Slow fluxbox - GDM Session entry

[Peter Garrett]

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 10:42:08 -0400
Frank McCormick <fmccormick at videotron.ca> wrote:

> On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:28:16 +1000
> Peter Garrett <peter.garrett at optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 22:43:40 -0400
> > Frank McCormick <fmccormick at videotron.ca> wrote:
> > 
> > > 
> > > Hi all
> > >  Trying out a few new window managers...and ran into a problem with
> > > Fluxbox. It takes a full 30 secs to load the desktop, which is
> > > pretty plain and simple. Reloads from the menu take the same time
> > > and changing themes (which flux calls "styles") take almost as long.
> > > I used Fluxbox and Blackbox on other distros a couple of years back
> > > and they never took that long to do anything.
> > 
> > hi Frank: from an earlier post....
> > 
> > On Tue, 24 May 2005 16:33:34 +0300
> > Amichai Teumim <amichai.teumim at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > > Hash: SHA1
> > > 
> > > Hi guys
> > > 
> > > This is regarding fluxbox
> > > 
> > > "if its not too much trouble - please mail the maintainer of the
> > > package and tell him to --disable-xmb so that this problem is fixed
> > > once and for all. your not the first person that has this problem"
> > > 
> > > "its something about the font server being flooded with queries."
> > 
> > <snip>
> > 
> > My delighted reply was: (!)
> > 
> > This is the answer! Thanks for the info!
> > 
> > I just recompiled fluxbox thus: (including what you should need to
> > make it work)
> > 
> > 1.  sudo apt-get install build-essential  checkinstall   #(I already
> > had these, but in case you don't) 2.  sudo apt-get install xlibs-dev  
> > #(you'll need this or it won't compile)
> > 3.  Get the source tarball and tar xvjf <fluxbox-tarball-of-choice>
> > [edit: if it's a tar.bz2 ;  tar xvzf for tar.gz] 4.  cd to the
> > directory created 5.  ./configure --enable-kde --enable-gnome
> > --disable-xmb  (note the --disable-xmb!) 6.  make
> > 7.  sudo checkinstall 
> > (optional, instead of "sudo make install", but makes it easier to
> > uninstall and so on)
> > 
> > This should build a package for you and install the fluxbox binary in
> > /usr/local/bin If you make a ~/.xsession file for it you should now be
> > able to start it from the Default session in GDM. 
> > 
> > Flux now starts for me in seconds, and no longer eats my cpu for
> > breakfast when I try to change themes... ;-)
> > 
> > Hope this helps someone...
> > 
> > Peter
> > 
> > 
> > the answer is the --disable-xmb option in the configure step, as
> > above. My Fluxbox now is its usual snappy self! I actually did mail
> > the maintainer- but maybe we have to wait for Breezy for an Ubuntu
> > fix?
> > 
> 
>   Great!. Just what the doctor ordered :) Now, does anyone know how to
> put Flux as an option in the GDM menu. Since I removed the Ubuntu
> version it's no longer part the GDM menu.
> 
> -- 
> Cheers
> 
> Frank

Hi Frank!

The directory to look in is /usr/share/xsessions

In that dir you will see one or more files of the form " gnome.desktop ". These files are the ones that put entries in the Session list for GDM. 

What I did was 

1.Use the  gnome.desktop file as a template
2.Change the name to fluxbox.desktop
3.Change the command so as to start up fluxbox
4.Save the file as fluxbox.desktop  

The lines I changed in the file:

Name=Fluxbox
Comment=This session logs you into the Fluxbox window manager
Exec=/home/peter/.xsession

As far as I can see, that's all I changed...(Obviously your "Exec" line will point at your startup script.) Now, I also have created /home/peter/.xsession as follows:

#load this to have gtk2 apps look ok
GSDPID=`pidof gnome-settings-daemon`
if [  "x$GSDPID" == "x" ]; then
gnome-settings-daemon &
fi

fluxbox

Actually I have a few other entries in the .xsession file, but the above will make themes etc look OK for gtk2/gnome apps, and run fluxbox... 

Hope this answers your question. 

Peter