4.8 startx can't open /dev/io (or /dev/mem)

[peter.billam at pjb.com.au]

Greetings. I've just got FreeBSD 4.8 installed, and startx gives me:

  XFree86 Version 4.3.0
  ...
  (WW) checkDevMem: failed to open /dev/mem (Operation not permitted)
  ...
  Fatal Server Error: xf86EnableIO: failed to open /dev/io for extended I/O

I'm not actually even using extended I/O; in /etc/X11/XF86Config
there is an "Other input device sections" but it's all commented out.

The problem persists if I'm root, or if I
  chmod 666 /dev/io
or if I
  cd /dev ; rm io ; sh MAKEDEV io
so it's not permission-related.

So then I tried to get XFree86.0.log onto a floppy to transfer
it to my working machine, and was surprised to find that
  cd /var/log ; tar cvf /dev/fd0 XFree86.0.log
similarly gives
  tar: /dev/fd0; Cannot open: Operation not permitted
(even though the floppy was _not_ write-protected :-)
and yet _reading_ from the floppy (tar tvf /dev/fd0) works fine.

So maybe it's not an X thing, but a broad-scale mess-up of /dev ?
I tried repartioning and reinstalling, but that changed nothing :-(

Surely other 4.8ers must have met this ? Any help gratefully received ...

Regards,  Peter Billam

Peter Billam  www.pjb.com.au peter.billam at pjb.com.au  (03) 6278 9410
GPO Box 669, Hobart TAS 7001, Australia.  Original compositions made
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