[gutsy] Two instances of gdm running after boot

[Miguel Martinez]

Binary package hint: gdm

On an up-to-date gutsy, ps shows two different processes related to gdm right after boot. It can be reproduced easily:

-Reboot
-Log into gnome
-Fire a terminal and see the output of "ps aux | grep gdm".

I see the following:
$ ps aux | grep gdm
root 4925 0.0 0.3 13572 1772 ? Ss 11:12 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm
root 4937 0.0 0.5 14012 3056 ? S 11:12 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm
root 4963 2.5 7.1 48152 36940 tty7 SLs+ 11:12 2:01 /usr/bin/X :0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
root 5277 0.0 7.1 48152 36940 tty7 SL+ 11:12 0:00 /usr/bin/X :0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
miguel 8553 0.0 0.1 2992 764 pts/3 R+ 12:32 0:00 grep gdm

[Miguel Martinez (el-quark)]

I wanted to add that I have only one screen on my xorg.conf (I am attaching it too). My system is a Dell Inspiron 8600c laptop with no external monitors attached. My xserver-xorg-core is 2:1.3.0.0.dfsg-12ubuntu3 a version by Bryce Harrington with fixes backported from 1.3.99. This happens with both fglrx and the free ati driver.

Thanks for your attention.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug, gdm uses multi processus, why do you consider that as a bug?

[hexion (hexium)]

This is being discused here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=538560

I think that we just find it strange to have 2 instances of the gdm process. Not really know wheter it's a bug or not.
So is this normal?
Regards

[Miguel Martinez (el-quark)]

> gdm uses multi processus, why do you consider that as a bug?

Another user has explained me that /etc/init.d/gdm is written so that both a daemon and itself are up and running so the first two lines in top don't really surprise me (I admit I haven't looked at the boot script, though). In any case,having a single-processor single-core Pentium-M 735 I find it strange having two /usr/bin/X lines spawning at tty7 (please, tell me if I'm using wrong terminology), even more so since a Pentium4 HT (enabled) PC I have running Debian Testing only shows one /usr/bin/X.

Basically this is as hexion said, I just found it weird, and if this is not a bug but a feature that let's say benefits multi-core users, we're all OK with it.

[psyncho (psye)]

I actually do have a bug. If I do ps aux | gdm I get the following:

root 8320 39.9 2.2 26924 21484 tty7 Rs+ Sep02 914:48 /usr/bin/X :0 -br -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
root 8627 0.0 0.1 12220 1352 ? Ss 15:12 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm --config=/etc/gdm/gdm-cdd.conf
root 8628 0.0 0.1 12220 1492 ? S 15:12 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm --config=/etc/gdm/gdm-cdd.conf
root 8639 0.0 0.0 1636 396 ? Ss 15:12 0:00 /usr/lib/gdm/gdmopen -l /bin/sh -c /usr/bin/dialog --yesno 'There already appears to be an X server running on display :0. Should another display number by tried? Answering no will cause GDM to attempt starting the server on :0 again. (You can change consoles by pressing Ctrl-Alt plus a function key, such as Ctrl-Alt-F7 to go to console 7. X servers usually run on consoles 7 and higher.)' 16 70
root 8642 0.0 0.0 1636 288 tty9 Ss+ 15:12 0:00 /usr/lib/gdm/gdmopen -l /bin/sh -c /usr/bin/dialog --yesno 'There already appears to be an X server running on display :0. Should another display number by tried? Answering no will cause GDM to attempt starting the server on :0 again. (You can change consoles by pressing Ctrl-Alt plus a function key, such as Ctrl-Alt-F7 to go to console 7. X servers usually run on consoles 7 and higher.)' 16 70

...which appears to definitely be a problem. I'm assuming this is related, perhaps not. I'm running Xubuntu.

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

you can use the support tracker (http://launchpad.net/support) for such questions

[ming (mingchau-1)]

same strange behaviour.

I've just upgraded to 7.10 from 7.04

today, I saw another login window for 2 seconds while I was shutting down. so I wanted to see further

ming@blockhead:~$ ps aux | grep gdm
root 4983 0.0 0.1 13212 1656 ? Ss 14:42 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm --config=/etc/gdm/gdm-cdd.conf
root 5002 0.0 0.2 13636 2932 ? S 14:42 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm --config=/etc/gdm/gdm-cdd.conf
root 5037 2.5 1.4 20400 14804 tty7 Ss+ 14:42 0:01 /usr/bin/X :0 -br -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
ming 5532 0.0 0.0 2992 764 pts/0 R+ 14:43 0:00 grep gdm

[Krzysztof Janowski (n00bystance-gmail)]

Confirmed for me, when I shut down I see another gdm screen (which is different from my standard login screen) when I shut down.

[kailden (kailden)]

Confirmed here too, I'm an upgrader from Breezy -> Gutsy, I also on shutdown get a glimpse of another gdm screen, different from the standard login screen (blue with a daisy) when I shutdown.

[kailden (kailden)]

For what it is worth, when I upgraded from Gutsy -> Hardy, I no longer have the issue.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

closing the bug then, thanks.

[whereisian (whereisian)]

This bug is ongoing, reopening

[whereisian (whereisian)]

I believe this is a problem with the ATI proprietary driver. I was having the same issue. I disabled the ATI driver and now only one instance of gdm is spanwed.

This is with Ibex on an ATI x300 card - Dell Optiplex G280.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

why do you reopen the gdm task if that's a video driver issue? closing the bug

[Miguel Martinez (el-quark)]

I'm just commenting, but not reopening anything: on my new laptop (Thinkpad T400) and with a fresh install of Intrepid (x86_64), there are two gdm processes too, but only one X:

$ ps aux | grep gdm
root 5544 0.0 0.1 118496 2116 ? Ss 09:48 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm
root 5547 0.0 0.1 139516 3724 ? S 09:48 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm
root 5552 4.1 1.2 105720 25044 tty7 Ss+ 09:48 0:06 /usr/X11R6/bin/X :0 -br -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
miguel 6287 0.0 0.0 7472 976 pts/0 S+ 09:51 0:00 grep --color=auto gdm

This is after explicitly disabling the ATi card in the BIOS and running with an Intel card and the default xorg.conf.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

that's not a bug, gdm just happens to have several process running to be able to handle the session and the login screen