aud_io wrote:

> I left out too many details here, but the main point is that slax is
> a liveCD based on Slackware

I knew that...

> (Linux 2.6.16) which utilizes what could
> be thought of as "difference" modules, bundled similarly to a tar
> file, which are created from changes made to the unionFS (such as by
> installing Firebird)

...but didn't know about this.

>, and then merged onto the file system at boot
> time or an demand as desired. To rephrase - this isn't a standard
> hard drive install of Linux, and the problem is occuring after the
> unionFS merge of my firebird "module" for slax.

Let's see if I understood: You install Firebird and then grab all the
differences install did and put them into "module". Later you just merge
that module into living filesystem.

> After reboot, using my slax firebird "module"
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> I get no output if I run bin/fbmgr or bin/fbserver as root or as
> firebird, and firebird.log isn't updated either.

That's really strange. Could you track it with strace and see what
really happens?

strace bin/fbmgr

> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> After reinstalling however, all is well ...
> Starting Firebird server: server has been successfully started
>
> Please enter new password for SYSDBA user: sysdba
>
> GSEC> GSEC>
> Running ex to modify /etc/init.d/firebird
> Install completed

My guess is that problem happens somewhere around this, but I can't
pin-point it. Obviosly some of the changes made by Firebird installation
script are not mirrored to your "module".

One question, after you reboot, does gsec work by any chance? Something
like:

bin/gsec -database security.fdb

Also, another thing. In initial message, you wrote:

"The socket under /var/run is present and looks to have the correct
permissions."

Perhaps this is used as a flag that fbserver is running so it won't
start another instance. Could you try to remove it and see if that helps.

--
Milan Babuskov
http://swoes.blogspot.com/
http://www.flamerobin.org