There was an error creating the child process for this terminal

[Uri]

Sometimes getting this error, either when starting gnome-termianl, or opening a
new tab.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

weird, no trace of such problem upstream. Do you have something in
~/.xsession-errors

[Uri (urisharf)]

Yep, actually there is. I guess this should help:

(gnome-terminal:16357): GnomeUI-WARNING **: While connecting to session manager:
Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified
are supported and host-based authentication failed.

[David Walker (dave-mudsite)]

Do you get this error every time in a session, or will you get that error randomly. I had a similar
problem where some things started as not my user, and I would get the auth issues to the Xserver.

Also, are you entering your GUI, by startx or gdm?

[Uri (urisharf)]

>> Do you get this error every time in a session, or will you get that error
randomly.

Seems random, thought once it starts It'll stay like this.

>> I had a similar problem where some things started as not my user, and I would
get the auth issues to the Xserver.
Sounds femiliar as I sometimes launch gnome-terminal as root ...

>> Also, are you entering your GUI, by startx or gdm?

I Logig via gdm

[David Walker (dave-mudsite)]

If you are trying to launch a program as another user X will fail it, even if it is root. However,
you can, as your user, enter at your users term:

xhost +localhost

which will allow X to display all windows that start from your computer. A GUI-program should fail
when you are root in a term, and you logged into GDM as not-root. However if you log-off root in the
term and $ sudo <program> it sould work.

[Uri (urisharf)]

Yes, I'm aware of this but:

1. the default behavior for gnome-terminal with root should not require me to do
so as a user IMHO
2. It happens with a normal user as well

This is not to say ***I*** run gnome-terminal as root, rather run it from the
gnome menu, which I think simply starts it with gksu ...?

Regards,
Uri

[Christian Meyer (chrisime-gnome-de)]

I got the same problem, but not randomly, it happens all the time. Even with xterm!
Strange enough, I never encountered this problem on any distribution yet

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

do you still have the problem ?

BTW probably not a gnome-terminal issue since the probably happens with xterm
too according to comment #7

[Galen Thurber (godfree2)]

under gnome this error happens to these menu entries:

login screen setup
root terminal
synaptic package manager

running as non-root user, ubuntu fresh install

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

happens not only with gnome-terminal, general issue, I reassign to unknow since
we don't have a "general issue" for such stuff

[Jamon Camisso (jamon)]

This has to do with kernel options and devfs. Recompile your kernel with options:

CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y
CONFIG_LEGACY_PTYS=y
CONFIG_LEGACY_PTY_COUNT=256

xterm uses pty when creating terminals (methinks, though I could be off on this).

I'm not as sure about devfs mount, but from what I gather (and recompiling to
resolve the issue) it is necessary.

CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=y
CONFIG_DEVFS_MOUNT=y

Whatever the case, there is no bug per se, just a difficult to spot few
(seemingly inconsequential) lines in the kernel config file.