, 8u171-b11-1~deb9u1), libsdl-
image1.2:amd64 (1.2.12-5+b8, 1.2.12-5+deb9u1), tzdata:amd64 (2018d-0+deb9u1,
2018e-0+deb9u1)
End-Date: 2018-05-07  14:30:23

Cheers
  Detlev

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.4
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-6-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8),
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages gdm3 depends on:
ii  accountsservice                              0.6.43-1
ii  adduser                                      3.115
ii  dconf-cli                                    0.26.0-2+b1
ii  dconf-gsettings-backend                      0.26.0-2+b1
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]                        1.5.61
ii  gir1.2-gdm-1.0                               3.22.3-3+deb9u1
ii  gnome-session [x-session-manager]            3.22.3-1
ii  gnome-session-bin                            3.22.3-1
ii  gnome-session-flashback [x-session-manager]  3.22.0-3
ii  gnome-settings-daemon                        3.22.2-2+deb9u2
ii  gnome-shell                                  3.22.3-3
ii  gnome-terminal [x-terminal-emulator]         3.22.2-1
ii  gsettings-desktop-schemas                    3.22.0-1
ii  libaccountsservice0                          0.6.43-1
ii  libaudit1                                    1:2.6.7-2
ii  libc6                                        2.24-11+deb9u3
ii  libcanberra-gtk3-0                           0.30-3
ii  libcanberra0                                 0.30-3
ii  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0                           2.36.5-2+deb9u2
ii  libgdm1                                      3.22.3-3+deb9u1
ii  libglib2.0-0                                 2.50.3-2
ii  libglib2.0-bin                               2.50.3-2
ii  libgtk-3-0                                   3.22.11-1
ii  libkeyutils1                                 1.5.9-9
ii  libpam-modules                               1.1.8-3.6
ii  libpam-runtime                               1.1.8-3.6
ii  libpam-systemd                               232-25+deb9u3
ii  libpam0g                                     1.1.8-3.6
ii  librsvg2-common                              2.40.16-1+b1
ii  libselinux1                                  2.6-3+b3
ii  libsystemd0                                  232-25+deb9u3
ii  libwrap0                                     7.6.q-26
ii  libx11-6                                     2:1.6.4-3
ii  libxau6                                      1:1.0.8-1
ii  libxcb1                                      1.12-1
ii  libxdmcp6                                    1:1.1.2-3
ii  lsb-base                                     9.20161125
ii  metacity [x-window-manager]                  1:3.22.1-1
ii  mutter [x-window-manager]                    3.22.3-2
ii  policykit-1                                  0.105-18
ii  ucf                                          3.0036
ii  x11-common                                   1:7.7+19
ii  x11-xserver-utils                            7.7+7+b1
ii  xterm [x-terminal-emulator]                  327-2

Versions of packages gdm3 recommends:
ii  at-spi2-core    2.22.0-6+deb9u1
ii  desktop-base    9.0.2+deb9u1
ii  x11-xkb-utils   7.7+3+b1
ii  xserver-xephyr  2:1.19.2-1+deb9u2
ii  xserver-xorg    1:7.7+19
ii  zenity          3.22.0-1+b1

Versions of packages gdm3 suggests:
ii  gnome-orca            3.22.2-3
ii  libpam-gnome-keyring  3.20.0-3

-- Configuration Files:
/etc/gdm3/daemon.conf changed:
[daemon]
[security]
[xdmcp]
[chooser]
[debug]
Enable=true



-- debconf information:
  gdm3/daemon_name: /usr/sbin/gdm3
* shared/default-x-display-manager: gdm3