Re: help... X-Server crashed after update

[Jeff Licquia <jeff@licquia.org>]

Laszlo Acs wrote:
> Seems like I should have plenty of system diskspace with only 35% of the 
> primary in use...  (the 78% usage is on the non-boot RAID - this 
> fluctuates on average of 70%-to-80% regularly based on internal 
> processes - so the value is within my norms)

Yup, looks like plenty of space from where I sit.  Just wanted to make 
sure of those silly little things we all overlook.

> Anyway, I decided to try using the old aptitude quasi-GUI tool - and it 
> shows that there are 2 broken packages.  I do the CTRL-T and navigate to 
> the resolver to do an "Examine" - and it shows that xfonts-encodings is 
> scheduled for deletion and breaks xfonts-utils and another conf file.  I 
> undid that and now nothing shows up as broken - but still I have a 
> broken X ("startx" still can't find "fixed" font). 

Two things come to mind: either your xorg.conf is somehow messed up, or 
something didn't happen when it should have because of the package breakage.

To test xorg.conf, check to see that the 75dpi and 100dpi directories 
are one of the FontPath entries in your "Files" section.  If you don't 
have those, then this probably isn't your problem.

To test for package breakage issues, check that conf file and make sure 
it's sane.  You can do "dpkg --search <path>" to figure out what package 
provides it, and re-install it.  Then re-install the following, in this 
order:

xfonts-encodings
xfonts-utils
xfonts-75dpi
xfonts-100dpi

You should see, at some point, that it detects fonts in those 
directories, and then your X server should be hunky-dory.

> I bet there's something simple I'm not seeing and am getting confused by 
> things that aren't 'really' broken but just are appearing to be.  For 
> example, when I reboot and CTRL-F1 to a TTY screen, then login - I get a 
> message "configuration error - unknown item 'FAIL_DELAY' (notify 
> administrator)" - I yell at my screen that I am the freaking 
> administrator but it doesn't care...  so I type in my password and move 
> on...  but, again, I don't know what else I should be trying now.

Found that, BTW; it's a bug in the "login" package.  To fix it, edit 
/etc/login.defs and comment out the FAIL_DELAY line.

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