name service @ goad.c error messages when loading gnome-session

[Jon Harris <jbharris magma ca>]

I just installed gnome, and put the line 'exec gnome-session' in my
~/.xsession file but when I start X, gnome doesn't load properly.... the
panel does not appear and also if I try to run gmc (midnight commander)
the commander flickers open and closes again!?!?

I have the following in my .xsession-errors file:

Gdk-Message: Got event for unknown window: 0

Gdk-Message: Got event for unknown window: 0

xscreensaver-command: no screensaver is running on display :0.0
xscreensaver: warning: /etc/pam.d/xscreensaver does not exist.
xscreensaver: password authentication via PAM is unlikely to work.
xscreensaver disabling server builtin screensaver.
xscreensaver: you can re-enable it with "xset s on".
/usr/bin/X11/WindowMaker-gnome warning: using default menu file
"/etc/X11/WindowMaker/menu" as the menu referenced in WMRootMenu could
not be found
subshell.c: couldn't get terminal settings: Inappropriate ioctl for
device

** WARNING **: Could not get name service!

** ERROR **: file goad.c: line 606 (real_goad_server_activate):
assertion failed: (name_service != CORBA_OBJECT_NIL)
aborting...

I tried doing an strace on gnome-session.... I couldn't see anything
obviously wrong in there, but for some reason when I run strace, my
panel gets loaded, and gmc opens!!!???

I also checked to see if the name service is actually running using ps
auxwww |grep name
which returns:

jon        331  0.0  1.0  2672 1284 ?        S    13:10   0:00
gnome-name-service

(my regular user name on my system is jon)

Can anyone PLEASE help me out with these problems? I've tried
everything, I even nuked my linux partition and re-installed and the
same problems occurred!

I'm running Debian potato with Kernel 2.2.10

Thanks,
    Jon Harris
    jbharris@magma.ca