Re: [gdm-list] GDM status.

["William Jon McCann" <mccann jhu edu>]

Hi,

On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 10:48 AM, Vincent Untz <vuntz gnome org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Le jeudi 19 juin 2008, à 14:05 -0500, Brian Cameron a écrit :
>>
>> William:
>>
>> > GDM trunk should be included in GNOME 2.24.  A release from the GDM
>> > 2.22 branch was shipped in Fedora 9 and has been performing well.
>>
>> I think it is great that the new GDM 2.22 is performing well on
>> Fedora 9.  I also agree that the latest GDM SVN head code is in
>> much better shape than when the GNOME release team decided not to
>> include the GDM rewrite with the 2.22 release.  For the most common
>> use-case (a single-display desktop user), it does a good job of
>> meeting the needs of a display manager.
>>
>> > The items on the to-do list are not blockers.
>>
>> I think the following issues should be considered:
>>
>> + The GDM daemon does not yet support any configuration.  It seems
>>   that some configuration (such as XDMCP configuration options)
>>   would need to be supported for GDM to be useful.
>>
>> + GDM doesn't support multi-display.  This means that distros that
>>   want to support users with terminal-server, thin client, or other
>>   novel setups will not be able to migrate to the new GDM rewrite until
>>   this is addressed.
>>
>> + The new GDM rewrite doesn't contain any documentation.  GUI
>>   configuration, integration hooks like the Init/PreSession/PostSession
>>   script, how to configure ConsoleKit so it works properly with GDM, how
>>   accessibility works, etc. are probably topics that should be
>>   discussed.
>>
>> + The XDMCP chooser is not yet available from the login screen.
>>
>> + gdmsetup is not yet supported
>>
>> + gdmgreeter XML style themes are not supported
>>
>> Perhaps the plan is that the new GDM will just be less functional in
>> some of these ways (such as lack of gdmgreeter XML style themes or
>> lack of gdmsetup).  That is okay, but the release team should probably
>> help decide if any of these issues (or other issues on the ToDo list)
>> are blockers or not.
>
> Some of those items look like real blockers. What is the plan for 2.24
> in the GDM team?

No, none of these are blockers.  Documentation would have been nice
for 2.22.  I think Brian is still committed to leading that effort
[1].

Brian was mistaken about the daemon not having configuration.

"Multi-terminal" stuff will have to wait until we get multi-seat
support in ConsoleKit.  I talked about some of these plans at GUADEC.
[2]  Hopefully this will land for 2.26.

Some of the things that were in gdmsetup have moved to other control
center tools.  Hopefully, we'll have a page in the forthcoming user
account tool to customize the login screen as well.

Someone who feels very strongly that XML greeter skins should continue
to be supported will have to step up and do the work for this.  I
think it is best to wait until a) we have a better idea which canvas
will prevail b) we have a better idea how a new authentication system
will work.

No doubt there is still work to do - same as any module.  But there
should be no doubt that the new GDM is ready to ship.

Jon

[1] See the end of
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gdm-list/2007-October/msg00043.html

[2] http://www.gnome.org/~mccann/talks/guadec-new-gdm-turns-you-on.pdf