Re: replacing GDM with a script

[Siard <shiems146@kpnplanet.nl>]

Frank McCormick:
> Andrei POPESCU:
> > Frank McCormick:
> > >     At this point it's just plain curiousity :)  Seems to me GDM,
> > > while it does a good job  takes up a lot of memory (I only have a
> > > gig) to just pick a window manager. Although at this point I guess
> > > GDM does more than that, allowing different users to log-in,
> > > handling security etc. But i am the only user of this machine, so
> > > a lot of those areas are of little or no concern to me.
> >
> > 1. Install nodm
> > 2. Change window manager/Desktop Environment with
> >
> > # update-alternatives --config x-session-manager
> 
>      At this point I am running SLIM...although I am told now it is 
> unmaintained. How can that be if it's still in the repositories ?
> 
> Anyway it requires a fair amount of config-ing...and much info
> necessary to get it running properly is not in the manual or even on
> the home website.
> 
> I'll see how it goes..and will try nodm later, although if I have to 
> update-alternatives every time I change wm...that would soon become a 
> PITA :)

Yet it could be simpler than that. As an example, I'll show how I start
either Fluxbox or KDE.

The easiest way to disable GDM that I know of, is using sysv-rc-conf.
Uncheck gdm for all runlevels.

/usr/local/fluxbox-session has this startup script:

    #! /bin/sh
    /usr/bin/unclutter -idle 2 &
    <other stuff to start> &
    exec /usr/bin/fluxbox

/usr/local/kde-session has this startup script:

    #! /bin/sh
    <other arbitrary stuff to start> &
    exec /usr/bin/startkde

/usr/local/bin/fb contains:

    #! /bin/sh
    startx /usr/local/fluxbox-session -- -dpi 96

/usr/local/bin/kde contains:

    #! /bin/sh
    startx /usr/local/kde-session -- -dpi 96

Of course, make all these files executable.

Now from the console, I start Fluxbox with the command 'fb'
or KDE with the command 'kde'.

You could write more scripts, each one starting its own set of programs
or commands.