XDM & XFCE

[Kurt Wall]

Scribbling feverishly on April 15, Collins managed to emit:
> Kurt,
> 
> How about posting your xdm setup.  I wanted to use xdm, but I never
> could find any way to use it other than to hard code xfce as a choice.
>  Do you have xdm setup such that you can choose different window
> managers and a shutdown to bare console?

Sorry, Collins, I can't help you here. I only use XFCE, don't have 
any other window managers installed (well, twm and OpenLook) and
don't use <reverb>Desktop Environments</reverb>, so I have a pretty
simple setup. That said, the meat of the xdm setup I use here is:

----- /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession -----
#!/bin/sh
# $XConsortium: Xsession /main/10 1995/12/18 18:21:28 gildea $
#
#
# $XFree86: xc/programs/xdm/config/Xsession,v 1.2 1998/01/11 03:48:32 dawes Exp $
# Modified for Slackware-3.5, 28-Mar-98 volkerdi
# Extensively rewritten for Slackware 7.0, 03-Oct-1999 volkerdi
# Patched to give priority to $HOME/.xsession, 10-Oct-1999 volkerdi
# Merged changes into upstream (XFree86-4.0.2) version, 17-Feb-2001 volkerdi


# redirect errors to a file in user's home directory if we can
for errfile in "$HOME/.xsession-errors" "${TMPDIR-/tmp}/xses-$USER" "/tmp/xses-$USER"
do
	if ( cp /dev/null "$errfile" 2> /dev/null )
	then
		chmod 600 "$errfile"
		exec > "$errfile" 2>&1
		break
	fi
done

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps

if [ -f $sysresources ]; then
	xrdb -merge $sysresources
fi

if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
	xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi

if [ -f $userresources ]; then
	xrdb -merge $userresources
fi

if [ -f $usermodmap ]; then
	xmodmap $usermodmap
fi

# Since xdm doesn't run a bash -login shell (or any other login shell)
# then read the files that it would, to set up the user's environment
profile=/etc/profile
userprofile=~/.profile

if [ -e $profile ]; then
        source $profile
fi
if [ -e $userprofile ]; then
        source $userprofile
fi

# The path built into XFree86's xdm binary assumes it's running some kind
# of BSD (/usr/ucb, /etc) so this section makes sure all the standard
# Linux binary directories are included:
if [ "`whoami`" = "root" ]; then
	PATH=$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin
else
	PATH=$PATH:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
fi

# If the user has a .xsession, we should give priority to this for
# security reasons.  Of course, this means that if you have a $HOME/.xsession
# that the session selecting feature of KDM won't work for you until you
# delete it.  It's slightly annoying, but the safe way to handle it.

if [ -f $HOME/.xsession ]; then
	exec $HOME/.xsession
fi

# If a particular session type was requested in $1, start that session:
case $# in
1)
	case $1 in
	failsafe)
		exec xterm -geometry 80x24-0-0
		;;
	kde)
		exec startkde
		;;
	gnome)
		exec gnome-session
		;;
	openwin)
		exec olvwm
		;;
	fvwm2)
		xsetroot -solid SteelBlue
		exec fvwm2
		;;
	fvwm95)
		exec fvwm95
		;;
	blackbox)
		exec blackbox
		;;
	windowmaker)
		if [ ! -f $HOME/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker ]; then
			wmaker.inst
		fi
		exec wmaker
		;;
	afterstep)
		exec afterstep
		;;
	enlightenment)
		exec enlightenment
		;;
	twm)
		xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
		xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
		xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
		xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login &
		xsetroot -solid SteelBlue
		exec twm
		;;
	esac
esac

# If the user doesn't have their own xsession and none was specified in
# $1, then run the system default session type:
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

if [ -s "$startup" -a -x "$startup" ]; then
	exec "$startup"
else
	if [ -r "$resources" ]; then
		xrdb -load "$resources"
	fi
	exec xsm
fi
----- end /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession -----

The key point is that is sources $HOME/.xession, which in turn sources
$HOME/.xinitrc:

----- $HOME/.xinitrc -----
#!/bin/sh
xset fp+ "/usr/local/share/xfce/fonts"
# Finally, launch XFce window manager
exec /usr/local/bin/xfwm
----- end $HOME/.xinitrc -----

Hope this helps,

Kurt
-- 
Be different: conform.