Bug#940614: gdm3: GDM doesn't start (I see flickering on the console a few times until it decides it has failed)

[Stefan Monnier]

Package: gdm3
Version: 3.30.2-3
Severity: important

Dear Maintainer,

After the upgrade to Buster, I'm unable to get GDM3 working on this system (a thinkpad X201s).
It fails at start.  I tried to change /etc/gdm3/daemon.conf to prevent use of Wayland,
but it made no noticeable difference.

I can start `xinit` from a root console login and it successfully launches the X xserver and the xterm.
I haven't found anything in the logs which gave me any hint at the origin of the problem (e.g.
the Xorg log in /var/lib/gdm3 doesn't have any EE lines, AFAICT).


	Stefan


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 10.1
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (990, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 4.19.0-6-686-pae (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=fr_CH.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_CH.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=fr_CH.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                       0.6.45-2
ii  adduser                               3.118
ii  ctwm [x-window-manager]               3.7-4+b1
ii  dconf-cli                             0.30.1-2
ii  dconf-gsettings-backend               0.30.1-2
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]                 1.5.71
ii  gir1.2-gdm-1.0                        3.30.2-3
ii  gnome-session [x-session-manager]     3.30.1-2
ii  gnome-session-bin                     3.30.1-2
ii  gnome-settings-daemon                 3.30.2-3
ii  gnome-shell                           3.30.2-9
ii  gnome-terminal [x-terminal-emulator]  3.30.2-2
ii  gsettings-desktop-schemas             3.28.1-1
ii  libaccountsservice0                   0.6.45-2
ii  libaudit1                             1:2.8.4-3
ii  libc6                                 2.28-10
ii  libcanberra-gtk3-0                    0.30-7
ii  libcanberra0                          0.30-7
ii  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0                    2.38.1+dfsg-1
ii  libgdm1                               3.30.2-3
ii  libglib2.0-0                          2.58.3-2+deb10u1
ii  libglib2.0-bin                        2.58.3-2+deb10u1
ii  libgtk-3-0                            3.24.5-1
ii  libkeyutils1                          1.6-6
ii  libpam-modules                        1.3.1-5
ii  libpam-runtime                        1.3.1-5
ii  libpam-systemd                        241-7~deb10u1
ii  libpam0g                              1.3.1-5
ii  librsvg2-common                       2.44.10-2.1
ii  libselinux1                           2.8-1+b1
ii  libsystemd0                           241-7~deb10u1
ii  libwrap0                              7.6.q-28
ii  libx11-6                              2:1.6.7-1
ii  libxau6                               1:1.0.8-1+b2
ii  libxcb1                               1.13.1-2
ii  libxdmcp6                             1:1.1.2-3
ii  lsb-base                              10.2019051400
ii  metacity [x-window-manager]           1:3.30.1-2
ii  mutter [x-window-manager]             3.30.2-7
ii  policykit-1                           0.105-25
ii  procps                                2:3.3.15-2
ii  ucf                                   3.0038+nmu1
ii  wmaker [x-window-manager]             0.95.8-3
ii  x11-common                            1:7.7+19
ii  x11-xserver-utils                     7.7+8
ii  xfce4-session [x-session-manager]     4.12.1-6
ii  xfce4-terminal [x-terminal-emulator]  0.8.7.4-2
ii  xfwm4 [x-window-manager]              4.12.5-1
ii  xterm [x-terminal-emulator]           344-1

Versions of packages gdm3 recommends:
ii  at-spi2-core    2.30.0-7
ii  desktop-base    10.0.2
ii  x11-xkb-utils   7.7+4
ii  xserver-xephyr  2:1.20.4-1
ii  xserver-xorg    1:7.7+19
ii  zenity          3.30.0-2

Versions of packages gdm3 suggests:
ii  gnome-orca            3.30.1-1
pn  libpam-fprintd        <none>
ii  libpam-gnome-keyring  3.28.2-5

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