From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1MH0Eu-0002Kq-3r for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:52:04 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 33C7DE0430; Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:52:03 +0000 (UTC) Received: from ciao.gmane.org (main.gmane.org [80.91.229.2]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DBB5FE0430 for ; Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:52:02 +0000 (UTC) Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1MH0Er-0001nP-MD for gentoo-amd64@lists.gentoo.org; Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:52:02 +0000 Received: from ip68-231-21-207.ph.ph.cox.net ([68.231.21.207]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:52:01 +0000 Received: from 1i5t5.duncan by ip68-231-21-207.ph.ph.cox.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:52:01 +0000 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: gentoo-amd64@lists.gentoo.org From: Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> Subject: [gentoo-amd64] Re: How do I switch to a window manager? Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:51:50 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: References: <5bdc1c8b0906170553w3b73c15ehd1b8cacaaf52c7c4@mail.gmail.com> Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-amd64@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-amd64@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: ip68-231-21-207.ph.ph.cox.net User-Agent: Pan/0.133 (House of Butterflies) Sender: news Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: 35487a28-9929-42f5-92b2-71023c250fdc X-Archives-Hash: 4f35bc97a54e067d2ca51f57dc96383c Steve Herber posted Pine.LNX.4.64.0906170910450.29525@thing.com, excerpted below, on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:39:13 -0700: > Can somebody answer a question, related to the favorite WM question, ho= w > do I change to an alternative window manager? >=20 > I normally run xdm and update my .xinitrc or .xsession file to do this > but I feel that there should be a better way. How do you do it? My "better way" is to not use a graphical login manager at all, but=20 rather to login at the text login prompt, and start X (and my WM/DE=20 (windo manager / desktop environment) of choice) from there. Whether=20 that's a "better way" for you or not, of course depends on you, but it=20 Works for Me (tm)! The various DEs and at least some of the WMs should put session scripts=20 in /etc/X11/Sessions, with launchers (like startkde) in the path. You=20 can either use the launchers, or create your own. I create my own launchers as scriptlets that make use of the generic=20 startx. Normally, startx depends on the XSESSION variable as set and=20 exported in either the system scripts (rc.conf, IIRC for baselayout-1=20 users) or in a user's startup scripts (.bashrc or the like). However,=20 that's kind of limiting since it leaves just one choice. So for each=20 session script in /etc/X11/Sessions, I create a scriptlet, say k4 for=20 kde4, k3 for kde3, g2 if I had gnome2 installed, etc. Each of these sets= =20 and exports the XSESSION variable to match the appropriate filename in=20 the Sessions dir, and then invokes startx. Now, with a single short (two= - character in the above examples, g2, k3, k4, etc) command, I can start=20 any of the session types I want. =3D:^) What's nice about this is that once the launcher scriptlets are setup,=20 it's possible to take care of any other housekeeping as necessary,=20 setting up any other environmental vars, whatever. Any commands before=20 the startx will run as X and that environment starts. Any after it will=20 run as it quits back to the text login. Or, make it startx &, so it runs= =20 in the background and issue the bash disown command, and the script will=20 startx in the background and then terminate, leaving you with a bash=20 prompt again. Then you can do what I do and run ". k3", so it runs it in= =20 the current shell, and it'll logout after startx as well, thus returning=20 that VT to the login prompt. As can be seen, it wasn't for nothing that I said my system is rather=20 more uniquely customized than most. =3D:^) But it fits the way I work an= d=20 is thus the "better way" for me, which is what counts. And of course=20 Gentoo makes all that customization far easier than most distributions=20 do, making it all the better! =3D:^) --=20 Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman