It is WORKING:
Getting permissions to actually "stick" for both the user AND group on the executable:

-rwsr-sr-x 1 abyss abyss 459808 Aug 15 16:04 abyssws

and making sure the "/etc/passwd" file had the right stuff for the "abyss" user:

abyss:x:1001:1001::/home/abyss:/bin/bash

has the application launching with the root user. I am not sure this is what I want.
I want the "abyss" user to run the server with "abyss" rights so I will mail support
another trace to be sure everything is working as designed.
I guess I should not rely on useradd on Debian to properly set the passwd file.
Persistence pays off.......
Update:
I installed Debian Sarge packages:

Package libg++2.8.1.3-glibc2.2

* stable (libs): The GNU C++ extension library - runtime version
      1:2.95.4-22: alpha arm i386 m68k mips mipsel powerpc s390 sparc

Package libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2

* stable (libs): The GNU stdc++ library
      1:2.95.4-22: alpha arm i386 m68k mips mipsel powerpc s390 spar

I set the "operating system user" in abyss.conf.
I am able to start the webserver as root I select the language and set
the console user and password - the server hangs.
So no real change was observed. The server runs fine as the user "abyss".
Any ideas??
[/b]
EDIT: I installed a previous version of X1 and it works for either user.
I tried installing X1 (v 2.3.2) as the "abyss" user and as root - setting
permissions and no change - I reviewed the forum and found the tools needed
to produce the reports below. My understanding is that the web server will allow
root to execute the application and then switch to the "operating system user"
to continue running.
EDIT2: here is a log fragment from today....
192.168.0.100 - - [14/Aug/2006:13:48:47 -0600] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200
1367 "" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.8.0.6)
Gecko/20060728 Firefox/1.5.0.6"
192.168.0.100 - - [14/Aug/2006:13:48:47 -0600] "GET /pwrabyss.gif
HTTP/1.1" 200 1895 "http://192.168.0.4:8000/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U;
Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.8.0.6) Gecko/20060728 Firefox/1.5.0.6"
192.168.0.100 - - [14/Aug/2006:13:48:47 -0600] "GET /favicon.ico
HTTP/1.1" 404 403 "" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US;
rv:1.8.0.6) Gecko/20060728 Firefox/1.5.0.6"
I am running Abyss Web Server X1 (v 2.3.2) under Debian.
This is a fresh install of "Sarge".
The server works when launched by user "abyss" but does not
work properly when launched as "root".
My NMAP, lsof, ls, ps. netstat, uname and abyss.conf are below.
I have been able to get both port 8000 and port 9999 to display but
the server hangs when "root" is running the webserver. The operating
system user has been set to "abyss".
My other server runs Abyss Web Server X1 (v 2.0.6) on CoLinux -
a Debian distribution - and is working just fine as user "abyss"
or "root".
Uname for colinux:
Linux colinux 2.6.10-co-0.6.2 #5 Sat Feb 5 10:19:16 IST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux
Do I need to upgrade Debian "Sarge"?
I would appreciate any help.
Thanks,
Dan


Starting nmap 3.81 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 2006-08-14 13:26 MDT
Interesting ports on gw (192.168.0.4):
(The 1658 ports scanned but not shown below are in state: closed)
PORT     STATE SERVICE
25/tcp   open  smtp
5901/tcp open  vnc-1
6001/tcp open  X11:1
8000/tcp open  http-alt
9999/tcp open  abyss

Nmap finished: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.252 seconds

netstat -a -n|grep tcp >> data.txt
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:8000            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN     
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:5901            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN     
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:9999            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN     
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:6001            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN     
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:25              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN     
tcp        0      0 192.168.0.4:5901        192.168.0.100:4493      ESTABLISHED

lsof -nP|grep TCP >> data.txt
exim4     1337 Debian-exim    4u     IPv4       1150               TCP *:25 (LISTEN)
Xrealvnc  1536        root    0u     IPv4       1405               TCP *:6001 (LISTEN)
Xrealvnc  1536        root    3u     IPv4       1408               TCP *:5901 (LISTEN)
Xrealvnc  1536        root    6u     IPv4      97560               TCP 

192.168.0.4:5901->192.168.0.100:4493 (ESTABLISHED)
abyssws   3626       abyss    9u     IPv4      87729               TCP *:9999 (LISTEN)
abyssws   3626       abyss   10u     IPv4      87730               TCP *:8000 (LISTEN)
abyssws   3627       abyss    9u     IPv4      87729               TCP *:9999 (LISTEN)
abyssws   3627       abyss   10u     IPv4      87730               TCP *:8000 (LISTEN)
abyssws   3628       abyss    9u     IPv4      87729               TCP *:9999 (LISTEN)
abyssws   3628       abyss   10u     IPv4      87730               TCP *:8000 (LISTEN)
abyssws   3629       abyss    9u     IPv4      87729               TCP *:9999 (LISTEN)
abyssws   3629       abyss   10u     IPv4      87730               TCP *:8000 (LISTEN)

uname -a >>data.txt
Linux gw 2.4.27-2-386 #1 Mon May 16 16:47:51 JST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux

