On Sun 25 Sep 2016 at 18:55:03 +0100, Brian wrote: > The existence of ~/.xessionrc appears to cause more problems than it > purportedly solves.
And it still won't lie down and die. It is determined to take over the traditional role of ~/.xsession and prove its worth. However, kudos for the editing of https://wiki.debian.org/Xsession to help Debian users. But now we have > User configuration may be done in a few different ways. The simplest > way is to create a ~/.xsessionrc file,..... The pedantic side of me asks - why is it the simplest way? And in what cirumstances? The technical side of me answers that a long-lived process does not have to be specified in it; the alternatives system can be relied on to bring up the window or session manager. That's not a bad reason to use it exclusively (which you would have to in the absence of ~/.xsession) but it basically caters for the user who is reluctant or too lazy or, more likely, doesn't know to put 'exec x-session-manager' in ~/.xsession. There is also no mention of ~/.xessionrc as a different way of user configuration in the documentation. Quite the opposite. startx(1) says .xsession is the file to use. 50x11-common_determine-startup more or less says the same thing. ~/.xsessionrc doesn't have magical properties within Debian's X. If it disappeared tomorrow X would be none the worse for it. Programs could still be started, environment variables set, window managers brought up etc. Believe in ~/.xsession; ignore all imitations; it is the one and only true X configuration file for users. Carrying on with the wiki: > A more advanced alternative is to use the ~/.xsession file. This > file, if it exists, is used instead of the system-wide default > x-session-manager or x-window-manager. Therefore, if you use it, > you must ensure that it launches your desired window manager (WM) > or desktop environment (DE). ~/.xsession is now raised to the status of a "more advanced alternative" to ~/.xsessionrc. This is a special view of the situation not borne out by any documentation. The remainder of the paragraph is not quite correct. If ~/.xsession exists it is used and will start whatever is on an 'exec' line. This could be a particular WM or DE ('exec fvwm', 'exec gnome-session', for example). 'exec x-window-manager' is a valid line. All you have to ensure is that it starts a process which does not complete. (As a matter of interest, 'exec xterm' would be ok). > Finally, note that the ~/.xsession file is only read if you > are using a Debian X session. If you login with gdm3 and > choose a GNOME session, the ~/.xsession file will be ignored > completely. (But you may still use ~/.xsessionrc.) Not observed in testing. /etc/gdm3/Xsession also has a stanza beginning "SESSIONFILES=$(run_parts $(SYSSESSIONDIR)" which also appears to contradict this statement. SYSSESSIONDIR is /etc/X11/Xsession.d. -- Brian.
