Bug#681195: gdm3 displays "Oh No! Something has gone wrong" screen on Alpha

[Michael Cree]

Package: gdm3
Version: 3.4.1-2
Severity: normal
User: debian-alpha at lists.debian.org
Usertags: alpha

Dear Maintainer,

   * What led up to the situation?

Upgraded gdm3 on my now very old fashioned, but rather much loved, Alpha.
/etc/init.d/kdm stop
Edit /etc/X11/default-display-manager to be:
/usr/bin/gdm3
/etc/init.d/gdm3 start

   * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
     ineffective)?

Huh?

   * What was the outcome of this action?

Gdm3 displays a screen with a very sad computer icon and the message:
"Oh no! Something has gone wrong..." and to call your administrator who
happens to be me.  So I called myself, but didn't really get a 
satisfactory response as there was nothing in the system logs that
might give a hint as to what the problem really is, and all the
administrator could suggest was to file this bug report.

   * What outcome did you expect instead?

Gdm3 to display the login prompt to enable login.  What on earth else
would one expect?  A prancing garden gnome to leap out of the screen?

-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unreleased
  APT policy: (500, 'unreleased'), (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: alpha

Kernel: Linux 3.4.2-dp264-ap1+
Locale: LANG=en_NZ.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_NZ.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages gdm3 depends on:
ii  accountsservice                             0.6.21-5
ii  adduser                                     3.113+nmu3
ii  dconf-gsettings-backend                     0.12.1-2
ii  dconf-tools                                 0.12.1-2
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]                       1.5.45
ii  dpkg                                        1.16.7
ii  gir1.2-freedesktop                          1.32.1-1
ii  gir1.2-glib-2.0                             1.32.1-1
ii  gnome-session [x-session-manager]           3.4.2.1-1
ii  gnome-session-bin                           3.4.2.1-1
ii  gnome-session-fallback [x-session-manager]  3.4.2.1-1
ii  gnome-settings-daemon                       3.4.2-3
ii  gnome-terminal [x-terminal-emulator]        3.4.1.1-1
ii  gsettings-desktop-schemas                   3.4.2-1
ii  kde-window-manager [x-window-manager]       4:4.8.4-3
ii  konsole [x-terminal-emulator]               4:4.8.4-1
ii  libaccountsservice0                         0.6.21-5
ii  libatk1.0-0                                 2.4.0-2
ii  libattr1                                    1:2.4.46-8
ii  libaudit0                                   1.7.13-1+b2
ii  libc6.1                                     2.13-33
ii  libcairo-gobject2                           1.12.2-2
ii  libcairo2                                   1.12.2-2
ii  libcanberra-gtk3-0                          0.28-4
ii  libcanberra0                                0.28-4
ii  libdbus-1-3                                 1.6.2-2
ii  libdbus-glib-1-2                            0.100-1
ii  libfontconfig1                              2.9.0-6
ii  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0                          2.26.1-1
ii  libglib2.0-0                                2.32.3-1
ii  libglib2.0-bin                              2.32.3-1
ii  libgtk-3-0                                  3.4.2-2
ii  libpam-modules                              1.1.3-7.1
ii  libpam-runtime                              1.1.3-7.1
ii  libpam0g                                    1.1.3-7.1
ii  libpango1.0-0                               1.30.0-1
ii  librsvg2-common                             2.36.1-1
ii  libselinux1                                 2.1.9-5
ii  libupower-glib1                             0.9.17-1
ii  libwrap0                                    7.6.q-23
ii  libx11-6                                    2:1.5.0-1
ii  libxau6                                     1:1.0.7-1
ii  libxdmcp6                                   1:1.1.1-1
ii  libxklavier16                               5.2.1-1
ii  libxrandr2                                  2:1.3.2-2
ii  lsb-base                                    4.1+Debian7
ii  metacity [x-window-manager]                 1:2.34.3-2
ii  policykit-1-gnome                           0.105-2
ii  upower                                      0.9.17-1
ii  x11-common                                  1:7.7+1
ii  x11-xserver-utils                           7.7~3
ii  xfce4-session [x-session-manager]           4.8.3-2
ii  xfwm4 [x-window-manager]                    4.8.3-1
ii  xterm [x-terminal-emulator]                 278-1

Versions of packages gdm3 recommends:
ii  desktop-base             7.0.0
ii  gnome-icon-theme         3.4.0-2
ii  libatk-adaptor [at-spi]  2.5.3-1
ii  x11-xkb-utils            7.7~1
ii  xserver-xephyr           2:1.12.1.902-1
ii  xserver-xorg             1:7.7+1
ii  zenity                   3.4.0-2

Versions of packages gdm3 suggests:
pn  gnome-mag             <none>
pn  gnome-orca            <none>
ii  gnome-shell           3.4.1-8
pn  gok                   <none>
ii  libpam-gnome-keyring  3.4.1-4

-- debconf information:
* shared/default-x-display-manager: kdm
  gdm3/daemon_name: /usr/sbin/gdm3