the supplied /etc/security/console.perms does not include the line: <console> 0600 /dev/console 0600 root.root which is required to change console owenership for users who log in without using xdm. Otherwise programs like xconsole won't work.
The current pam_console module has <xconsole>=:[0-9]\.[0-9] :[0-9] and <xconsole> 0600 /dev/console 0600 root.root so that this only gets applied for X logins, which is the correct behaviour. The current pam_console also has a fix that makes xconsole be recognized; the original pam_console only allowed you to be in one console group at a time because the utility of subsets had not yet been recognized when it was first created.