CentOS - Jun 2015 - more newbie questions -- init 5 works, init 3 doesn't for "normal" users

On 06/10/2015 10:06 PM, Gordon Messmer wrote:
> On 06/10/2015 05:25 PM, Kay Schenk wrote:
>> I get /home/<username> not found when it's there and setup
with correct
>> permissions -- well here I am using it in run level 5 just fine!
> 
> Log in as root, and watch /var/log/messages, /var/log/secure, and
> /var/log/audit/audit.log while a "normal" user logs in.
> 
> # tail -n0 -f /var/log/messages /var/log/secure /var/log/audit/audit.log
> 
>> So, my normal user is left logged in at /root.
> 
> /root or / ?  The two are different, and non-root users should not have
> access to /root
> 
>> My next step is to take a look at the gnome startup script vs startx to
>> see if I can figure out the differences if no one has encountered this
>> before.
> 
> startx runs the X server, which will in turn run an X session.  Gnome
> doesn't have a "startup script" per se, but if it did, it
would be an X
> session, something that runs after / under startx.  There's nothing
> there to compare.
> 
> However, you could capture startx output and execution for debugging:
> 
> $ sh -x /usr/bin/startx > startx.trace 2>&1
> 
> The file "startx.trace" will have a list of all of the commands
run, and
> all of their output (including errors).
> 
> /var/log/X* might be interesting as well.
OK, this last bit sounds promising although this works as expected for
root -- starts up gnome flawlessly. My previous setup imported settings
to use a display manager, etc. So, I need to check on this.

Right now, one of my main concerns is that my old /home
partition/direction is supposedly associated WITH current users I setup
and yet...NOT! The system does not recognize this association even
though it asked me about setting it up when I created my first real user
on installation. I had to go in and reset uids but that's no biggie and
this process has worked fine before.  I can't help but think this is
related to the startx issue.


-- 
--------------------------------------------
MzK

"We can all sleep easy at night knowing that
 somewhere at any given time,
 the Foo Fighters are out there fighting Foo."
                          -- David Letterman

Kay Schenk wrote:
> On 06/10/2015 10:06 PM, Gordon Messmer wrote:
>> On 06/10/2015 05:25 PM, Kay Schenk wrote:
>>> I get /home/<username> not found when it's there and
>>> setup with correct permissions -- well here I am using it
>>> in run level 5 just fine!
>>
<SNIP>
>> The file "startx.trace" will have a list of all of the
>> commands run, and all of their output (including errors).
>>
>> /var/log/X* might be interesting as well.
>
> OK, this last bit sounds promising although this works as expected for
> root -- starts up gnome flawlessly. My previous setup imported settings
> to use a display manager, etc. So, I need to check on this.
>
> Right now, one of my main concerns is that my old /home
> partition/direction is supposedly associated WITH current users I setup
> and yet...NOT! The system does not recognize this association even
> though it asked me about setting it up when I created my first real user
> on installation. I had to go in and reset uids but that's no biggie and
> this process has worked fine before.  I can't help but think this is
> related to the startx issue.
I missed parts of this thread: are any of them mounted NFS? From root, su
- user, and then do ls -laF, and check the ownership and group,
*including* of ./ (the current directory).

I mention NFS because of issues we've been having here, but we're
connected to AD, and I need to fix /etc/idmapd.conf to have our domain.

         mark

On 06/11/2015 08:28 AM, m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:
> Kay Schenk wrote:
>> On 06/10/2015 10:06 PM, Gordon Messmer wrote:
>>> On 06/10/2015 05:25 PM, Kay Schenk wrote:
>>>> I get /home/<username> not found when it's there and
>>>> setup with correct permissions -- well here I am using it
>>>> in run level 5 just fine!
>>>
> <SNIP>
>>> The file "startx.trace" will have a list of all of the
>>> commands run, and all of their output (including errors).
>>>
>>> /var/log/X* might be interesting as well.
>>
>> OK, this last bit sounds promising although this works as expected for
>> root -- starts up gnome flawlessly. My previous setup imported settings
>> to use a display manager, etc. So, I need to check on this.
>>
>> Right now, one of my main concerns is that my old /home
>> partition/direction is supposedly associated WITH current users I setup
>> and yet...NOT! The system does not recognize this association even
>> though it asked me about setting it up when I created my first real
user
>> on installation. I had to go in and reset uids but that's no biggie
and
>> this process has worked fine before.  I can't help but think this
is
>> related to the startx issue.
> 
> I missed parts of this thread: are any of them mounted NFS? From root, su
> - user, and then do ls -laF, and check the ownership and group,
> *including* of ./ (the current directory).
> 
> I mention NFS because of issues we've been having here, but we're
> connected to AD, and I need to fix /etc/idmapd.conf to have our domain.
> 
>          mark
Thanks for everyone's help. It seems the not locating /home for users
was related to startx problem.

The /home partition in question had been an old one, ext3, and requested
not to format. All that was well. Partition mounted, etc. Unfortunately,
I had inadvertently installed selinux (OK, I saw that but didn't'
understand the consequences) and this was what was causing my odd
non-root user login behavior (couldn't locate /home) AND the startx
problems from init 3 level. After talking to an RH admin colleague, all
fine now. On to more fun items as I get up to speed on CentOS! :)


-- 
--------------------------------------------
MzK

"We can all sleep easy at night knowing that
 somewhere at any given time,
 the Foo Fighters are out there fighting Foo."
                          -- David Letterman