No, no tricks were performed.. Just a standard apt-get installation.. Included is an email that I sent to the debian-kde list, but this problem is an X installation problem. Simply doing 'apt-gets' to the point where I can run startx should at that point have a working Xsession file, in my mind. Glance at the order in which the 'apt-gets' were applied and see if you can see where it might have failed please.
and dpkg --configure --force-confnew xfree86-common doesn't work, just reporting that it is already done. (See bottom of Email for included text from email to debian-kde) On Tuesday 28 January 2003 09:56, you wrote: > On Mon, Jan 27, 2003 at 06:25:19PM -0800, Michael Peddemors wrote: > > In the xfree86-common.list file and others you show that Xsession should > > be a part of the package. You do install the man pages, but no Xsession > > file gets created. Seems to be a little confusion on who should be > > installing this file, -common, or -clients > > > > Did a manual apt-get type install and started with the server, then to > > clients but nowhere did the Xsession file get installed, and I am sure > > that it might be that file which handles my backspace remapping :) > > > > You would think that by the time I can do a startx, one of the packages > > should have setup a Xsession file, or am I on the wrong direction. > > The Xsession file is a conffile, this means that you may have tricked dpkg > into thinking that you removed the file on purpose and want it to stay > gone, in which case dpkg won't unpack it. > > You can probably fix this with one of the --force-confmiss or > --force-confnew options to dpkg, or almost certainly by purging > xfree86-common and reinstalling it. > > Also, you can always ask this type of question on the debian-user > mailing list. You may get a reply more quickly. (included email) Just a few notes .. Thought I would try an install as if I was a typical debian newbie.. And take notes along the way. Installed Debian Base. Did an 'apt-get update','apt-get upgrade' Now, I added the nolden source, and did another 'apt-get update' Okay, now I decide I need mail, so 'apt-get kmail' Hmm, okay in theory kmail can work like that, but as a user on a personal pc, it won't so did an 'apt-get xserver-svga' and went through the dpkg. Hmm, still can't get a window environment, the usual way, so did an 'apt-cache search startx' and it showed xbase-clients, so that makes sense and I do an 'apt-get xbase-clients' and noticed a problem with missing fonts so also did an 'apt-get install xfonts-base xfonts-100dpi xfonts-scalable xfonts-scalable-nonfree' Tried to run startx and it complains that there is no /etc/X11/Xsession. This looks to be a problem 'It should just work now' At this point, it might frustrate a newbie, but okay, I do a 'man startx' I see that 'xinit' can start a session as well. Hmm.. Try that .. I get a no Xterm found.. Looking at the man page for xinit it says that that is the fallback default. If it is the fall back default shouldnt' have that been installed? Okay, at least I can fix that easy. 'apt-get install xterm' Hey, I now have a window, and I can type in kmail. ooooh.. It fires up. But nothing seems to work correctly, and I can get/recieve mail, and can't resize the windows etc. Okay, it slowly sinks in that I need a better window manager Hmm.. maybe that's why I am missing Xsession. Okay, I see that, so lets get the kde window manager. 'apt-get install kdebase' Darn, no file called Xsession yet. Okay, but reading a little more I see that the file used to start KDE is called startkde, and doing a quick 'man startkde' reveals nothing, as the man page is not complete. Looking more carefully at the man pages for xinit and startx, I see that I can put a command in .xinitrc in my home directory, and it shoudl get called, so I add in 'startkde' to that file, and boom, up it comes. At this point, though.. I still have no /etc/X11/Xsession, and I am sure that this is a work around. As well, for some reason the backspace doesn't work in X, (works as delete) In conclusion, I can see some little things that should be fixed up yet so that people do not run into problems. Logs also show problems with a missing xftconfig as well. Primarily, I think that if kdebase is installed, it should ask if you want to make it the default window manager, and then deal with everything, so that a person knows they can just type in 'startx' and they will have a working KDE Just a few thoughts, in case it helps everyone, we forget the problems that newbies have after a while. -- -- "Catch the Magic of Linux..." -------------------------------------------------------- Michael Peddemors - Senior Consultant LinuxAdministration - Internet Services NetworkServices - Programming - Security Wizard IT Services http://www.wizard.ca Linux Support Specialist - http://www.linuxmagic.com LinuxMagic is a Registered TradeMark of Wizard Tower TechnoServices Ltd. -------------------------------------------------------- (604)589-0037 Beautiful British Columbia, Canada
