If gpm RPM is installed, gpm attempts to run on /dev/console rather than on /dev/tty0. If console is serial with a kernel option, gpm prints garbage to the console and loops. [root@cactus rc.d]# cat /proc/cmdline BOOT_IMAGE=linux-p3-ser ro root=301 console=ttyS0,9600 [root@cactus rc.d]# tail /var/log/messages Aug 9 03:33:09 cactus gpm[422]: Error in read()ing first: No such file or directory Aug 9 03:33:39 cactus last message repeated 125498 times Aug 9 03:33:46 cactus last message repeated 25578 times [root@cactus rc.d]# uname -a Linux cactus 2.4.0-test5 #3 Mon Jul 31 23:54:48 PDT 2000 i686 unknown
gpm-1.19.3-5 from rawhide now has a patch to detect if it is running on a serial console and abort.