I have a question... Do I have to set up the Xserver for each of my users?.. I'm using the root account since the first day I installed Slack and today I added another user and did "startx" and it was timing out.. I didn't want to try configuring the Xserver again with that user..SInce it took me a while to set it up and its working fine.. Any suggestions? THanks

My recommendation would be to switch to runlevel 4. It provides a graphical login and maintains all the control for X. From the GUI login the user can login, shutdown, restart, choose the window manager desired, etc.

Edit the /etc/inittab file on the line like below changing the 3 to a 4.

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:4:initdefault:

When you reboot, the GUI login will be displayed.

I fix the problem already.. For some reason the user I created didn't have permission to use X... I just deleted the user and added it again and it works now....

Excaliber,

I, too, wanted to be able to allow my user to shutdown and power-off, I also like the idea of allowing user to change window manager, etc via GUI login. I am a newbie to Slack, having come from the redhat distro, where my "hand was held".

I have accessed the /etc/inittab file for the user, and was denied saving the default runlevel from 3 to 4 for that user, how do I go about making the modification to which you speak of in your response above. I think this would better enable user to have a little more logical freedom.

Thanks........
Ken

you can't save the file?? then try going into superuser by typing su

it will then ask for you root password...and then you will be able to modify the file normally..

3 more posts and i am @ 100 posts!! YAY! crazy

I was having problems running X under my regular user acct, but it was related to the way I was going about creating the acct in the first place. I was using the adduser command which all it does is create the acct and that's it. Someone at irc.freenode.net's Slackware channel enlightened me and told me about useradd. With useradd, the needed /home folder gets created with all the rights/permissions. One thing I would like to find out is how to make an exact copy of my root's /home folder to a regular user's home folder? I know it will just take for me to issue a cp command and then do a chmod on the new files, but I haven't been successful in doing that.

That is exactly how I added my new user also, so I haven't a clue how to go about setting up permissions, to include what I would like to do as posted above.

How to I access and review/modify the permissions Slackware assigned my user profile? Or, how do I go about accessing a specific user's permissions while logged in as root, or by using su?

Just trying to learn, appreciate any assistance/support.

BTW, newbieME, congrats on 100+ posts ...............................................

hmmm, adduser is just a script that calls the useradd program with the values that are supplied at the prompts. I use the adduser script, and it always creates the home directory and it enters the value into the /etc/passwd file.

The /etc/inittab file is not specific for each user. It is a system file, it executes when Slack is started. You can only edit the file as root.

To copy roots home directory to another users home directory try the following substituting the real username for username below;

login as root
cd /home
cp -a /root . (note: that is a single space followed a period at the end)
mv username username.old
mv root username
chown -R username:users username
login as username

The user will now have a duplicate of the root directory, mailboxes, ssh id's, desktop settings, etc. Any old data of the user can be copied back from the /home/username.old directory, like mailboxes, documents, etc.

In Linux, users do not have any specific permissions assigned to them. All files or devices have the permission settings. They are assigned as owner, group, and world. ( rwx rwx rwx ) The settings are read, write, execute. The first section is the owner, the center section is the group and the last section is the world. Each user is assigned normally by default as their username and in the group "users." A user can be a member of other groups as well. Groups are mantained in the /etc/groups file. I would think that any Linux adminstrators book would have full detail information regarding all the security permission settings and discussions regarding the use. But you would probably find this link most informative.

http://freshmeat.net/projects/rute

Thanks guy!

I just ran into a successful result, just like what you had instructed, learning curve wasn' t too bad Getting "there" slowly but surely!

I have another request, maybe this might be more of a challenge (?)
I would like to move from gpm to kdm, can you assist in this request ?

Appreciate your support, was meaning to get back "here" and thank you, but you had already posted ......

Ken

whoops, please make that gdm, rather than gpm above

Damn typos!

I'm almost there too

This applies to runlevel 4. If you are starting gdm from runlevel 3 then you have to look how your are starting it. Perhaps from /etc/rc.d/rc.local script.

The login manager is loaded for runlevel 4 from the /etc/rc.d/rc.4 script. The stock install defaults to kdm if it is executable and located in the /opt/kde/bin directory. If not, then it looks for /usr/bin/gdm, if that fails then it looks for /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm.

Either your inittab or rc.4 script has been modified, or kdm has been moved, deleted, renamed, or the execute bits removed. Check the last line in /etc/inittab if it calls /etc/rc.d/rc.4 then review that file next. The commands are in the middle of the file. If kdm is checked first and is able to load the program, then check for the program /opt/kde/bin/kdm and that the execute bits are set properly. If the scripts are OK and the kdm program is present as required and the execute bits need to be set then try;

chmod 755 /opt/kde/bin/kdm

last line of inittab;
x1:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.4

rc.4 script that executes kdm,gdm,xdm;
Perhaps it will be of some help.

I am starting gdm from runlevel 4 , to allow the GUI login to be displayed upon start-up.

/etc/rc.d/rc.local script :

#!/bin/sh
#
# /etc/rc.d/rc.local: Local system initialization script.
#
# Put any local setup commands in here:


This is what my /etc/rc.d/rc.4 looks like :

# Try to use GNOME's gdm session manager:
if [ -x /usr/bin/gdm ]; then
exec /usr/bin/gdm -nodaemon
fi

# Not there? OK, try to use KDE's kdm session manager:
if [ -x /opt/kde/bin/kdm ]; then
exec /opt/kde/bin/kdm -nodaemon
fi

# If all you have is XDM, I guess it will have to do:
if [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm ]; then
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon

As you see kdm is not checked first (?)

In checking the next step, opt/kde/bin/kdm, I get the following :

Could not open the file "/opt/kde/bin/kdm" because it contains invalid UTF-8 data.

Are there any steps that need to be taken prior to :

chmod 755 /opt/kde/bin/kdm (?)

I wouldn't have thought this would have been such an involved "operation"

Thanks Ex!

Make sure that the kdm is executable. (ls -l /opt/kde/bin/kdm) Look at the permissons and make sure that the "x"'s are present. It sounds like you tried to open it in a browser or something by the message you posted, it is an executable program and can't be read like a regular text file.

Switch the the order of your rc.4 script to call kdm first, move the four lines above the gpm statements. Or just hash out the gdm part of the script and it will be ignored, then drop down to the kdm part. You can always remove the hash marks later if you desire to switch back. Then reboot.

I am curious about your rc.4 script. Would you know where the rc.4 script came from? have you installed something like Dropline-Gnome or anything?

Thanks again Ex !

Worked like a charm. I even now have shutdown avail to user, where I didn't under gdm.

Sorry about the attempt to verify kdm was an executable file via treating it as a "text" file. I am just a dangerous newbie, I guess. I did just move the gdm portion of rc.4 to reside beneath the kdm script, that was easy enough. I appreciate your patience, and youe invaluable assistance in this matter.

Regarding your rc.4 question : Would you know where the rc.4 script came from? have you installed something like Dropline-Gnome or anything?

I do know that I have not installed anything to which you had referred: Dropline Gnome or the "like". Is this something I should be concerned about, or some "irregularity" that could cause me a headache "down-the-road"? I made this script available by using gEdit text editor.
Let me know if I need to be aware of anything as a result of your concern.

BTW, psyche is my root "alias", whereas justaguynsrq is my user alias, just for your information.

Thanks again guy!

"justaguynsrq/psyche" Better known as Ken