could anyone try to reproduce this: when i log on in gdm as a normal user, /dev/nvidia*, /dev/console and /dev/snd* are not owned by root anymore, but by this user (first one that logs on). i tried to chown root manually (back to root), but again, after restarting gdm and logging on, ownership changes. this is not fixed when i close a gnome-session kernel 2.4.19-r1, alsa sound drivers, nvidia 1.0-2880 portage version 1.8.19 gdm 2.2.5.4-r5, gnome-things are also the newest ones this might be makedev problem, not gnome's, i'm no hacker to figure it out.
i guess the real problem with this issue shows up when many users log on the same machine.first login gives the rights/ownership to the user so for him desktop works fine. but after his logout rights are not back to normal (root/audio), so next user cannot use sound (/dev/mixer, /dev/dsp and others won't open). for single user this is no real bug, unfortunately i share my dektop :( this rights switch was alos reproduced on mckennedy's box, i talked to him on #gentoo the other day.
solved. the problem was not actually on gdm/gnome-session side, it was a libpam upgrade that caused it (the rights for 'sound' in /etc/security/console.pref changed from 660 root.audio to 600). i edited the file, everything is back to normal.
Is this actually fixed? I just ran into the problem on a box with sys-libs/pam-0.77 - the permissions for sound in /etc/security/console.perms are still 600.
Never mind. Just ran across bug 31877, which seems to be closer to the actual problem, and is still open.