What is the "thinnest" display manager available?

Yuri yuri at rawbw.com
Wed Nov 27 22:42:52 UTC 2013


Polytropon,

Thank you for taking time and writing up such detailed instructions!
Will use them.

Regards,
Yuri

On 11/25/2013 18:57, Polytropon wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:32:04 -0800, Yuri wrote:
>> I want to have as few packages installed as possible, and I want to use
>> small window manager (dwm). But what is the thinnest display manager
>> available? I know kdm and gdm both work, but both pull a ton of
>> dependencies which I don't want.
> I'd say the classic xdm won't be a bad choice: it's common,
> secure, easy to use, and fast. If you're using WindowMaker
> for one or more accounts on your system, maybe wdm isn't
> a bad choice.
>
> However, xdm and wdm are started by an entry in /etc/ttys.
>
>
>
>> Features required:
>> * automatic start (through /etc/rc.conf)
>> * automatically run xorg and window manager of choice
>> * automatically login a particular user
>> * not many or no dependencies
>>
>> What is the smallest display manager that qualifies?
> If I understand your requirements correct, "no display manager"
> would be a possible answer. You want to automatically login a
> particular user? You don't even need a display manager then.
> A display manager works similarly to login: ask for a user name
> and a password, then run the appropriate startup shell and
> scripts. For auto-login, this is not required.
>
>
>
>> Or maybe there is an easy way to run xorg + WM with some simple shell
>> script? Anything like this ready to use?
> Everything for this task is present in the base system, it just
> requires a few steps. I'll provide a little howto in case this
> is what you need (refactored from an earlier post I wrote to
> that list).
>
>
>
> Step 1:
>
> In /etc/gettytab,
>
> 	autologin:\
> 	        :al=<USERNAME>:tc=Pc:
>
> is to be placed _after_ the "default:" entry. This step defines
> the "getty profile" for an automated login with the username
> "olivares" as associated to the "al=" parameter. Also note
> the "tc=" parameter which incorporates the default "Pc"
> settings (that you can encounter in the next step's working
> file). Here, <USERNAME> is the user you want to be logged in
> automatically.
>
>
>
> Step 2:
>
> In /etc/ttys, the line for ttyv0 is to be changed like this:
>
> 	ttyv0  "/usr/libexec/getty autologin"  cons25l1  on  secure
>
> This instructs the "getty" program to use the "autologin
> profile" at system startup and automatically log in the
> user <USERNAME> (see step 1).
>
> Attention: Maybe you need a different console configuration;
> "cons25" is the system's default. In Germany, I have to use
> cons25l1 for the local magic. :-)
>
> Make sure you _don't_ have a line calling xdm here - maybe this
> causes conflicts.
>
>
>
> Step 3:
>
> In /home/<USERNAME> (or where $HOME is located for that user),
> make ~/.login end in
>
> 	[ ! -f /tmp/.X0-lock ] && startx
>
> For bash, this would go to ~/.bash_login. Other shells may
> have different startup files; see "man sh", "man csh",
> "man bash" and "man <yourshell>" for details.
>
> To become independent from the actual login shell, you can
> write this command into a script that is executable by the
> user, e. g. "chmod +x /opt/bin/autostartx"; if you have
> /opt/bin in $PATH, you just need to call "autostartx" in
> the correct startup file. Then _any_ shell startup script
> could contain the call that script, like this:
>
> 	#!/bin/sh
> 	[ ! -f /tmp/.X0-lock ] && startx
> 	exec $0
>
> You can also make this script local to your user in ~/bin,
> maybe you already have that in $PATH.
>
> Attention: This _might_ get you into an "infinite loop" if
> something is _really_ wrong. :-)
>
> You can even modify the script to _restart_ X if it should
> have crashed, so you don't fall back to the console in
> case of a severe error (and enter "startx" again).
>
>
>
> Step 4 (optional):
>
> In order to combine the use of xdm (or other DMs) and the
> different system shells, for your user account there can be
> some additional settings.
>
> In ~/.xsession, put
>
> 	#!/bin/csh
> 	source ~/.cshrc
> 	exec ~/.xinitrc
>
> This file will be executed in case xdm is used. I am using the
> C shell as a dialog shell here, so this makes sure my shell
> settings get incorporated. Then control will be given to the
> .xinitrc file, usually executed when you run "startx", but
> xdm _may_ have a different opinion.
>
> In ~/.xinitrc, put all your X startup stuff.
>
> 	#!/bin/sh
> 	[ -f ~/.xmodmaprc ] && xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc
> 	#xrandr --fb 1400x1050
> 	#xrandr --size 1400x1050
> 	intclock -geometry 186x65+151-0 &
> 	xload -geometry 150x70+0+826 -bg white -fg black -hl gray \
> 		-scale 5 -label "System load" -update 1 &
> 	xmbmon -g 150x100+0+897 -tmin 20.0 -tmax 70.0 -cmtmb CPU \
> 		-cltmb blue -cmtcpu CS -cltcpu cyan -cmtcs SYS \
> 		-cltcs green -vmin 2.0 -vmax 3.0 -cmvc V -clvc red &
> 	xclock -geometry 50x50+50+998 &
> 	xbiff -geometry 50x50+0+998 &
> 	xlogo -geometry 50x50+100+998 -render &
> 	xcpufreq -geometry 183x167+151+826 -cpuscalecolor grey \
> 		-freqscalecolor grey -scales 6 -update 1 -jumpscroll 1 &
> 	xterm -geometry 80x25+0+465 -class NOCLOSE_TERMINAL -fg black \
> 		-bg beige -title Terminal &
> 	xsetroot -solid rgb:3b/4c/7a
> 	xset b 100 1000 15 &
> 	xset r rate 250 30 &
> 	xset s off &
> 	xset -dpms &
> 	exec wmaker
>
> The first line (#!) is optional. I'm not fully sure if those
> files have to be +x attributes (I _have_ those settings, no idea
> where they came from and why they are still here). But it works,
> so I don't question it. :-)
>
> The last line, "exec", contains the call to the desired window
> manager. Maybe the file just needs to be as short as maybe
>
> 	#!/bin/sh
> 	exec startxfce4
>
> to do everything you need.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>



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