When attempting to start XFree86-3.3.3.1-40 I get the following message from Xwrapper connecting# startx Authentication failed (all packages including pam have been upgraded to 5.9.7b)
fixed by renaming /etc/pam.d/X to /etc/pamd/x and adding a /etc/security/console.apps/x
I ran into this problem as well. It's caused by Xwrapper looking for /etc/pam.d/x and not finding it because the file which was installed is /etc/pam.d/X (note upper csae versus lower case). A workaround isto install a symlink /etc/pam.d/x -> X now you will be able to run startx as root, but attempts to run startx as non-rooto will still file, because apparently pam_console.so isn't working. (I will file a separate bug report for that.) Workaround for this problem is to insert a line in /etc/pam.d/X which reads: auth sufficient /lib/security/pam_permit.so
See bug #2114 for more info about the pam_console problem
Actually touch /etc/security/console.apps/x makes it work even for normal users. If I understood correctly, everything pam_console handles needs to have an entry in that directory.
Fixed in -41 -- -40 was only meant for our internal testing of this new functionality. "xserver" is the new service name. I simply forgot that PAM lowercased everything and forgot to add the console.perms file.