CDE no longer reading paths

[Shannon Petry]

I support an engineering facility with 12 identical machines, same ignite load, identical user login files for all users.

Last month, I had 1 workstation where only 1 user was not able to launch applications, even though the path was defined. I created a sys.resources with *loginShell: true to force CDE to read the users login files, but up until then this user had no problems. (removing the $HOME.dt directory did not change the problem).

Now I have a second workstation, and 2nd user with the same problem. Again, I can force a fix by the the sys.resources file, and have done so.

What I cant figure out though, is what the real problem may be. Why were these systems fine and now no longer working like they were? Any why only 2 machines and 2 users out of 12?

Hers is what I did to try to resolve error.
First,
rm /var/dt/*
rm -rf /tmp/* /var/tmp/*
reboot
Then,
mv $HOME/.dt $HOME/.dt_maybe_it_will_work
mv $HOME/.dtprofile $HOME/.notadtprofile

have user log in to new session. problem still there.

Then, I changed the $HOME/.dtprofile to have a valid DTSOURCEPROFILE=true

Lastly, created the /etc/dt/config/C/sys.resources with the *loginShell: true

Just does not make sense, and would like to know if the other systems will soon domino into this.

Any ideas would be helpfull and appreciated.

Regards,
Shannon

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

Hi Shannon

Sounds like time for a full security check.


Paula

[Shannon Petry]

Site is secure. No firewall access, no routes to the internet. Unix systems have a proxy server to the internet, which is secure. (I run that too).

Proxy sits behind a firewall and allows outbound connections for http, https, and ftp. inbound connections are allowed for ssh and ftp. ftp is running proftp in high security mode.

All unix hosts except for the proxy server have a gateway of their local address (class C). Even if the firewall was hacked, only the proxy could be affected. (Has 2nd NIC for the firewall).

Regards,
Shannon

[Shannon Petry]

Darn it, points are not registering in Netscape 6 ;/ reply again Paula and I'll try again to give you points. I selected 5 4 times, and it still comes up with 0, and I cant edit points awarded. ;(

Shannon

[Steven E. Protter]

Your security problem could be an internal user. Or a newbie admin(not you!) Most security breaches originate with bad people inside the companies internal network.

It could also be Netscape 6 run as root trashing important files.

Netscape 6 is hardly worth the trouble, perhaps 7 for HP-UX for 4.79 which I know is available.

[Shannon Petry]

Not a security problem. Cant be any more simple than the previous reply on that one.



This is a CDE problem, and a very quirky and annoying one too.

[David Bell_1]

Shannon,

It's a long shot but take a look at this patch:

PHSS_27873

Specifically, number 10.

HTH,

Dave

[David Bell_1]

Shannon,

Prior post for 11.11, if running 11.00 try:

PHSS_26490

Line number 8.

Superceded by PHSS_27869

HTH,

Dave

[Alex Glennie]

Qu : "launch applications" from the command line of from CDE action or front panel ?

Are we talking CAD applications at all and possibly spaceball s/w or similar ? (a guess)

the two users affected .... both the same user on 2 different systems or 2 different users & 2 diff systems :

Is there a way to reproduce this outside of X ? How about a failsafe session .... same results too ?

the users ... NFS mounted home directories, NIS involved , shell ?

as to the workaround ... does a $HOME/.Xdefaults with the *loginShell resource also work per user ?

[Shannon Petry]

Applications will not launch either by front panel or by command line. The fix has been to source /etc/csh.login then $HOME/.cshrc. No errors seen in /var/dt/Xerrors, $HOME/.dt/*error*


Yes, the applications are CAD/CAE, mostly for Meshing and FEA pre and post processing. Spaceball has no problems.

2 users affected are on different machines. Other users can log into the same machines and get no similar problems.

I did not try to launch in failsafe, but will tomorrow.

Same for the .Xdefaults in home.

In my opinion, it looks like there is a bad cache or something, but not in $HOME/.dt as removing it did no good.

FOr points, I seem to be having problems with NS6. I'll try to jump on a different browser and see if I can assign points later.

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

Shannon

Back to basics.

Two users with problems on different machines from the same ignite - were these users already in place on the ignite, or have they been created afterwards?

Have you tried creating a new user with the same profile and does that user work.

Have you tried deleting and recreating these users?

Is there any differance in an "env" from a good user to a bad one.


Just a few ideas

Paula

[Shannon Petry]

Strangely, this site is very homogenious. I have a template that I create user environments from because they run so many apps requiring lots of goodies. (The joys of FEA).

The same users have been on site for a year. No patching has been done since August (well before these problems popped up). So no changes to users, no changes to machines, no patches or applications added.

Same users with problems can go to a different seat and work with no problems.
Other users can go to systems where the users have problems and work just fine.

I removed $HOME/.dt, $HOME/.dtprofile, and extracted my known good copies of $HOME/.profile, $HOME/.login, $HOME/.exrc, and $HOME/.cshrc

Is there any other .file that could be causing the problems in the homes? I remember that Solaris used to have resource files for each host. for Openwindows. I dont "see" anything like this for CDE, but that does not mean it does not exist.