I connect to a RHEL 5.7 server via Putty or VNC (not sure it matters) but when I try to run screen, it takes forever (on order of 20-30 secs).  Same thing if I run screen -ls, takes just as long.I don't know if it has to do with where screen is configured?  But when I go to $HOME, there was no .screenrc file.  (So where is it? I read I can define my own location, so maybe this is a minor point...)screen -v gives Screen version 4.00.03 (FAU) 23-Oct-06Does anyone have ideas on what the issue could be or is it just the way it is?Update 2I've tried setting environment variables $SCREENDIR and $SCREENRC to ~/.screenrc and to a location on the server /home/myusername  = no changeI've tried a blank .screenrc file = no changeI've tried adding defnonblock on to .screenrc = no changeAlso tried running strace with the additional -f option, but didn't notice any new info?strace file #2, snippet 1, first occurrence of that funny number 429496729511:24:23 connect(4, {sa_family=AF_FILE, path=/dev/log...}, 110) = 011:24:23 sendto(4, <14>Jun 25 11:24:23 screen: nss_..., 129, MSG_NOSIGNAL, NULL, 0) = 12911:24:23 write(3, \27\3\1\0\33\331\331\30\274MD\374s\375ia\341!\200\16\4&\205\177\320\274\213\224gz\376l, 32) = 3211:24:23 write(3, \25\3\1\0\26\304\345w\317\273\257\256\322\314.\20T\372;'EQ\222\10z\375\234, 27) = 2711:24:23 shutdown(3, 2 /* send and receive */) = 011:24:23 close(3)                       = 011:24:23 read(4294967295, 0xe5d3350, 5) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)11:24:23 shutdown(4294967295, 2 /* send and receive */) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)11:24:23 close(4294967295)              = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)11:24:23 stat(/etc/ldap.conf, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=10681, ...}) = 011:24:23 geteuid()                      = 28762111:24:23 open(/etc/hosts, O_RDONLY)   = 3New theory : In-between those nanosleep calls, I see it's doing something with a unix auth server.  What is it doing or why... I don't know.  But then this line appearssendto(4, <14>Jun 25 11:24:28 screen: nss_..., 129, MSG_NOSIGNAL, NULL, 0) = 129and I can't read the entire error message?? Then, the Bad file descriptor lines showup, and bam, going to sleep again.  Could understanding what it's doing with the unix auth server be key to understanding these delays?strace file #2, snippet 2, zooming in on what happens before the sleeps occur.  Changed the company name and IP addresses to dummy values.11:24:28 recvfrom(3, \266!\201\200\0\1\0\2\0\0\0\0\10unixauth\2cs\6company\3..., 1024, 0, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(53), sin_addr=inet_addr(987.654.321.09)}, [16]) = 8611:24:28 close(3)                       = 011:24:28 socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 311:24:28 fcntl(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC)  = 011:24:28 setsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_KEEPALIVE, [1], 4) = 011:24:28 setsockopt(3, SOL_TCP, TCP_NODELAY, [1], 4) = 011:24:28 fcntl(3, F_GETFL)              = 0x2 (flags O_RDWR)11:24:28 fcntl(3, F_SETFL, O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) = 011:24:28 connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(636), sin_addr=inet_addr(123.456.789.01)}, 16) = -1 EINPROGRESS (Operation now in progress)11:24:28 poll([{fd=3, events=POLLOUT|POLLERR|POLLHUP}], 1, 90000) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])11:24:28 getpeername(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(636), sin_addr=inet_addr(123.456.789.01)}, [4294967312]) = 011:24:28 fcntl(3, F_GETFL)              = 0x802 (flags O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK)11:24:28 fcntl(3, F_SETFL, O_RDWR)      = 011:24:28 write(3, \200w\1\3\1\0N\0\0\0 \0\0009\0\0008\0\0005\0\0\26\0\0\23\0\0\n\7\0\300..., 121) = 12111:24:28 read(3, \26\3\1\0Q\2\0, 7)   = 711:24:28 read(3, \0M\3\1^\270\3\2\277\353\23\377\211\336\255Q\213\342\272\236@\242\252\5\357T\254\207\326\377Jl..., 79) = 7911:24:28 read(3, \26\3\1\16\356, 5)   = 511:24:28 read(3, \v\0\16\352\0\16\347\0\4\2520\202\4\2460\202\3\216\240\3\2\1\2\2\3\v\334/0\r\6\t..., 3822) = 382211:24:28 read(3, \26\3\1\0\4, 5)      = 511:24:28 read(3, \16\0\0\0, 4)        = 411:24:28 write(3, \26\3\1\0\206\20\0\0\202\0\200+\34JE5\2234\204I\233g@&m\4\232\317\335\323\373\366..., 186) = 18611:24:28 read(3, \24\3\1\0\1, 5)      = 511:24:28 read(3, \1, 1)               = 111:24:28 read(3, \26\3\1\0$, 5)       = 511:24:28 read(3, j\213\362\240R\244\35\257\243/\311\307\360\206\362\314\3\227\353\351\243\242=\222k\0y\367\20\\[\245..., 36) = 3611:24:28 write(3, \27\3\1\0\214\216\374\314\342\264p\205j?