xdm does not work with xfce

[Polytropon]

On Sun, 4 Sep 2016 03:29:36 -0400 (EDT), doug at safeport.com wrote:
> To get xdm to work I copied /usr/local/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc to $home/.xinitrc. 
> I have a .xsession file contining startxfce4. I commented out the last line in 
> /usr/local/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-config.

The xdm display manager does not use .xinitrc, it only uses .xsession.
Only if you "starx", .xinitrc will be considered. For "maximum compatibility"
you can use a "cascade" like this:

File .xsession:

	#!/bin/csh
	source ~/.cshrc
	exec ~/.xinitrc

File .xinitrc:

	#!/bin/sh
	[ -f ~/.xmodmaprc ] && xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc
	numlockx
	# ... more "autostart" stuff if needed ...
	exec startxfce4

Now all your settings can reside in .xinitrc, and when you use xdm, they will
still be executed. The last line must start with "exec". After the program
specified here exits, control should be given back to xdm.

Note that this example assumes you have the C shell as your dialog shell,
so all their settings (from .cshrc) will be "inherited" in shells started
inside X.



> I have output from xsession-errors and xdm.log. After the second login attempt 
> .xsession-error is rewriten to contain:
> 
>        /usr/local/bin/startxfce4: X server already running on display :0
> 
>        XDM authorization key matches an existing client!xfce4-session: Cannot
>        open display: . Type 'xfce4-session --help' for usage.
> 
> xdm works on a 10.1 system with xorg-7.7_1 and xfce-4.12_1.
> 
> My questions: Is this a known issue? Should this be posted on the X11 
> mailing list?

Somehow this error looks familiar to me, it occured once many years ago.
The Xfce desktop cannot be started because xdm still occupies the display.
This situation may rise when you start xdm manually, it does not quit
properly, or several X "occupants" start at the same time.


-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...