RE: xdm init level question

[Lehel Bernadt <blehel@kabelkon.ro>]

On 17-Aug-2000 Paul D. Smith wrote:
> I'm sure this has been discussed before (I have an uneasy feeling it may
> be a "oh no, not this again" question); maybe someone can put the
> rationale into a file in /usr/share/doc/ somewhere?  I tried searching
> the list archives (user, x, boot, etc.) with various keywords (init,
> xdm, level, etc.) but came up empty.
> 
> Why is xdm started at runlevel 2 in Debian?  In all the systems I'm
> familiar with, both Linux and proprietary, xdm was always started at a
> runlevel after 3 (typically 5).  This way you could boot the box into a
> non-graphical login merely by specifying a different runlevel.
> 
> Is there some new standard that specifies a graphical login at runlevel
> 2 now?  Why this difference in behavior?  If there's some documentation
> somewhere that describes this I'm happy to go look there.
> 
> Also, in this environment what is the correct way to boot into a console
> login and avoid starting XDM?  I find it hard to believe the "correct"
> way is to edit /etc/init.d/xdm and add in an "exit 0" to the top, which
> is what I've been doing :-/.

If you had looked more carefully, you would have seen that xdm isn't started
only at runlevel 2, it's started at every runlevel. The Debian Policy
Manual says:
     By default `update-rc.d' will start services in each of the multi-user     
     state runlevels (2, 3, 4, and 5) and stop them in the halt runlevel        
     (0), the single-user runlevel (1) and the reboot runlevel (6).  The        
     system administrator will have the opportunity to customize runlevels      
     by either running `update-rc.d', by simply adding, moving, or removing     
     the symbolic links in `/etc/rc<n>.d' if symbolic links are being used,     
     or by modifying `/etc/runlevel.conf' if the `file-rc' method is being      
     used.               
So links are installed in every rc* directories, but you can create/delete them
at your liking. (This is the Right Way(tm) IMO, because it doesn't force a
particular runlevel config).
Now if you want runlevel 2 console-only, delete /etc/rc2.d/S99xdm, or even
better, replace it with K01xdm.