VNC not running Apps

[ecliptik]

I recently installed Debian AMD64 Sarge and everything worked great except for VNC. I first tried tightvncserver, but it segfaults (http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=276948). I did a little searching around and came across this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-82548.html , which a poster said they had used debs from another location and it worked.

After installing these debs vnc4server worked fine for a couple of days, then after running Diablo II with cedega in my vncsession I noticed I couldn't start any new apps. Killing/restarting the vncserver just produced a grey X screen and cursor. Looking at the logs in ~/.vnc/ didn't show anything unusual, but even after restarting the machine the same thing happened.

All that I can think of hasn't worked, using a different vncserver, building from source, using a different display number, different window manager, etc.

Here's what I've learned so far:

1. When running `vncserver :02` I get the follwing:

New 'jezebel:02 (micheal)' desktop is jezebel:02

Starting applications specified in /home/micheal/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/micheal/.vnc/jezebel:02.log

2. ~/.vnc/xstartup is:

#!/bin/sh

#[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xclock &
xterm &

3. ~/.vnc/log is:

Xvnc version 4.0 - built Oct 19 2005 20:33:37
Underlying X server release 40300001, The XFree86 Project, Inc

Fri Mar 17 09:35:11 2006
vncext: VNC extension running!
vncext: Listening for VNC connections on port 5902
vncext: created VNC server for screen 0
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/freefont/, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/sharefont/, removing from list!

4. Any apps (excpect window managers) won't show on the X screen, but they do appear as a process. So for instance when I run vncserver :02 I see the grey screen, but when I grep for 'xterm' or 'xclock' in ps they show up.

5. GDM displays when using '-query localhost', but this is unstable and restarting GDM loses the session.

6. I'm seeing nothing in /var/log, there's no information about anything crashing or even and indication that something is going wrong.

I'm going to try the rpm/alien solution here, http://lists.debian.org/debian-amd64.../msg00549.html , but it's something I'd rather avoid.

Should I report this bug to debian? Since AMD64 isn't really "official" and it's a known problem with tightvnc I don't think it is anything new.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Micheal

[ecliptik]

I'm an idiot, it was a problem with my /etc/hosts. The hostname of the machine must be related to 127.0.0.1 not a real IP address. It only did this after I tried diablo II because D2 needs the hostname to have a real IP.