On Fri, 23 Aug 1996, Mr BOFH wrote:

> xconsole does not totally prevent the x display from being messed up. in
> particular, it does not prevent it in the case of a failed login. i
> edited /etc/syslog.conf and set it to redirect the errors into a log file
> but it still splatters them all over the x display.
> any ideas?
>

In your .xsession file or your .xinitrc file, startup xconsole in the
background.  I usually start it up iconized.  So that you don't begin to
have a huge log file, you can also direct your messages to console.  
It works well for me.  

-Jon