FreeBSD 4.7

[Tom Huppi]

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005, agent0013 wrote:

> Hello, i'm a very very newbie in FreeBSD, so i tried to install
> it and start the X windows system, but when I type "startx" the
> screen stays black, how can i do to laucnh it correctely ?
> thanks for you answer.

When I used to use distributions of that vintage, I sometimes had
troubles like this.  It often made a difference whether I was user
'root' or not.  I did not wish to run X as root.  I'm sorry to not
be able to remember all of the details of my trails, but what does
stick in my mind is the need to install the port 'wrapper'.  In at
least one case, this made all of my problems vanish.

---
thuppi at skink /usr/ports/x11/wrapper> cat pkg-descr

This program runs an X server after sanity-checking the
environment and any options passed to it.  It is meant to enhance
security on multi-user systems running XFree86 4, where the
ability to use a startx script is needed.  If you have XFree86 3,
do not install this:  you do not need it and it will not work.
If you have no untrusted users or always run the X server from
xdm, you do not need this.
----

Note that the above is from a modern distribution.  The text you
have when you do the same command may be different.

I found Google 'groups' to be very helpful in tracking down leads
to solutions, and in your case this might especially helpful
because you can find posts which are dated around the time-frame
of your distribution (4.7)

Thanks,

 - Tom