Bug 117617

Description of problem:

This was a fun night.  After an upgrade and installation of a tool
that happens to print something to the screen - perhaps a w list -
when root logs in, it was found that gdm seems to die.  

Symptom:  'x' in inittab loops.  

It can't start, you see, because something in the fact that there's
output in root's .bashrc or any /etc/profile.d script causes gdm to
totally barf.  Nah, I couldn't strace -p 1.  I stumbled on the
solution almost accidentally, and stopped fixing at some ungodly hour
when it stopped being broken.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
gdm-2.4.4.5-1.2

How reproducible:
All bleegin' night.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. toss an echo into root's .bashrc
2. init 3
3. init 5
  
Actual results:
'x' starts looping because gdm shuts down and cannot start up.  The
monitor doesn't even give the familiar click when X starts up;  it
just whines to the console about 'x restarting too fast' and that's
all the clue one gets.

Expected results:
gdm should still be able to start.  In fact, it should laugh at the
pathetic mumblings of start scripts.  It's *X*, after all, so big it
doesn't need any more letters in its name.  It doesn't bow to the whim
of some muttering of a .bashrc.

Additional info:
It was late.  My box may be made available to qualifying RHi/Fedora
people for poking, thanks to the magic of ssh, faked port-forwarding
via iptables and ssh2 keys - of which I'll be needing one.