LinuxQuestions.org - Unable to autostart graphical login - default init set to 5 in /etc/inittab

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Unable to autostart graphical login - default init set to 5 in /etc/inittab

I recently had to drop to an older version of the kernel in order to get X working (long story). After getting it working, I used the Yast update to update the kernel to the latest supported version. When I rebooted, I chose the Failsafe option, as the older kernel option did not work anymore (as expected). After booting the new kernel, I was left with a text login. I logged in, typed "gdm" at the console, and then the familiar graphical login screen appeared. I would like this to be the default behavior, so that I do not have to login twice every time I use the machine.

I cloned the failsafe entry in the Grub record, removed the kernel safety options, made it the default, and saved the record. Then I checked /etc/inittab and the default runlevel is set to 5 there.

What am I missing?

Assuming you are running a distro using the traditional Sys V startup, you also need a line in inittab telling it to respawn fdm for runlevel 5. Alternatively, your distro may (normally) invoke gdm from /etc/rc5.d.

Please let us know which distro you are using, post the contents ofinittab and show us the contens of /etc/rc5.d. Some distros may call that /etc/rc.d/rc5.d.

I am using SLED 10 sp2. Thanks for your help. Below are the inittab and rc.d/rc5.d contents.

Code:

inittab:



linux-test:~ # cat /etc/inittab

#

# /etc/inittab

#

# Copyright (c) 1996-2002 SuSE Linux AG, Nuernberg, Germany.  All rights reserved.

#

# Author: Florian La Roche, 1996

# Please send feedback to http://www.suse.de/feedback

#

# This is the main configuration file of /sbin/init, which

# is executed by the kernel on startup. It describes what

# scripts are used for the different run-levels.

#

# All scripts for runlevel changes are in /etc/init.d/.

#

# This file may be modified by SuSEconfig unless CHECK_INITTAB

# in /etc/sysconfig/suseconfig is set to "no"

#



# The default runlevel is defined here

id:5:initdefault:



# First script to be executed, if not booting in emergency (-b) mode

si::bootwait:/etc/init.d/boot



# /etc/init.d/rc takes care of runlevel handling

#

# runlevel 0  is  System halt  (Do not use this for initdefault!)

# runlevel 1  is  Single user mode

# runlevel 2  is  Local multiuser without remote network (e.g. NFS)

# runlevel 3  is  Full multiuser with network

# runlevel 4  is  Not used

# runlevel 5  is  Full multiuser with network and xdm

# runlevel 6  is  System reboot (Do not use this for initdefault!)

#

l0:0:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 0

l1:1:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 1

l2:2:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 2

l3:3:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 3

#l4:4:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 4

l5:5:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 5

l6:6:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 6



# what to do in single-user mode

ls:S:wait:/etc/init.d/rc S

~~:S:respawn:/sbin/sulogin



# what to do when CTRL-ALT-DEL is pressed

ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -r -t 4 now



# special keyboard request (Alt-UpArrow)

# look into the kbd-0.90 docs for this

kb::kbrequest:/bin/echo "Keyboard Request -- edit /etc/inittab to let this work."



# what to do when power fails/returns

pf::powerwait:/etc/init.d/powerfail start

pn::powerfailnow:/etc/init.d/powerfail now

#pn::powerfail:/etc/init.d/powerfail now

po::powerokwait:/etc/init.d/powerfail stop



# for ARGO UPS

sh:12345:powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -h now THE POWER IS FAILING



# getty-programs for the normal runlevels

# <id>:<runlevels>:<action>:<process>

# The "id" field  MUST be the same as the last

# characters of the device (after "tty").

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty --noclear tty1

2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2

3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3

4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4

5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5

6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

#

#S0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L 9600 ttyS0 vt102

#cons:12345:respawn:/sbin/smart_agetty -L 38400 console



#

#  Note: Do not use tty7 in runlevel 3, this virtual line

#  is occupied by the programm xdm.

#



#  This is for the package xdmsc, after installing and

#  and configuration you should remove the comment character

#  from the following line:

#7:3:respawn:+/etc/init.d/rx tty7





# modem getty.

# mo:235:respawn:/usr/sbin/mgetty -s 38400 modem



# fax getty (hylafax)

# mo:35:respawn:/usr/lib/fax/faxgetty /dev/modem



# vbox (voice box) getty

# I6:35:respawn:/usr/sbin/vboxgetty -d /dev/ttyI6

# I7:35:respawn:/usr/sbin/vboxgetty -d /dev/ttyI7



# end of /etc/inittab

Code:

