Re: [gentoo-user] x11-misc/sddm-0.18.1-r6 exits inexplicably

[Michael]

On Sunday, 10 April 2022 10:26:09 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Sun, 10 Apr 2022 10:18:29 +0100, Michael wrote:
> > > The PC is a laptop, which is usually connected to ethernet.  Following
> > > Neil's prompt I just started it, without an ethernet cable connected,
> > > to check what Xorg log shows . . .  O_O
> > >
> > > Well, what do you know!  SDDM started properly, with mouse, GUI and
> > > all.  No pam_unix problem.  I am now even more confused than before.
> > > Why would the presence of an ethernet connection determine if SDDM
> > > starts and then exits, or not?  :-/
> >
> > This behaviour is repeatable.  Why would the presence of a network
> > connection on this PC affect SDDM?!
>
> When you don't have the cable, are you using wireless or no network? Have
> you tried waiting a few minutes to see if SDDM comes up? I wonder if this
> could be a DNS or IPv6 issue? Remember the old saying "The problem is
> always DNS. Even when it's not DNS, it is DNS".

Thank you Neil for prompting my brain to work in a different direction.  :-)

(As it happens I've experienced some DNSSEC issues on a router following a 
buggy firmware update, but this would be seriously O/T for this M/L.)

I have waited for minutes to see if SDDM will eventually kick in.  It seems 
the pam_unix intervention is terminal.  SDDM does not start once session c1 .

The laptop has an ethernet NIC on the MoBo, which is gimped at 100Mbps.  This 
is not used under normal circumstances.  Instead I use a USB 3.0 1Gbps 
ethernet adaptor.  Following your prompts I unplugged the USB ethernet 
adaptor, connected the ethernet cable to the NIC on the MoBo and rebooted.  No 
problem.  SDDM launches as it should.

So this could be udev related?  While udev isrobing the USB adaptor and 
starting the dhcp negotiation, somehow this sequence interferes with the SSDM 
starting up?