Re: [gdm-list] Multi-seat with multiple X-servers

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>]

Paul:

> I use multiple X-servers on the same machine for multi-seat and I am
> using GDM.

What do you mean when you say MultiSeat?  MultiSeat usually implies
that you are running in a terminal-server-like environment where you
have a single server and multiple displays, keyboards and mice, each
one being managed separately by GDM.  This way a single server can
provide separate desktops for people sitting in different seats.

Or do you mean MultiDisplay where you have a single seat but multiple
monitors?  This sort of setup is often used in a single seat, but with
multiple monitors set side-by-side so that you have a single login,
and your user session spans the multiple monitors, providing you with a
large desktop.

What version of gdm are you using?  You can run
"gdmflexiserver --version" or "gdmflexiserver --command=VERSION" to find
out if you are not sure.

> My multi-seat configuration is now completely in xorg.conf, I don't need
> any setting in gdm.conf anymore.
>
> Because of that I don't expect any problems with the new GDM, or am I
> wrong?

I think it depends on what sort of behavior you expect from GDM, and
what version of GDM you are using.  GDM 2.20 and earlier have good
support for MultiSeat, while GDM 2.21 and later are only able to
manage a single local display (and additional XDMCP displays).

If you are using Xinerama or some other Xorg configuration to make
multiple monitors seems like a single display to GDM, then it should
"just work".  In other words, I think both the old and new GDM support
MultiDisplay reasonably well.

However, if you are using the new GDM and expecting GDM to separately
manage each display in a MultiSeat fashion, then I do not think that
is possible with the new GDM.  If you have found some trick to make
the new GDM work with MultiSeat via only configuring xorg.conf, then I,
for one, would be interested to hear how you got this working.

If you are applying the ConsoleKit and GDM patches as mentioned
in bugs.freedesktop.org bug #19333 and bugzilla.gnome.org bug #536355,
then this does add MultiSeat support and should allow you to configure
GDM to work in this way.  However, this is bleeding edge code, and may
have bugs and the configuration interfaces may not be fully stable yet.

Brian