nfs client + gnome2: session manager unreachable?

[Alexis Huxley <ahuxley gmx net>]

Hi, I've got two machines on a home network. My home and password
entry are on a NIS/NFS server. The other is a laptop configured
as a NIS client to get my password entry by NIS and automount
my home (also specified in a NIS map). But I'm pretty sure that
this is nothing to do with NIS.

When I start a GNOME2 login on the server then no problem, 
everything works fine.

But when I try on the client I briefly get a dark blue screen, 
and then a black screen and that's it; no panels!

The mouse works (in that I have a pointer and it moves :-), and if
I do VT-switch and login on a text terminal, run
'DISPLAY=:0 gnome-panel &' and then I can flip back and everything 
is as it should be. Well, at least until I try to log out.

(Well, almost: the workspace switcher generates a OAFIID error and
refuses to start. And I got prompted to remove it from it from
the panel. All other applets (clock, cmdline, main menu) work
fine.

With the panel started in this way, I tried to log out, then
panel disappeared, no 'logout prompt' window appeared, and on
the VT where I had started gnome-panel from I got the following:

	Could not connect to the session manager
	Could not connect to the session manager
	subset is whole list!
	event->keyval: 100, event->state:4
	Not mathced

Here is what is in ~/.gnome/session:

	[Default]
	0,id=11c0a80107000101152167100000048910019
	0,RestartStyleHint=1
	0,Priority=20
	0,Program=sound-properties
	0,CurrentDirectory=/diska/home/alexis
	0,CloneCommand=sound-properties 
	0,RestartCommand=sound-properties --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000101152167100000048910019 --init-session-settings 
	0,Environment=GNOME_DESKTOP_ICON /usr/share/pixmaps/gnome-audio2.png 
	1,id=11c0a80107000101152090300000040710001
	1,RestartStyleHint=1
	1,Priority=20
	1,Program=xscreensaver-demo
	1,CurrentDirectory=/diska/home/alexis
	1,CloneCommand=xscreensaver-demo 
	1,RestartCommand=xscreensaver-demo --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000101152090300000040710001 --capplet --init-session-settings 
	2,id=11c0a80107000101152168400000048910020
	2,RestartStyleHint=1
	2,Priority=20
	2,Program=keyboard-properties
	2,CurrentDirectory=/diska/home/alexis
	2,CloneCommand=keyboard-properties 
	2,RestartCommand=keyboard-properties --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000101152168400000048910020 --init-session-settings 
	2,Environment=GNOME_DESKTOP_ICON /usr/share/pixmaps/gnome-cckeyboard.png 
	3,id=11c0a80107000101152168900000048910021
	3,RestartStyleHint=1
	3,Priority=20
	3,Program=mouse-properties-capplet
	3,CurrentDirectory=/diska/home/alexis
	3,CloneCommand=mouse-properties-capplet 
	3,RestartCommand=mouse-properties-capplet --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000101152168900000048910021 --init-session-settings 
	3,Environment=GNOME_DESKTOP_ICON /usr/share/pixmaps/gnome-mouse.png 
	4,id=11c0a80107000101152139300000048910004
	4,RestartStyleHint=1
	4,Priority=20
	4,Program=background-properties-capplet
	4,CurrentDirectory=/diska/home/alexis
	4,CloneCommand=background-properties-capplet 
	4,RestartCommand=background-properties-capplet --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000101152139300000048910004 --init-session-settings 
	5,id=11c0a8010a000101284610500000004790008
	5,RestartStyleHint=2
	5,Priority=40
	5,Program=panel
	5,CurrentDirectory=/diska/home/alexis
	5,CloneCommand=panel --sm-config-prefix /panel.d/default-6yNNTD/ 
	5,RestartCommand=panel --sm-config-prefix /panel.d/default-6yNNTD/ --sm-client-id 11c0a8010a000101284610500000004790008 
	6,id=11c0a80107000102926024100000006150000
	6,RestartStyleHint=2
	6,Priority=0
	6,Program=gnome-smproxy
	6,DiscardCommand=rm /home/alexis/.gnome//.gnome-smproxy-9HAw0F 
	6,CloneCommand=gnome-smproxy --sm-config-prefix /.gnome-smproxy-9HAw0F/ 
	6,RestartCommand=gnome-smproxy --sm-config-prefix /.gnome-smproxy-9HAw0F/ --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000102926024100000006150000 
	7,id=11c0a80107000101765903800000244050001
	7,RestartStyleHint=0
	7,Priority=30
	7,Program=sawfish
	7,CurrentDirectory=~/
	7,DiscardCommand=rm -f /home/alexis/.sawfish/sessions/akm6v1pzrn-11c0a80107000101765903800000244050001 
	7,CloneCommand=sawfish 
	7,RestartCommand=sawfish --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000101765903800000244050001 --sm-prefix akm6v1pzrn 
	num_clients=8

