>PPPS: Why should xconsole and xterm be setuid ? if /dev/console belongs to
>      user X, then user X should be able to redirect its content to xconsole
>      without going through root.

Depending on the system, xconsole might need to do some root-like stuff (I
don't think it does on NetBSD, though).  For xterm, it needs to be setuid
for a bunch of reasons, one of which is so it can chown your pty to your
userid, otherwise there are some kinda-nasty security holes available there.

--Ken