.xsession not run on GDM login

Ken McLennan kenrmcl at dnet.net.au
Tue May 24 04:14:01 UTC 2005


G'day there One & All,

    I'm currently using Hoary Hedgehog, which I am very happy with. I
use GDM to login but don't use Gnome. I use OpenBox3 instead. I want to
run a script that will set up my X desktop the way I want. That is,
xsetbg to set the background image (surprise, surprise), then to load
pypanel, and then skippy. All works well, I've set up my script to run
as I want it to, but I can't work out how to get it to run.

    It seems that GDM doesn't use ~/.xsession in spite of the file being
sourced in /etc/gdm/Xsession. Reading the docs for GDM indicates that
there may be some issue with user's scripts being run while GDM is
working, but .xsession should come into play after GDM is finished,
packed up & gone back to bed, so that shouldn't matter.

    I've even gone to the extent of inserting the required lines in each
of the various GDM script files (presession/Default, etc.) with varying
degrees of success. I was able to set the desktop background, but not
get pypanel or skippy working. One of the script files refers me to the
Gnome Help system telling me all is explained therein. HAAA!!!!

    I'm definitely over running my .xsession manually after logging in.
Kind of defeats the purpose, really. Nor do I see why it should be
necessary to install XDM when there's a perfectly good display manager
and login widget already sitting here on my system.

Has anyone solved this puzzle previously? Or do I need to just dump GDM?

Thanks for listening.
Ken McLennan
Qld, Australia.




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