Linux 2.6.9, Latest Dropline, fontconfig messed up, can't startx
 

I'm having a really annoying problem that I can't seem to fix at ALL! After much reluctance, I upgraded to Linux 2.6.9 on my Slackware 10 box for the latest Dropline.

After upgrading and tweaking everything in 2.6.9. I install dropline. Dropline does not finish because it says:

Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file

I'm guessing this is part of X.org 6.8 which Dropline comes with. The funny thing this happened when as soon as I compiled the new kernel. 2.4.26 was running just fine, but then I startx one day, the screen flickers, it shows the splash screen and then kicks me back to terminal. I hate it so much. I'm typing this is windows right now! :(

Anyways, I download fontconfig 2.2.3 from freedesktop.org and install with

./configure --prefix=/usr --with-confdir=/etc/fonts --disable-docs

It builds, but doesn't install because the /etc/fonts has three files that say permission denied. Even root can't modify it!

I need to get back into X (X.org 6.8, Gnome 2.8). Please, somebody help me!

bump

did you try to rename /etc/fonts to /etc/fonts.bak or something similar ?