Re: .xsession and kdm/wdm
Hi,
Am Freitag, 05. September 2003 10:39 schrieb Branden Robinson:
> On Tue, Sep 02, 2003 at 11:17:25PM +0200, Malte Cornils wrote:
> > when choosing a window manager like twm with kdm or wdm (maybe also
> > others, but not xdm), this window manager is executed without taking into
> > account the user .xsession.
> >
> > The user .xsession is only taken into account when using the default
> > "window manager".
> > [...]
>
> Please review the Xsession handling (and Xsession(5) manpage) in version
> 4.2.1-11 of the Debian packages. A bug with respect to session handling
> has been found and fixed, and the documentation improved, since the
> version of the XFree86 packages in woody.
The new Xsession man page states things better in most regards, but does not
clarify the kdm/wdm situation. It currently reads:
If a program or failsafe argument was given and is allowed (see
above), it is used as the controlling process.
Unfortunately, wdm/kdm does not use the Xsession program when using its
feature of "directly choosing window-managers/desktop-environment in the
greeter" (at least that's an uneducated guess, wdm's Login.c by default
offers "wmaker:afterstep:xsession", for example), so changing this into:
If a non-default argument (like program, failsafe or the session type
in some login managers) was given and is allowed (see above), it is
used as the controlling process.
is probably factually incorrect. Xsession might even be the wrong place for
such infos - it might be better to simply change
By default on a Debian system, Xsession is used by both common methods
of starting the X Window System, xdm and startx. To change this for
xdm, edit the "DisplayManager*session" resource in the
/etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config file; for startx, replace the contents of the
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc file.
into
By default on a Debian system, Xsession is used by both common methods
of starting the X Window System, xdm and startx. To change this for
xdm, edit the "DisplayManager*session" resource in the
/etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config file; for startx, replace the contents of the
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc file. Some other display managers (e.g. kdm,
wdm) only use the Xsession mechanism when logging in with the "default"
or "xsession" session type.
Also, the FAQ entry:
*) How do I customize my X session?
On a Debian GNU/Linux system, the file $HOME/.xsession is used (if present) to
setup the user's X session. [...]
Note that the system administrator can configure the X Window System such that
users' .xsession files in their $HOME directories are ignored. See the
Xsession.options(5) manual page for more information.
Especially the first sentence is not really true, so this could be extended
into:
On a Debian GNU/Linux system, the file $HOME/.xsession is used (if present) to
setup the user's X session. [...]
Note that the system administrator can configure the X Window System such that
users' .xsession files in their $HOME directories are ignored. See the
Xsession.options(5) manual page for more information.
Also note that some display managers (e.g. kdm, wdm) only use the .xsession
mechanisms when the "default" or "xsession" session type is selected.
Questions? Comments? Ideas?
Bye,
-Malte #8-)
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