On 2009-05-26_09:40:05, Foss User wrote:
On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 2:33 AM, Claudius Hubig <nfs_2009@chubig.net> wrote:
Foss User <fossist@gmail.com> wrote:
Please see the following output I generated from Squeeze.
$ aptitude why twm
i ? gnome ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Depends ?gnome-desktop-environment (= 1:2.24.3~2)
i A gnome-desktop-environment Depends ?gdm (>= 2.20.9)
i A gdm ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Depends ?gnome-session |
x-session-manager | x-window-manager | x-terminal-emulator
i ? twm ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Provides x-window-manager
1. It shows that twm was installed because gdm needs a window manager
and twm is one such window manager. Does it mean that gnome is
dependent on twm?
2. Is it possible to run gnome with some other window manager?
3. I am unable to see any twm process in the ps listing. Why?
4. Can someone share the equivalent 'aptitude why' output from a
system running KDE?
I think that the posted evidence does not show that Gnome is built on
twm. Rather it shows that gdm uses twm because it was already
installed at the time that gdm was being installed. But why was it
already there?
twm is maintained as part of the xorg project by a special Debian task
force. twm occupies a special place in the X11 system. It is the
default, lease featureful, window manager for situations where some
other, more featureful window manager is not yet installed and
initialized. This is precisely the situation for gdm. It needs a
window manager before the user has even logged in. twm is part of what
you get when you select a desktop system during initial install of
Debian. You did not specifically ask for it, just as you did not ask
for ls. cp, mv, etc. It just came with the basic stuff that the
Debian gurus decided to put on your system because you said you wanted
a desktop.
By picking and choosing carefully, you can, if you really want,
install an X11/Gnome system in which gdm doesn't work and you have to
sign in at a console and then use startx to get X11 going and then do
something else to actually start Gnome under X. Most people would find
that wierd and bothersome. So, Debian, like other major distributions,
have figured out a way that is easier for the user. To do it, they
have bent the Debian Rules a little bit, or maybe not. Maybe it is
only a simple minded, nieve interpretation of Debian rules that is
bent.
Anyway, twm is there -- as the Romans might say, "ab initio". In
aptitude it looks as if you asked for it specifically, but that is not
true. Look at other packages, like coreutils. There are lots of
packages that are just there from before you ever did your first
bootup of your newly installed Debian. I think you might find useful
clues inside tasksel. That is the place where you probably first
indicated that you wanted an window/gui environment. What does tasksel,
acting as your agent, tell apt-get/dpkg to actually install? Maybe
twm is in the list. Just my guess.
I love Debian. The Debian magicians (deliberately?) leave the curtain
imperfectly closed, so users can see them at work, doing their magic.