Re: [gdm-list] gdm request - choose local Xserver at login

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>]

Pascal:

> You're right concerning the "end-user" confusion, and choosing the 
> session is certainly better.
> I now need to convince our sysadmins team to upgrade ... (we are still 
> using gdm 2.8.0.7 <http://2.8.0.7> !!!)

Note 2.19 is unstable, so you might want to wait until 2.20 is out, or
apply the patch from bug 326771 to a 2.18 build if you want a stable
GDM.

> One thing though :
> if a user chooses a session supposed to use only an external monitor, 
> and that monitor is not connected to the laptop,
> they, he's screwed up.

If the Xserver fails, the GDM daemon should notice this and restart the
login screen so there shouldn't be a problem.  This would only cause
a problem if the Xserver starts okay but is somehow unusable.

> For sure it's not a gdm matter, but maybe someone here knows if there's 
> a way to detect if a device is plugged.

That's very device specific.  GDM doesn't currently have a mechanism to
conditionally load sessions based on system configuration.  But this
might be a nice feature to add to support the ability to only make
some sessions show up on machines where they are appropriate.  Perhaps
they could be enhanced to supply a script or binary that can be run to
test and only display the session if valid, or something.

> (say : I choose a wrong session, X tries to starts but fails to detect 
> the monitor, so it switches back to session choice)

If X fails, GDM should restart the login screen so the user would need
to re-enter username and password (and hopefully change the session
to one that works).

Brian


> On 6/7/07, *Brian Cameron * <Brian Cameron sun com 
> <mailto:Brian Cameron sun com>> wrote:
>
>     Pascal:
>
>     Note GDM 2.19 supports a X-Gdm-XserverArgs extension to the desktop
>     files installed to /usr/share/xsessions starting with GDM 2.19.1.
>
>     This allows you to specify additional Xserver arguments that only
>     apply when you pick a specific session in the GDM session menu.
>     You might be able to use this to get the behavior you want.
>
>     Right now you can only supply additional arguments this way, and
>     not a completely different Xserver command.  If you needed a different
>     Xserver command, then perhaps another extension could be written
>     where this could be specified.  Perhaps by specifying the
>     [server-foo] to use or the Xserver command directly.  This might be a
>     nice feature to add.
>
>     I think making this work in the desktop file is the right way to
>     specify this sort of thing because adding a menu option to the login
>     screen would be too confusing for most users.  Picking a different
>     session if you want slightly different behavior seems to be a more
>     natural way to communicate to the user what they get.  For example,
>     picking a session that says "Large Screen GNOME" is more usable
>     than having a separate session menu that has "Standard", "Terminal",
>     "Chooser", and "Large Screen" in it.  Also since GDM remembers your
>     "last session" this makes selecting it a bit nicer.  You just have
>     to remember to change the selection when you want it to change.
>
>     Most users of GDM don't know (and shouldn't need to know) about the
>     server-foo sections in the GDM configuration file, or how they work.
>
>     Brian
>
>
>      > I use a laptop, and somteimes it is connected to a "big screen",
>      > somtimes not.
>      >
>      > What I do now is :
>      > - in xorg.conf, I declare two "serverlayout"
>      > - in gdm.conf I created two [server-xxxx] entries using the
>     appropriate
>      > -layout option to match the xorg.conf
>      > - gdm always starts 2 X servers, one for each layout
>      >
>      > So, when I bootup my laptop, AltF7 / F8 gives me the ability to
>     choose
>      > the display I 'd like to use.
>      >
>      > Matter is : then another x server is always there for nothing.
>     Not a big
>      > thing though, a small footprint and no CPU whatsoever, but anyway, it
>      > isn't "clean".
>      >
>      > gdmflexiserver provides the ability to choose and start another
>     Xserver
>      > _once_already_logged_in_
>      >
>      > What would be *great* I think, would be to choose the display at the
>      > login screen.
>      > -> gdm starts only one xserver (the default one from gdm.conf)
>      > -> a dropmenu gives the choice between all the [server-xxxx] entries
>      > (just like gdmflexiserver proposes)
>      > -> once the choice made,  gdm kills the current X and restarts
>     the one
>      > chosen.
>      >
>      > Thx for your advice on that idea,
>      > or maybe another way of doing what I'd like to.
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      >
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