On Sunday 21 March 2010 17:04:28 walt wrote:
> On 03/21/2010 05:33 AM, Leandro Boscariol wrote:
> > Well, I`ve got this:
> >
> > /etc/conf.d/xdm
> > ...
> > DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm"
> > ...
> >
> > /etc/rc.conf
> > ...
> > # Gnome - will start gnome-session
> > # kde-<version> - will start startkde (look in /etc/X11/Sessions/)
> > # Xfce4 - will start a XFCE4 session
> > # Xsession - will start a terminal and a few other nice apps
> > XSESSION="kde-4"
> >
> > Then I remembered about /etc/X11/Sessions and switched it for KDE-4, but
> > still...
> >
> > Also tried commenting the line XSESSION, and nothing again.
> >
> > But, I`m thinking about this note in /etc/rc.conf:
> >
> > # NOTE:  1) this behaviour is overridden when a ~/.xinitrc exists, and
> > startx #           is called.
> >
> > This is the command called when I use startx, right? If so, how can I
> > make xdm use it as well? Or the problem is somewhere else here?
> 
> In the old days, xdm used your ~/.xsession instead of ~/.xinitrc.  I see
>  that /etc/X11/Sessions/Xsession still reads ~/.xsession, but I don't use
>  kde so I don't know what /etc/X11/Sessions/KDE-4 (or kde?) does when you
>  run it.
> 
> Whatever is in that file must do something different than just run
>  startkde, so take a look at it.

/etc/X11/Sessions/KDE-4 just runs:  

exec "/usr/bin/startkde"

and /usr/bin/startkde does not seem to look into either .xinitrc, or 
.xsession, both of which are optional files for personal settings of your 
xsession and its applications.  It does however check to see if XDM is 
running and then it tries to connect to that X server.

In my machine (still on the stable baselayout) if I add XSESSION="kde-4" in 
/etc/rc.conf and DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm" in /etc/conf.d/xdm it works.

Assuming that you have not forgotten to emerge xdm ;-) you may want to try 
using the above settings and then running:

/etc/init.d/xdm --debug restart

from a console to see what errors you get.
-- 
Regards,
Mick