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<H4>By James T. Dennis,
<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">linux-questions-only@ssc.com</a><BR>
LinuxCare,
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>Another Solution, or a Different Problem</H3>
<p><strong>From Paul Leclerc on Mon, 11 Oct 1999
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
Another Solution, or a Different Problem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
First of thanks for your column. It's a great source of
help for me.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Your recent question and answer in LG about X respawing,
etc. may have another solution.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I was mucking around with my XF86Config file trying to
get 16bpp to work. I really wasn't sure what I was doing
and put various directives in different "sections" of the
file.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
One mistake that I made (and I don't remember what!!)
caused the same problem, i.e. X respawning. I went back to
the original file and everything was fixed.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Paul Leclerc
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Certainly having bad values in your XF86Config file
can cause failure to load X. In general anything that
prevents X Windows from loading cause a "respawning too
fast" error from 'init' when running 'xdm' (or it's
cousins, 'gdm', 'kdm' etc) from the <TT>/etc/inittab.</TT>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In fact, any program listed on a "respawn" line of
<TT>/etc/inittab</TT> will cause this error message if it
exits too quickly after loading (commonly the case
when the program fails).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The message is from a feature of the 'init' program
which attempts to prevent overwhelming the system with
respawning activity.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
So one must be sure that their 'getty' and other programs
are properly configured before adding them to the inittab
file. This can be a challenge with some programs (like
the various forms of 'getty' that prompt your for a
login name on your console and on any serial terminals or
modems that you configure as login devices for your system).
Some programs like 'getty' cannot normally be run from a
shell prompt -- they must be started through 'init'.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
One sort of program that is often difficult to run from
'init' is 'syslogd'. It is one of those programs that
normally peforms a "double<TT> fork()</TT> and exec" as it loads.
This is a programming technique for writing daemons
such that they run disconnected from their parent process.
The primary benefit is that it prevents "zombies." When the
daemon dies or exits later, its return value will be
automatically "reaped" (discarded) by 'init' (which
adopts orphan processes for this purpose).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Basically some process must go through the process table
periodically and read the exit values of "zombies."
(a "zombie" is a dead process whose status is retained in
the process table). This is normally the job of a
process' parent. However, if the parent exits/dies before
some of its children then 'init' takes on the job.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
However, if you have one of these "double<TT> fork()</TT>-ing"
daemons, and you try to run it directly from 'init'
under a "respawn" directive, you'll get the "respawning
too fast" error.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In the case of the Linux 'syslogd' (the system logging
daemon) we can add a -n option to "not<TT> fork()</TT>." This
would be done like so (<TT>/etc/inittab</TT> extract):
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<blockquote><pre>sl:2345:respawn:/sbin/syslogd -n -m 10
</pre></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Here I've give this line an "ID" of "sl" (SysLog). I've
marked it to run in levels 2 through 5 (1 is single-user
repair mode, 0 is halt, and 6 is reboot). I've also
set the "heartbeat" or "mark" interval to 10 minutes.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(The 'syslogd' "mark" option forces it to send a message
at some interval even if nothing has been logged, it's
used for automated monitoring in conjunction with remote
logging. Read the syslog and syslog.conf man pages for
details).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
BTW: I think the option you might have been looking
for in your XF86Config might have been:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BlockQuote>
"DefaultColorDepth"
</BlockQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
... which has to go into the
correct "Driver" section for your video card. The
fact that XFree86 support multiple video card and monitor
specifications inside of a single config file is an
endless source of complication and confusion.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
>Copyright ©</a> 1999, James T. Dennis
<BR>Published in <I>The Linux Gazette</I> Issue 48 December 1999</H5>
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