Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.setup
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 19:42:20 GMT

> >> I am having problems playing any sound files as a normal user under
> >> redhat 8. I found that it is because that the /dev/dsp (and /dev/mixer)
> >> is mode 600 and is owned by root, so a normal user can't access it. What
> >> worse is that, I can play mp3 after I chmod them 666, but after reboot
> >> (or something?) their mode get changed back.
> >
> > Ah, I know what's causing it. FYI, it is X.
> >
> > This is a newly setup box and I log in as root, startx, then su to my
> > account to do normal works. Once I realized it, I logged in as me, then
> > startx, now the /dev/dsp and /dev/mixer are owned by me.
> >
> > Hope it will help for somebody in future.
>
> Almost...

Ha, good to know somebody else is also suffering. :-)

> My problem is that the permissions on /dev/dsp and /dev/mixer don't change
> when a second user logs in (I'm using gdm). So, when I log in, the
> /dev/dsp|mixer are owned by me, but when my wife logs in, they're *still*
> owned by me and she doesn't get sound.
> I've worked around the problem by changing perms on /dev/dsp and /dev/mixer
> to 666, but when I reboot (7 days and counting since last reboot, but
> that'll end sometime), I'll have the problem all over again.
> I'd really rather fix it, but nothing in /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf is jumping
> out at me as the culprit...

Once we know where to twist, it will be easy to fix. :-)

I assume that your runlevel is 5, which means that your Linux boot into Graphics login. You can write a one line script for your window manager to call in when it starts. I think both kde and gnome have this capability, but I don't use them, so I can't tell you how exactly to do it.

My runlevel is 3, so maybe inserting a chmod line in ~/.Xclients might help…

Tong