\311\356#d\200\25]1\256\371\341\215\325\275jj\26\273..., 145) = 14511:24:28 poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI|POLLERR|POLLHUP}], 1, 90000) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])11:24:28 read(3, \27\3\1\0\255, 5)    = 511:24:28 read(3, s\315\357J\363\342\37\10\r\251\333v\302\357\207\3429\3633\345\5\17j\35*K\216\300\225,\r\265..., 173) = 17311:24:28 sendto(4, <14>Jun 25 11:24:28 screen: nss_..., 129, MSG_NOSIGNAL, NULL, 0) = 12911:24:28 write(3, \27\3\1\0\33H\6eq\267(\356\35\366i\364H\372m\17O\7\307d;&\37\345f\212\320H, 32) = 3211:24:28 write(3, \25\3\1\0\26\245\267\236\270a\356\227\233\243e\0[3\372\226\33\342f\306\257[ , 27) = 2711:24:28 shutdown(3, 2 /* send and receive */) = 011:24:28 close(3)                       = 011:24:28 read(4294967295, 0xe5d3350, 5) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)11:24:28 shutdown(4294967295, 2 /* send and receive */) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)11:24:28 close(4294967295)              = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)11:24:28 sendto(4, <14>Jun 25 11:24:28 screen: nss_..., 89, MSG_NOSIGNAL, NULL, 0) = 8911:24:28 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 011:24:28 rt_sigaction(SIGCHLD, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 011:24:28 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 011:24:28 nanosleep({8, 0}, {8, 0})      = 0Update 1Here's the strace interesting bits... I see it's doing nanosleep repeatedly (each doubling the sleep time) but why?09:10:05 read(4294967295, 0xca3b350, 5) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)09:10:05 shutdown(4294967295, 2 /* send and receive */) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)09:10:05 close(4294967295)              = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)09:10:05 sendto(4, <14>Jun 25 09:10:05 screen: nss_..., 89, MSG_NOSIGNAL, NULL, 0) = 8909:10:05 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 009:10:05 rt_sigaction(SIGCHLD, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 009:10:05 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 009:10:05 nanosleep({4, 0}, {4, 0})      = 009:10:12 stat(/etc/ldap.conf, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=10681, ...}) = 009:10:12 geteuid()                      = 28762109:10:12 open(/etc/hosts, O_RDONLY)   = 309:10:12 fcntl(3, F_GETFD)              = 0...09:10:20 read(4294967295, 0xca3b350, 5) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)09:10:20 shutdown(4294967295, 2 /* send and receive */) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)09:10:20 close(4294967295)              = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)09:10:20 sendto(4, <14>Jun 25 09:10:20 screen: nss_..., 90, MSG_NOSIGNAL, NULL, 0) = 9009:10:20 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 009:10:20 rt_sigaction(SIGCHLD, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 009:10:20 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 009:10:20 nanosleep({16, 0}, {16, 0})    = 009:10:36 stat(/etc/ldap.conf, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=10681, ...}) = 009:10:36 geteuid()                      = 28762109:10:36 open(/etc/hosts, O_RDONLY)   = 309:10:36 fcntl(3, F_GETFD)              = 0...09:10:36 write(3, \27\3\1\0\33P\314s\21L-y\316\324\0\345!hd\212\351Q\33\345\335K\3\22\260r\312\332, 32) = 32 09:10:36 write(3, \25\3\1\0\26V\20\224{t2\364\250k\241\363\363\337V\370\236m\261I\240xw, 27) = 27 09:10:36 shutdown(3, 2 /* send and receive */) = 0 09:10:36 close(3)                       = 0 09:10:36 read(4294967295, 0xca3b350, 5) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor) 09:10:36 shutdown(4294967295, 2 /* send and receive */) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor) 09:10:36 close(4294967295)              = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor) 09:10:36 sendto(4, <14>Jun 25 09:10:36 screen: nss_..., 90, MSG_NOSIGNAL, NULL, 0) = 90 09:10:36 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 0 09:10:36 rt_sigaction(SIGCHLD, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 0 09:10:36 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 0 09:10:36 nanosleep({32, 0}, {32, 0})    = 0 09:11:08 stat(/etc/ldap.conf, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=10681, ...}) = 0 09:11:08 geteuid()                      = 287621 09:11:08 open(/etc/hosts, O_RDONLY)   = 3 09:11:08 fcntl(3, F_GETFD)              = 0 09:11:08 fcntl(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC)  = 0 ...09:11:08 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 0 09:11:08 rt_sigaction(SIGCHLD, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 0 09:11:08 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 0 09:11:08 nanosleep({64, 0}, {64, 0})    = 0 09:12:12 stat(/etc/ldap.conf, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=10681, ...}) = 0 09:12:12 geteuid()                      = 287621 09:12:12 open(/etc/hosts, O_RDONLY)   = 3 09:12:12 fcntl(3, F_GETFD)              = 0 
GNU screen startup is really slow
linux;rhel;gnu screen