so I've been trying to set up kdm for a graphical login on my slackware 12.2 system and one of the steps listed in the instructions provided is to run kdm in the terminal as each user. I'm sure there is another easier way to do this but I don't currently have a properly configured shells file so this is the only way I know of. I've been trying to run kdm as a user other than root but it says only root can run it so I try typing sudo kdm and I get an error that says /etc/sudoers is mode 0644, it should be 0440. I'd like to get both of these problems fixed if possible.

To get KDM up and running for a graphical login, you need to edit /etc/inittab using your favourite editor (as root). Change the 3 to a 4 to start runlevel 4 (graphical login), as shown below:
to
Then just restart your PC and it should show a nice graphical login screen.

[edit] In Slackware you cannot just run "sudo command" and expect it to run as root (unless you set your sodoers file up specifically for that functionality). You can use `su` (or `su -` if you want to preserve the proper root environment) to switch to root, and then issue any commands. Or, you could try `su -c "command"`. Note that, unlike with sudo, you need to enter the root password here, not your user's. [/edit]

No need to restart.

will put you in runlevel 4

ok thats not quite the problem... in order to log in as different users they must be listed in the shells file and since its allmost empty(just the defaults when you install linux) I can only log in as root. I was allready aware of editing /etc/inittab and if I do that right now I won't be able to log in as a user(trust me I've tried) so maby if someone could give me a line to add to /etc/shells so i can add other users it would be a big help

As root, start KDE and then use the UserManager to add users and configure groups.

Again this is not the problem I already have another user. When I start kdm and try to log on as the other user i get this error:

your login shell is not listed in /etc/shells

I don't need help getting kdm to start at bootup and I do not need help adding new users what I need is to know how to add users to the /etc/shells file

Sounds as if something went wrong when you added your second user. As root try:-

then follow this with the adduser command to add a new user, making sure you answer all of the questions appropriately

yes that was the problem thank you vdemuth