Re: replacing GDM with a script

[Tom H <tomh0665@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 9:57 PM, Frank McCormick <debianlist@videotron.ca> wrote:
> On 02/08/12 04:19 PM, Tom H wrote:
>> On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 12:22 PM, Frank McCormick
>> <debianlist@videotron.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>> I am running 3 Linux distros with Sid as my main one. I am curious to
>>> know
>>> if it's possible to replace GDM with a BASH script. The issue is
>>> complicated
>>> because I run 3 window managers with Sid and a similar situation with the
>>> other 2 distros. Googling the problem hasn't turned up much of interest.
>>> I
>>> am in Sid most of the time, so the script could only apply here. Does
>>> anyone
>>> have any suggestions?
>>
>> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=271674
>
> Interesting stuff. You can have 3-4-5 X sessions each with a different
> window manager. It works when run from a TTY but I can't get it working from
> a terminal in an existing session, despite what the author claims. What's
> more interesting is it doesn't seem to any much of an additional load on the
> CPU. I am sure there is one but the effect is minimal. However still far
> away from my original idea of replacing GDM with a BASH script(s). But a lot
> closer than I was this morning :)

I must've misunderstood you. I thought that you wanted to run your
three WMs simultaneously.

If you just want a script to launch one of your WMs, something like
this should do:

$ cat wm.sh

case $1 in
wm1)
	/usr/bin/startx /path/to/wm1/executable
	;;
wm2)
	/usr/bin/startx /path/to/wm2/executable
	;;
wm3)
	/usr/bin/startx /path/to/wm3/executable
	;;
*)
	/usr/bin/startx /path/to/wmX/executable
	;;
esac