Playing with xdm :)

[thenktor]

I've played a bit with a theme for xdm as replacement for gdm because I was pointed to this Arch Linux discussion: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=69299

I've packaged something to test with. Get the xdm-salix-theme package from http://thenktor.dyndns.org/download/
Furthermore you need the following dependencies: imagemagick, xclock, xmessage (all available by slapt-get)

Last but not least you need some modifications on your system:
Open /etc/rc.d/rc.4 and replace
exec /usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon
with
exec /usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon -config /etc/X11/xdm/salix-xdm/xdm-config

In your home dir you'll need the following file:
$HOME/.xsession

Code: Select all

NEWSESS=/tmp/.newsess
[ -f "$NEWSESS" ] && cat "$NEWSESS" >"$HOME/.xsession-current"

session=$(<"$HOME/.xsession-current")
[[ -f "$session" ]] && exec $(sed -rn "s/^[Ee]xec=(.*)$/\1/p" "$session") \
        || exec "${session:-xterm}"

And don't forget to make it executable: chmod +x $HOME/.xsession



EDIT: To deactivate GDM (or KDM) it's best to simply remove executable flag: chmod -x /usr/sbin/gdm

[caitlyn]

For lightweight display managers I actually prefer either slim or wdm. In any case I need the language switching ability of gdm. For that reason I'd hate to see anything other than gdm as the Salix OS standard. It would be a huge step backwards in terms of localisation.

[gapan]

Don't worry, gdm is not going to be replaced. At least not until something else comes up that has all or nearly all the features that it has. lxdm might be a candidate in the future.

[caitlyn]

Glad to hear it One of my pet peeves with Slackware and some Slackware-based distros is that the support for languages other than English is half done at best. I think Zenwalk, Vector, and SalixOS, all of which now use gdm, make life a whole lot easier for multilingual households and businesses with this one simple change (gdm rather than kdm, xdm).