xdm and wireless problems after baselayout update

[Wintershade]

I have followed the solutions on this thread, and after successfully emerging baselayout and the other packages that were conflicting at that time, the xdm won't start anymore. The errors I am getting are as follows:

Code: Select all

localhost ~ # /etc/init.d/xdm start
/etc/init.d/xdm: line 119: ebegin: command not found
/etc/init.d/xdm: line 121: save_options: command not found
/etc/init.d/xdm: line 133: eend: command not found
 * ERROR: xdm failed to start


What is actually wrong here and how to correct it?
In the previously mentioned thread, the solution was to edit /etc/conf.d/xdm, and to change "xdm" to "kdm", but the odd thing is, the DISPLAYMANAGER value is already set to "kdm".
Any leads?
Thank you.

[Wintershade]

ok, I re-emerged the earlier version of baselayout and not things are mostly back to normal.
The problem is, this version of baselayout is conflicting with makedev, so I emerged it with --nodeps flag.
Can someone tell me in a nutshell what are the possible damages to my system because of doing so? And what do I actually need makedev for? (I didn't want to unmerge it in case something needs it).

[pajamabama]

so is going back to an earlier version of baselayout the answer to this? In the other thread discussing this issue (link above) the question kind of gets distracted by questions regarding Timezone errors. Should the new version of baselayout have remained masked? And don't we need makedev to make devices? Or do I not understand how this really works (not at all unlikely ) Was it the right move to update to the new version of init.d/xdm when running etc-update? I've read on the gentoo wiki that the general rule is to accept all updates to init.d files so that they work with upgraded services.

Sorry for just asking more questions, but I'd really like to understand how all this works / is supposed to work.

[DontPanic]

I can't answer this question definitively, but I also had to drop back to a 1.12 version of baselayout. I have also removed makedev from my system, and have run for about two weeks without it. I never found a good explanation of the purpose of the makedev package, but I found a few posts that suggested it was possible to remove the package. Since it was a masked package anyways, and since the only packages that had a dependency on makedev were the 2.0 (also masked) versions of baselayout, I decided to take a chance on removing makedev.

But you're probably right to be very cautious about removing packages like makedev, and just because it is currently working for me doesn't necessarily make it a good idea to remove it.

[wolfden]

to the original OP - what version of SL? I'm gonna guess 64bit?

I had no problems with x86 version and new baselayout. 64bit, I left baselayout alone and got rid of makedev, it's new and maybe further down the road it will play a part, but it will not effect your system as of today.

I noticed with the new baselayout things boot faster and a few others mentioned same thing in IRC.

[Wintershade]

wolfden, sorry to inform you, but my SL version is x86. I don't have any 64bit computers.

DontPanic, thanks for sharing your experience. I just might unmerge makedev and re-emerge baselayout2.

pajamabama, it seems we haven't come to the real answer to this (yet). Rolling baselayout back will make the xdm load again, but it seems no matter which baselayout version you have installed, portage will say it's conflicted with makedev. This probably means, it's either baselayout or makedev on your system - not both, although you get both with a fresh Sabayon installation. I'm not an expert by any means, but, the way I see it, when two conflicting packages are installed, they will not work properly.


Now for another problem. I've noticed that, since I've re-emerged the old baselayout (=baselayout-1.12.9-r2) and rebooted (while leaving makedev alone), my wireless doesn't work. I can see it in lsmod, I can see it in lspcim, but iwconfig and knetworkmanager see no wireless networks (and I know there should be at least two - mine and neighbours'). Is this a coincidence or could there be a connection?
And, more important, has anyone had a similar experience? How to resolve this?

edit: after removing makedev and emerging baselayout, the wireless is seemingly working again, but xdm fails to load again, and again with the same errors.

[wolfden]

than it must be a config file, did you check the config files? I believe there was like 30 of them and I know I didn't let it over write all of em.

[Wintershade]

OK, I'll try and look into the config files. If I figure anything out, I'll post here.

BTW, a correction: I said wireless is seemingly working, while actually it is not. wpa_supplicant won't connect to my wireless network, and always gives message that the passkey may be wrong. Double checked it, it isn't. KNetworkManager has the same issue. Asks for WPA key, I enter it, and it won't connect. After a few seconds it asks for the WPA key again.

Any ideas?

[Wintershade]

Got it. The first one at least.
The solution to starting xdm again, at least for me, was to update xdm and it's deps.

Code: Select all

emerge -u xdm

then set the DISPLAYMANAGER value from "xdm" to "kdm" in /etc/conf.d/xdm and voila.
Funny I didn't think of that before. Oh well. Now for the wireless part... any ideas or recommendations would be appreciated.

[wolfden]

Got it. The first one at least.
The solution to starting xdm again, at least for me, was to update xdm and it's deps.

Code: Select all

emerge -u xdm

then set the DISPLAYMANAGER value from "xdm" to "kdm" in /etc/conf.d/xdm and voila.
Funny I didn't think of that before. Oh well. Now for the wireless part... any ideas or recommendations would be appreciated.

No wonder why I didn't experience this as I have my system world updated so I should of had the latest xdm. I never restart my session or reboot my computer till my system and world is completely rebuilt and revdep-rebuild has done it's thing. I always watch my config files too. On the 64bit side I didn't have my world rebuilt so that is probably why I ran into there