Re: A Little Confused
On Fri, Sep 24, 2004 at 01:36:07PM -0400, John Lowell wrote:
> A little confused by the Debian login process when using a window
> manager like fluxbox.
The window manager doesn't have anything to do with it. The display
manager you install does.
> In the past, I've always started the X window system after a console
> login and startx after having first written an ~/.xinitrc.
Meaning that either you've never used a display manager, or you've used
only Linux distributions that start X only in certain run-levels, like
RedHat derivatives. Debian doesn't do things that way. The assumption is
that if you installed a display manager, you expect to want to use it on
the local display.
> I was a little surprized after the Debian installation and the addition
> of X window system and fluxbox to find myself automatically at a
> graphical login screen.
As it should be. You installed the x-window-system meta-package, it brings
in xdm, xdm starts automatically.
> I assume that xdm is somehow run as a last step of the init process.
No, xdm is run by its init script, namely /etc/init.d/xdm, which is part of
run-level 2 as /etc/rc2.d/S99xdm. In its default configuration, it will
start up X on vt 7. This is, of course, configurable.
> I've searched and searched the man pages on the various related scripts,
> Xsession, the xdm scripts and the like and can't find the file that
> generates the login screen.
In other words, you haven't bothered to search at all and figured that
you'd just get someone else here to do your thinking for you. That's fine,
no one was born knowing how X works, but don't bother claiming to have done
things you haven't. Xdm is remarkably well-documented. All of its related
files can be found in /etc/X11/xdm, just like the documentation says.
> I'd very much like to improve upon that awful looking gray hash-marked
> background - something I've done previously via alias lines in ~/.bashrc
Pretty much completely unlikely. Any alias you might be creating in bash
wouldn't have any effect on what X might be doing. You could, of course,
do whatever you liked in ~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession, which is probably what
you're actually thinking of.
> - but, assuming that xdm generates the login somehow, can't find the file
> that initiates xdm to fix that either. I'm lost. Might someone step in at
> this point to help?
Xdm's configuration is controlled by /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config, everything
you would want to know is in that file or pointed to by that file. If you
want to control the root pixmap during login, place the appropriate
command(s) in /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup, also as documented.
If you don't want X to start automatically, then remove the display
manager.
--
Marc Wilson | Fuch's Warning: If you actually look like your
msw@cox.net | passport photo, you aren't well enough to travel.
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