init order and service startup weirdness

[Kaste]

Yeah I got another weird one.
My Xserver starts a little too early, as in there is a handful of other services starting after X. The ones i remember is sshd, cups mysql and vixie-cron. So now what happens is. It boots up and starts the xserver, after a while it moves back to TTY1 and finishes the start process.
Now if i do try to log in three things can happen,

• I log in normally get transfered back to TTY1 and i can switch to X with ctrl+alt+F7 and the session works
• Same except that X crashes when i try to switch, it restarts and i log in again
• I log in and it stays at TTY7 but it doesn't complete the start process and all those services aren't started.

I think I once read about changing the start order somehow i just don't remember where and how. I want to add that all these services are started by runlevel default and i would need for X to be put to the end of that runlevel. Thanks for your suggestions

[SirYes]

Might be some problem with the baselayout package. IIRC I've got something similar a while ago, but now it's okay. What version of baselayout do you have?

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# emerge -pv baselayout

[Kaste]

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 eix baselayout
[I] sys-apps/baselayout
     Available versions:  ~1.11.13-r2 1.11.14-r8 1.11.15-r3 1.12.4-r7 1.12.5-r2 1.12.6 [M]~1.13.0_alpha5 [M]~1.13.0_alpha5-r1 [M]~1.13.0_alpha6 [M]~1.13.0_alpha7 [M]~1.13.0_alpha7-r1
     Installed versions:  1.12.6(08:43:49 24.11.2006)(-bootstrap -build -static unicode)
     Homepage:            http://www.gentoo.org/
     Description:         Filesystem baselayout and init scripts

as the date tells you i just reinstalled it, so that won't help.
I also already deleted X from the runlevel and readded it. That didn't do anything usefull either.

[SirYes]

A small correction:

Well, it's true that X server (actually it's gdm) starts faster, even though not all services are started already. I can observe that when I quickly switch to the virtual terminal right after the login screen appears. There I can still see some services starting, and after several seconds the traditional, text mode login prompt is displayed. However, in my case the normal way of things is that after the X starts the graphical mode, it stays in this mode. It doesn't switch back to the text mode like you described. That's exactly what I was referring to when I wrote that I had something similar.

Now after I looked at the /etc/init.d/xdm and /etc/inittab I'd say that there might be something of interest for you. Just look at these files yourself, there are clean references to starting xdm as early as possible. Double check that you have this section:

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# Used by /etc/init.d/xdm to control DM startup.
# Read the comments in /etc/init.d/xdm for more
# info. Do NOT remove, as this will start nothing
# extra at boot if /etc/init.d/xdm is not added
# to the "default" runlevel.
x:a:once:/etc/X11/startDM.sh

at the end of /etc/inittab file, as well as /etc/X11/startDM.sh program. Maybe you've just missed some update here?

BTW, in my case it's:

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# equery belongs /etc/init.d/xdm
x11-apps/xinit-1.0.3 (/etc/init.d/xdm)

# equery belongs /etc/inittab
sys-apps/sysvinit-2.86-r5 (/etc/inittab)

# emerge -pv baselayout xorg-server xinit sysvinit

[ebuild   R   ] sys-apps/baselayout-1.12.6  USE="unicode -bootstrap -build -static" 0 kB 
[ebuild   R   ] x11-base/xorg-server-1.1.1-r2  USE="aiglx dri ipv6 nptl sdl xorg -3dfx -debug -dmx -kdrive -minimal -xprint" INPUT_DEVICES="joystick keyboard mouse -acecad -aiptek -calcomp -citron -digitaledge -dmc -dynapro -elo2300 -elographics -evdev -fpit -hyperpen -jamstudio -magellan -microtouch -mutouch -palmax -penmount -spaceorb -summa -synaptics -tek4957 -ur98 -vmmouse -void -wacom" VIDEO_CARDS="nv nvidia vesa -apm -ark -chips -cirrus -cyrix -dummy -epson -fbdev -fglrx -glint -i128 -i740 -i810 (-impact) -imstt -mach64 -mga -neomagic (-newport) -nsc -r128 -radeon -rendition -s3 -s3virge -savage -siliconmotion -sis -sisusb (-sunbw2) (-suncg14) (-suncg3) (-suncg6) (-sunffb) (-sunleo) (-suntcx) -tdfx -tga -trident -tseng -v4l -vga -via -vmware -voodoo" 0 kB 
[ebuild   R   ] x11-apps/xinit-1.0.3  USE="-debug -minimal" 0 kB 
[ebuild   R   ] sys-apps/sysvinit-2.86-r5  USE="(-ibm) (-selinux) -static" 0 kB 

Total: 4 packages (4 reinstalls), Size of downloads: 0 kB

[Kaste]

Well the line you reference was present in /etc/inittab but not in /etc/X11/startDM.sh. Adding it there gives me an error about some permission problem that prevents X from starting. I fiddled around with it a little more but the problem persists.

Well, it's true that X server (actually it's gdm) starts faster, even though not all services are started already. I can observe that when I quickly switch to the virtual terminal right after the login screen appears. There I can still see some services starting, and after several seconds the traditional, text mode login prompt is displayed. However, in my case the normal way of things is that after the X starts the graphical mode, it stays in this mode.

That's something different. The behaviour you describe is what i would call normal or at least what i would expect. I am however talking about it really stopping the services from starting.

I found out about this only recently when i was trying to access my mysql database and it told me that it hadn't started. I then ran rc-status and it also showd those aforementioned services as stopped. I then switched to TTY1 and it then started printing those usual messages about starting all those services and they then worked and appeared in rc-status. This however was at least an hour after booting!

Thank you a lot for your help.