Beyond Linux From Scratch - Version 6.1

Chapter 31. GNOME Additional Packages

GDM-2.6.0.9

Introduction to GDM

The GDM package contains GNOME's Display Manager daemon. This is useful for allowing configurable graphical logins.

Package Information

GDM Dependencies

Required

libgnomeui-2.10.0, ScrollKeeper-0.3.14 and librsvg-2.9.5

Optional

Linux-PAM-0.80, tcpwrappers-7.6 and SELinux

Installation of GDM

It is recommended to have a dedicated user and group to take control of the gdm-binary daemon after it is started. Issue the following commands as the root user: 

groupadd -g 21 gdm &&
useradd -c "GDM Daemon Owner" -d /dev/null -g gdm -s /bin/bash -u 21 gdm

Install GDM by running the following commands as an unprivileged user: 

./configure --prefix=`pkg-config --variable=prefix ORBit-2.0` \
    --libexecdir=`pkg-config --variable=prefix ORBit-2.0`/sbin \
    --sysconfdir=/etc/gnome --localstatedir=/var/lib \
    --with-pam-prefix=/etc &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user: 

make install &&
chmod -v 644 --prefix=`pkg-config --variable=prefix ORBit-2.0`\
/share/gdm/BuiltInSessions/default.desktop &&
chmod -v 644 --prefix=`pkg-config --variable=prefix ORBit-2.0`\
/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop

Command Explanations

--sysconfdir=/etc/gnome: This command puts configuration files in /etc/gnome instead of $GNOME_PREFIX/etc.

--localstatedir=/var/lib: This command puts files in /var/lib instead of $GNOME_PREFIX/var. This also has the downside affect of using /var/lib/log/gdm as the log directory. See the “Configuration Information” section below for information how to relocate the log file directory.

--with-pam-prefix=/etc: This command puts PAM configuration files in /etc/pam.d instead of /etc/gnome.

Configuring GDM

Config Files

/etc/gnome/gdm/gdm.conf

Configuration Information

If desired, change the directory containing the GDM log files to the /var/log hierarchy by modifying the /etc/gnome/gdm/gdm.conf configuration file as the root user: 

sed -i -e "s|var/lib/log|var/log|" /etc/gnome/gdm/gdm.conf

The GDM PAM config files contain modules not present in a BLFS installation. The following commands will replace those files (issue as the root user): 

cat > /etc/pam.d/gdm << "EOF"
auth        required    pam_unix.so
auth        required    pam_nologin.so
account     required    pam_unix.so
password    required    pam_unix.so
session     required    pam_unix.so
EOF
cat > /etc/pam.d/gdm-autologin << "EOF"
auth        required    pam_env.so
auth        required    pam_nologin.so
auth        required    pam_permit.so
account     required    pam_unix.so
password    required    pam_unix.so
session     required    pam_unix.so
EOF

gdm can be tested by executing it from a root console.

Boot Script

To start a graphical login at boot, install the /etc/rc.d/init.d/gdm init script included in the blfs-bootscripts-6.1 package. If your GNOME_PREFIX environment variable is anything other than /usr or /opt/gnome-2.10, you will need to modify the PATH statement in the script to include the path where you have GNOME installed. 

make install-gdm

To autostart with a graphical login, edit /etc/inittab so that the line containing: 

id:3:initdefault:

is changed to: 

id:5:initdefault:

Contents

Installed Programs: gdm, gdm-binary, gdmXnest, gdmXnestchooser, gdmchooser, gdmflexiserver, gdmgreeter, gdmlogin, gdmphotosetup, gdmsetup, gdmthemetester, gdm-restart, gdm-safe-restart, gdm-stop, gdmconfig, gdmopen, and gdmtranslate
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: /etc/gnome/dm, /etc/gnome/gdm, $GNOME_PREFIX/share/gdm, $GNOME_PREFIX/share/gnome/capplets, $GNOME_PREFIX/share/gnome/help/gdm, $GNOME_PREFIX/share/omf/gdm, $GNOME_PREFIX/share/xsessions, /var/lib/gdm and /var/log/gdm

Short Descriptions

gdm

is a wrapper script to execute the GDM binary, the configurable GNOME based login prompt.

gdmchooser

is an application for selecting XDMCP enabled hosts on the local network.

gdmsetup

is a graphical interface to edit the gdm.conf file.

gdm-restart

sends the HUP signal to the GDM daemon so that it restarts. It's used after the config file is edited

gdm-safe-restart

sends the USR1 signal to the GDM daemon so that it restarts. It's used after the config file is edited.

gdmconfig

is an application for managing the configuration of the entire GDM applications suite. It handles look and feel, security, XDMCP, GDMchooser and more.

Last updated on 2005-08-01 13:29:19 -0600