ps -e|grep abyssws >> data.txt
 3579 pts/1    00:00:00 abyssws
 3626 pts/1    00:00:00 abyssws
 3627 pts/1    00:00:00 abyssws
 3628 pts/1    00:00:00 abyssws
 3629 pts/1    00:00:00 abyssws

ls abyssws -lart >> data.txt
-rw-r--r--   1 abyss abyss    8326 Aug  5 13:02 license.txt
drwxr-xr-x   2 abyss abyss    4096 Aug  5 13:02 lang
drwxr-xr-x   2 abyss abyss    4096 Aug  5 13:02 doc
drwxr-xr-x   2 abyss abyss    4096 Aug  5 13:02 console
-rwxr-xr-x   1 abyss abyss  459808 Aug  5 13:02 abyssws
-rw-r--r--   1 abyss abyss     582 Aug  5 13:02 Installation Instructions.html
drwxr-xr-x   2 abyss abyss    4096 Aug  5 13:02 log
drwxr-xr-x   7 abyss abyss    4096 Aug  5 13:02 .
-rw-------   1 abyss daemon  11045 Aug  5 13:14 abyss.conf
-rw-------   1 abyss abyss     739 Aug  5 13:14 persist.data
drwxr-xr-x   2 abyss abyss    4096 Aug  5 15:09 htdocs
drwxr-xr-x  57 root  root     4096 Aug 14 13:26 ..

gw: /etc/abyssws# su abyss
abyss@gw: /etc/abyssws$ ./abyssws

Abyss Web Server X1 (v 2.3.2)
Copyright (C) Aprelium Technologies - 2001-2006

-- Default host on port 8000 is up and running (Local URL http://127.0.0.1:8000)

Console local URL: http://127.0.0.1:9999

ABYSS.CONF
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
	<server>
		<parameters>
			<root>
				/etc/abyssws/
			</root>
			<timeout>
				30
			</timeout>
			<maxconn>
				20
			</maxconn>
			<keepalive>
				10
			</keepalive>
			<opsys>
				<pidfile>
					log/abyssws.pid
				</pidfile>
				<sysuser>
					abyss
				</sysuser>
			</opsys>
		</parameters>
		<host>
			<names/>
			<path>
				htdocs/
			</path>
			<running>
				yes
			</running>
			<id>
				1
			</id>
			<scripting>
				<enabled>
					yes
				</enabled>
				<cgi>
					<timeout>
						30
					</timeout>
					<useregistry>
						no
					</useregistry>
					<useshebang>
						yes
					</useshebang>
					<errorfile>
						log/cgi.log
					</errorfile>
				</cgi>
				<isapi>
					<ext>
						dll
					</ext>
					<errorfile>
						log/isapi.log
					</errorfile>
					<debuglevel>
						0
					</debuglevel>
				</isapi>
				<fastcgi>
					<errorfile>
						log/fastcgi.log
					</errorfile>
					<timeout>
						240
					</timeout>
					<debuglevel>
						1
					</debuglevel>
				</fastcgi>
			</scripting>
			<ssi>
				<extensions>
					<ext>
						shtml
					</ext>
					<ext>
						shtm
					</ext>
					<ext>
						stm
					</ext>
				</extensions>
				<enabled>
					yes
				</enabled>
				<errormessage/>
				<timeformat/>
				<abbreviatesize>
					yes
				</abbreviatesize>
				<execcmd>
					no
				</execcmd>
			</ssi>
			<log>
				<file>
					log/access.log
				</file>
				<extendedformat>
					yes
				</extendedformat>
				<denied/>
			</log>
			<indexes>
				<index>
					index.html
				</index>
				<index>
					index.htm
				</index>
			</indexes>
			<antileech>
				<paths/>
				<redirect/>
				<strict>
					no
				</strict>
				<allowed/>
			</antileech>
			<bindip>
				*
			</bindip>
			<dirlist>
				<type>
					1
				</type>
				<scope>
					<order>
						ad
					</order>
					<allow>
						<path>
							/
						</path>
					</allow>
				</scope>
				<hidden>
					<file>
						.*
					</file>
				</hidden>
			</dirlist>
			<port>
				8000
			</port>
		</host>
		<throttle>
			<maxspeed/>
			<maxspeedperip/>
		</throttle>
		<antihack>
			<enabled>
				no
			</enabled>
			<threshold>
				20
			</threshold>
			<monitorperiod>
				20
			</monitorperiod>
			<banperiod>
				60
			</banperiod>
			<logfile/>
			<denied>
				<ip>
					127.0.0.1
				</ip>
			</denied>
		</antihack>

</server>
	<version>
		2.3.2
	</version>
	<console>
		<port>
			9999
		</port>
		<bindip>
			*
		</bindip>
		<ipcontrol>
			<order>
				ad
			</order>
			<allow>
				192.168.0.1-192.168.255.254
			</allow>
			<allow>
				172.16.0.1-172.31.255.254
			</allow>
			<allow>
				10.0.0.1-10.255.255.254
			</allow>
		</ipcontrol>
		<language>
			en
		</language>
		<login>
			abyss
		</login>
		<password>
			a2634afd170438ae8276a18c311c5078
		</password>
	</console>
</root>

:?: :?: