Trouble with KDM Fedora theme and Fedora 3
 

Hello everyone!
I'm running a Fedora 3 full installation with all the kdebase components upgraded to 3.4. I have just installed the KDM Theme manager from kde-look.org and tested a few themes, which worked fine.
Then I tried the Fedora theme (can't post URL since I have <5 posts, sorry), closed the session, and then I got an error message which read something along the lines of "not compatible with authentication method username + password (classic)".
The result is that I can no longer login to any graphical or terminal session (from there).

I can reboot and get a root session, from which I was able to uninstall KDM Theme manager, to no effect. Do you have any ideas as to what I could do?

What I would need is a way of launching KDE from the command-line (the 'kde' command available in SuSe and Mandrake doesn't work for me here.. is there an equivalent?) so that I can change the theme from the control center.. unless there is a way of doing that from the command-line?

Help would be greatly appreciated,
Andrew

That should start up X and kde from command line, alternatively you can put

in your ~/.xinitrc and then run

If you do what the post above suggests you will not solve your problem. You will not have themess and you will not have learned anything. All too often that is the type of response you get from here.

Here's the answer to your problem.

I am assuming you can get into a character based log in, as your post above eludes to that.

In the /usr/share/gdm/themes folder you will find your themes (the log in page COMPONENTS organized in folders). The one that is currently being used is represented by a symbolic link with the name of Default. You should remove that link and create a new symbolic link to one of those gdm themes that you know work.

http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=12544

This link points you to a sort of generic gdm theme that you can install manually. You need only extract the contents to a folder in the above listed location and then create a Default symbolic link to it. That will allow you to log in and then you can use your theme manager to put one that you know works in its place.

Your problem is an important one as it points out the utter inconsistency in Linux and how it can with as simple as a change to some xml code temporarily disables your workstation.

One thing linux needs is much better organization and cooperation between distros. Moving things to different directories even if some distro creators think it makes more sense, if it doesn't solve a real (rather than perceived) problem should not be implemented. It is a matter of priorities. What's more important? Do you want a distro that changes things to perceived problems or do you want a distro that creates fixes to real problems and resolves issues that lead to more universal configurations common amongst distros?

Think of it this way. If they weren't supposedly working for that concept now every distro would have programs that don't run executables from other distros. Since we know the goal is to create consistency there--having your program work on every distro--then they need to be working on distros where the underpinnings are consistent and common. It's the only realistic thing that we the users can expect from this.

So, your problem represents a big issue in Linux one which is attacked by every zealot in the linux community. Unfortuantely that zealotry is harming linux today more than it is driving a product into reality.

Thanks for your help!
I finally got it to work by inverting the names of two folders in the /etc/share/apps/kdm/themes folder to get a working theme in place.
I'll have to check my authentication config though, because another theme I tried gave me the same error message : I wonder why that isn't set automatically...

and by the way, 'xinit startkde' didn't work (screen could not be found) :confused:
but everything is fine now, thank you both :)

Edit : @Jimbo -> the theme you posted a link to is precisely the one that doesn't work ;) I couldn't post the URL since you need at least 5 posts to do so... the difference is that it has no "password" box, only one for the username...

Any news on this?

yes, I actually got the problem sorted by changing a few filenames from recovery mode, and then reverting to a working theme from KDE. I have since changed distributions a coupleof times and finally settled with Ubuntu :-)
If you need more detailed instructions as to how I did it, I can probably try to remember, but I'll stop here for now, as my batteries are starting to run low.
Cheep for the help, by the way!
- Andrew

I need the way to tell it to change the auth method:


Theme not usable with authentication method 'Username + Password (classic)'

Thanks,
Riddick

P.S. Why Ubuntu - what made you stick?