Bug 15952

Summary:	pam_console not working with xdm while running XFree86-4.0.1-36 built/installed on RHL 6.2 system
Product:	[Retired] Red Hat Raw Hide	Reporter:	Daniel Tweedt <daniel.tweedt>
Component:	XFree86	Assignee:	Preston Brown <pbrown>
Status:	CLOSED RAWHIDE	QA Contact:
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	high
Version:	1.0
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	i386
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2000-08-11 05:30:29 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Daniel Tweedt 2000-08-10 21:00:48 UTC

I've built/installed XFree86-4.0.1-36 on my RHL 6.2, running kernel
2.2.16-3. I made a few minor changes in the xfs init-script to get xfs
working, and had to slightly modify /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession (added
/usr/X11R6/bin to the path). The X-server seems to generally work well when
using either startx or xdm. The problem is that pam_console does not work
when I log in using xdm: no /var/lock/console.lock generated and no change
in /dev file ownerships. I have pam-0.72-20 installed, and pam_console
works correctly when I login to the console (X not running). In the
xdm-errors log I get the message "xdm error (pid #): SetPerClientControls
failed", which may be related to the problem, but I'm not sure. Also, when
I login using xdm, no "PAM_pwdb[#]: (xdm) session ..." messages are logged
in /var/log/messages, as would be expected (for now I'm using an older
/etc/pam.d/xdm file, so /etc/pam.d/system-auth isn't being used).

The link to the server in /etc/X11 is X -> ../../usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86, and
in /usr/X11R6/bin, X -> Xwrapper.

All of the related configuration files (that I know of, especially those in
/etc/X11/xdm) are either the same or similar to those on my other RHL 6.2
system running XFree86-3.3.6-20 where xdm/pam_console works fine.

Comment 1 Daniel Tweedt 2000-08-11 05:27:52 UTC

I'm now running xdm using the executable (/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm) taken from
XFree86-3.3.6-20.  This eliminates the problem.  From this I would infer that
there must be a bug in XFree86-xdm-4.0.1.  I played around a bit with the xdm
source code, but couldn't find much -- my C-programming skills are too weak.
However, it looks to me like pam gets started alright (in the function
"Verify"), but the pointer value of "pamh" somehow doesn't make it into the
functions in session.c, particularly the function "StartClient" where pamh is a
null pointer.

Also, it looks to me like the xdm-error message "xdm error (pid #):
SetPerClientControls failed" is due to a bug in the xdm source code: greet.c,
line 183.  I could be wrong, but shouldn't the line be

  if (! XkbSetPerClientControls (dpy, XkbPCF_GrabsUseXKBStateMask, &value))

instead of

  if (XkbSetPerClientControls (dpy, XkbPCF_GrabsUseXKBStateMask, &value))

? I hope this helps.

Comment 2 Bill Nottingham 2000-08-14 21:09:54 UTC

Certainly looks like it should be that way. And yes,
the XDM pam code was extremely broken. Fixed in XFree86-4.0.1-0.44.

Comment 3 Daniel Tweedt 2000-09-08 15:29:23 UTC

Is XFree86-4.0.1-0.44 accessible? I haven't been able to find it. The latest
version on rawhide is 0.43 which has been there for the last month.