Earlier I had come up with a problem.... While trying to start X (RH6.0, GNOME) as non-priviledged user, I get a warning in a window which says, "Could not look up internet address for localhost.localdomain. This will prevent GNOME from operating correctly. It may be possible to correct the problem by adding localhost.localdomain to the file /etc/hosts." Try Again || Continue Continue=> proceeds to load GNOME .. apparently OK Try Again => no avail. In the console (stdout/err) I get a message saying "**WARNING**:Host name lookup failure on localhost" My /etc/hosts reads.. just 1 line <snip-> 127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain <--snip> I do not have any problems starting X / running networked apps as root. I do not have problems using loopbck as user, too. $hostname localhost.localdomain Regards Shourya ======================================================================== The solution : Some goddamned nitwit , most probably the only person who has access to my box changed the perms of /etc/host to rw-------, for some obscure reason. The perm has been changed appropriately and GNOME no longer groans. Moral of the story : All assumptions are incorrect. this is particularly true of obvious assumptions. Happy Dewali.. Turn on the fireworks screensaver.. Save the environment ;) Shourya _______________________________________________________ Shourya Sarcar Student Department of Computer Science and Engineering Jadavpur University Calcutta, India 700 032 Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel : 91-033-471 0477 Address : 364/3 Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Road Calcutta , India 700 047 _______________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Linux India Mailing List Archives are now available. Please search the archive at http://lists.linux-india.org/ before posting your question to avoid repetition and save bandwidth.