Woody & Gnome 1.4

[Vittorio <vdemart@supereva.it>]

I've upgraded my desktop from potato to woody from scratch.

To put it in a nutshell now I have Bunk's kernel 2.4.13, Xfree86 4.1,
gnome 1.4 and gdm.

My problem is that while starting as ROOT I can obtain gnome, its
panel and gmc when I start as an ordinary user I only get a nice,
useless gray graphic surface with a blinking arrow for my mouse.

I have tried to put a "gnome-session" in .xinitrc and .xsession with
the only disconforting result to have the gnome 1.4 logo started then
again the mere gray graphic surface with nothing in it.

I'm somewhat confused because under potato building .xinitrc and
.xsession is enough to have a running gnome surface.

Please, help step by step.

Vittorio