linux-test:~ # ls /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/

K09cron            K15portmap      S01dbus          S08smbfs

K10nscd            K15splash_early  S01earlysyslog  S11alsasound

K10postfix        K16slpd          S01fbset        S11irq_balancer

K10suseRegister    K16syslog        S01random        S11kbd

K10xdm            K17network      S01resmgr        S11novell-zmd

K11alsasound      K19earlygdm      S02earlykbd      S11powersaved

K11irq_balancer    K20earlykbd      S02haldaemon    S11running-kernel

K11novell-zmd      K20haldaemon    S03earlygdm      S11splash

K11powersaved      K21acpid        S05network      S11sshd

K11running-kernel  K21dbus          S06slpd          S12nscd

K11splash          K21earlysyslog  S06syslog        S12postfix

K11sshd            K21fbset        S07portmap      S12suseRegister

K14nfs            K21random        S07splash_early  S12xdm

K14nfsboot        K21resmgr        S08nfs          S13cron

K14smbfs          S01acpid        S08nfsboot

linux-test:~ #

OK, I've never run SuSE. And I see some things that I wasn't expecting and don't understand. So I'm probably not the right person to be trying to help you with this. But I will point out what I noticed in case you want to try to run the issue down yourself and to call them to the attention of anybody else who tries to help you. Also, you might want to use the report button (at the bottom of each post next to the edit and quote buttons) to request a moderator to move this thread to the SuSE forum. (Please don't create a duplicate thread.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrella (Post 3192555)

Code:

linux-test:~ # ls /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/

K09cron            K15portmap      S01dbus          S08smbfs

K10nscd            K15splash_early  S01earlysyslog  S11alsasound

K10postfix        K16slpd          S01fbset        S11irq_balancer

K10suseRegister    K16syslog        S01random        S11kbd

K10xdm            K17network      S01resmgr        S11novell-zmd

K11alsasound      K19earlygdm      S02earlykbd      S11powersaved

K11irq_balancer    K20earlykbd      S02haldaemon    S11running-kernel

K11novell-zmd      K20haldaemon    S03earlygdm      S11splash

K11powersaved      K21acpid        S05network      S11sshd

K11running-kernel  K21dbus          S06slpd          S12nscd

K11splash          K21earlysyslog  S06syslog        S12postfix

K11sshd            K21fbset        S07portmap      S12suseRegister

K14nfs            K21random        S07splash_early  S12xdm

K14nfsboot        K21resmgr        S08nfs          S13cron

K14smbfs          S01acpid        S08nfsboot

linux-test:~ #

I've highlighted the entries above that sound like they might be relevant to a GUI. There are two things that baffle me here:

1) In any given runlevel (in this case, 5), I expect to see each service (at most) listed either starting with a K (kill) or an S (start), not both. Yet these services, along with most or all of the others, have both. (In case you aren't aware, the two digits after the K or S determine the sequence in which that service is killed or started.)

2) The names earlygdm and xdm suggest a combination of both gdm and xdm which makes no sense to me. Maybe looking at the scripts themselves would clarify what is going on. If you want to take a look at these scripts they should be located in the /etc/init.d directory.

I also found the following comment in inittab rather baffling. That is because xdm is a GUI login manager, and as such, I would not expect it to be running in runlevel 3. (I did check some SLED documentation to verify what the runlevels mean in SLED. Ummm. I just noticed that was actually SLES documentation, but I would think the runlevel usage would be consistent.)

Quote:

Code:

#

#  Note: Do not use tty7 in runlevel 3, this virtual line

#  is occupied by the programm xdm.

#

As requested, moved to Suse/Novell