Re: [RFR] templates://slim/{slim.templates}
MJ Ray wrote:
> Justin B Rye <jbr@edlug.org.uk> wrote:
>> This is in line with how the word "default" is used in contexts such
>> as "default options", "default installs", etc, though it's
>> definitely a bit of a jargonism - the word's connotations in (eg) a
>> financial setting are completely different.
>
> Understood, but that is "the default ..." (default as adjective), not
> "by default" (default as noun or verb?).
"By default" can occur with some implication of a "failover" - "then
Sam caught measles, leaving me the champion by default" - but in
computer-related contexts that's rare. See for instance
"http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/security/projects/sbd/";;
when they named a project "Secure By Default" I doubt they were
expecting anybody to interpret that as meaning "secure only as an
emergency fallback position if all else fails"!
>> If there were several clearly better options but none of them were
>> available/successful, the "last choice" isn't called a "default"
>> (although in a sense it's what the system is "defaulting" to), it's
>> called a "fallback".
>
> I think it used to be that I used update-rc.d on the *dm scripts to
> set the preferred choice, then if nothing worked, xterm was run by
> default - does that no longer happen?
It happens, but you're thinking on the wrong level. If you nobble
all the initscripts, or set default-display-manager to "none", or
just plain don't install any display managers, what you get is no
display manager - that's how I've got it set up on my single-user
machines: if I want X, I run startx.
When a user asks for a session either via startx or a display
manager, it tries to launch /etc/alternatives/x-session-manager,
then if that fails it tries /etc/alternatives/x-window-manager, then
if that fails it tries /etc/alternatives/x-terminal-emulator, then
it gives up with an error message. See:
/etc/X11/Xsession.d/50x11-common_determine-startup
--
JBR
Ankh kak! (Ancient Egyptian blessing)
Reply to: