On Thu, Dec 20, 2001 at 09:03:30PM -0500, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
> In message <20011220205547.A164@solo.scraemondaemon.org>, "Ian P. Thomas Ipt" w
> rites:
> >On Thu, Dec 20, 2001 at 08:51:03PM -0500, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
> >> In message <20011220195310.A305@solo.scraemondaemon.org>, "Ian P. Thomas Ipt
> >" w
> >> rites:
> >> 
> >> >	Mine also have the same permissions.  I was able to get an error
> >> >message from trying to execute xterm: 
> >> >
> >> >xterm:no available ptys: no such file or directory
> >> >
> >> >	I know this isn't true.  I have ptys listed in /etc/ttys and in /dev.
> >> >Do I need to add anything to /etc/ttys?  Here is what my ptys look like in
> >> >there:
> >> >
> >> >ttyp0 	none	network
> >> >
> >> >	The rest under it are identical.  The tty that X comes up on is listed
> >> >as follows:
> >> 
> >> I don't think that the ttys entry matters.  But the error message from 
> >> xterm is misleading to the point of uselessness.  xterm (probably) 
> >> calls openpty, or does the same thing manually.  The "same thing" is 
> >> "loop through all possible pty masters until an open succeeds".  If an 
> >> open attempt fails, it checks to see if the cause is ENOENT, which 
> >> would indicate that the machine is all out of configured ptys.  The 
> >> real question is why it can't open any.
> >> 
> >> You could -- from a console prompt -- try something like
> >> 
> >> 	sleep 5 </dev/ptyp0
> >
> >/dev/ptyp0: Device not configured
> >
> >	That can't be good.  The strange thing is, I was able to get xterms to
> >come when I was using Version 3.3.6.  I just noticed that I have ptys
> >commented out in my kernel config.  I'm going to recompile it and see if
> >that solves everything.  I must have recompiled the kernel after switching
> >to Version 4.1.0.
> 
> Sure sounds like it -- and that is quite sufficient to explain 
> everything you're seeing.
> 
> 		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb
> 		Full text of "Firewalls" book now at http://www.wilyhacker.com

	That was it.  Thanks alot.  Now I know not to comment out things in the 
kernel config that I don't understand.  If I can get pppd to work correctly 
non-root and get my alt keys on my keyboard working, I'll be all set for the 
upcoming semester.
	Again, thanks for the help.

Ian
-- 
Of Course It Runs NetBSD 
www.netbsd.org

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