The process tree, for what it's worth, looks like this at the 
time of the problem:

	 PID TTY      STAT   TIME COMMAND
	 729 ?        S      0:00 /usr/bin/gdm
	 730 ?        S      0:00  \_ /usr/bin/gdm
	 731 ?        S<     0:01      \_ /usr/X11R6/bin/X :0 -deferglyphs 16 -nolisten tcp -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth vt7
	 736 ?        S      0:00      \_ /usr/bin/gnome-session --purge-delay=15000
	 765 ?        S      0:00          \_ /usr/bin/ssh-agent -- /usr/bin/gnome-session --purge-delay=15000
	 769 ?        S      0:00 /usr/bin/esd -nobeeps
	 771 ?        S      0:00 /usr/lib/bonobo-activation/bonobo-activation-server --ac-activate --ior-output-fd=21
	 773 ?        S      0:00 gnome-smproxy --sm-config-prefix /.gnome-smproxy-XCMdD4/ --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000102926024100000006150000
	 775 ?        S      0:00 gnome-settings-daemon --oaf-activate-iid=OAFIID:GNOME_SettingsDaemon --oaf-ior-fd=25
	 784 ?        S      0:00 xscreensaver -nosplash
	 794 ?        S      0:00 sawfish --sm-client-id 11c0a80107000101765903800000244050001 --sm-prefix alnomms2b2

The only file anywhere under ~/.gnome2 with a timestamp newer than the
login is a .gnome-smproxy-XCMdD4 file. In ~ there is .xsession-errors,
which contains:

	/etc/gdm/PreSession//Default: Registering your session with wtmp and utmp
	/etc/gdm/PreSession//Default: running: sessreg -a -w /var/log/wtmp -u /var/run/utmp -x "/var/lib/gdm/:0.Xservers" -h "" -l :0 alexis
	/etc/gdm/Sessions//Gnome: checking /etc/login.defs for option UMASK
	/etc/gdm/Sessions//Gnome: /etc/login.defs: "UMASK" is "022"
	/etc/gdm/Sessions//Gnome: checking /etc/login.defs for option ULIMIT
	/etc/gdm/Sessions//Gnome: checking /etc/login.defs for option MAIL_DIR
	/etc/gdm/Sessions//Gnome: /etc/login.defs: "MAIL_DIR" is "/var/mail"
	/etc/gdm/Sessions//Gnome: using /etc/X11/Xsession.options for options
	SESSION_MANAGER=local/leda:/tmp/.ICE-unix/736
	/usr/lib/galeon-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libxpcom.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
	
I presume the galeon error message is from me running 
'DISPLAY=:0 galeon &' from a text VT.

Previously, with GNOME1 I had a very similar problem, caused by
no ip4 entry in /etc/orbitrc, but I have the correct entries there
under GNOME2:

	ORBIIOPUSock=1
	ORBIIOPIPv4=1
	#ORBIIOPIPv6=1

I upgraded the server, and *it* was and still is fine, but now 
I've upgraded the client to the very same version of everything 
(Debian/testing), I've got problems, but, as I said, only on 
the client.

Has anyone any ideas what's up? I have no idea what else might be
pertinent information, so please let me know what else I should
post. Thanks!

Alexis