On my system, I use SLiM as my XDM and Fluxbox as my WM. At boot time, SLiM starts up fine and makes a very smooth transition to Fluxbox, however, when I exit Fluxbox I get dumped back to the console never to see the SLiM interface again. Recompiling SLiM with the PAM USE Flag enabled resolved this issue. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Compile SLiM without PAM (USE="-pam") and add XDM to the default runlevel. 2. Reboot the system, and enter username and password. 3. Exit WM to get back to SLiM. Actual Results: You'll be dropped back to the console. Expected Results: When exiting a WM, SLiM should immediately capture the screen again. Another USE Flag that I had enabled is "consolekit", so that may have something to do with it as well. If that's the case, the SLiM Ebuild should perform a check to make sure it had been enabled. Otherwise, if it is just the PAM flag, then it should not be optional.
Well, here's the thing. According to the source, PAM is, in fact *optional*. Upstream recognizes the possibility of building without PAM (including for non-Linux environments, such as the BSDs). For some folks, dropping to the console after logging out really is the desired behavior rather than reloading SLiM. We pretty much have to follow upstream's allowances for optional dependencies. We try not to make things non-optional for our users; flexibility is our goal. However, I think it might be worth sticking a postinstall message into the ebuild regarding SLiM's PAM usage; that users who want to only use SLiM for login (and not the console) should make sure to enable the pam USE flag. On a partially related note: I emailed upstream a couple of days ago, and there will be a new release of SLiM in the next few days or so. It may address PAM and login issues, it may not. It will, at least, eliminate the need for some of the Gentoo-specific issues, like patching for X11R7.
Adding the URL for where we first tackled this issue. Also, the same issue is present in a few other Gentoo users' systems, based on the troubleshooting I've been doing on IRC over the last few days. That postinstall message is sounding better and better. :)
I think it is desired behavior to fall back to the console after quitting the WM if desired and I don't think we need to force this (unneeded deps, users filing bug reports opposite of this one, etc). I will add a message to the ebuild soon here.
added a postinst message if USE=-pam is present. Thanks for helping, nightmorph.
The post install message seems like an excellent idea. Thanks for the quick response!
