Can't switch to KDE

Patrick O'Callaghan pocallaghan at gmail.com
Sat Sep 6 12:56:17 UTC 2008


On Fri, 2008-09-05 at 16:35 -0500, Aaron Konstam wrote:
> On Fri, 2008-09-05 at 15:07 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > On Fri, 2008-09-05 at 09:39 -0500, Aaron Konstam wrote:
> > > On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 18:46 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > > > On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 15:47 -0500, Aaron Konstam wrote:
> > > > > On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 14:22 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > > > > > On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 20:35 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> > > > > > > Can't one just edit /etc/sysconfig/desktop ,
> > > > > > > or doesn't that work any more?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > It does work and has been mentioned here several times in the past. Note
> > > > > > that F9 doesn't seem to include the file by default so you have to
> > > > > > create it, and of course know what to put in it. For KDE:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > #!/bin/sh
> > > > > > DESKTOP="KDE"
> > > > > > DISPLAYMANAGER="KDE"
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > poc
> > > > > > 
> > > > > That does not work on my machine.
> > > > 
> > > > What does "not work" mean? What exactly happens? Have you restarted X
> > > > after makimg the above changes? It's not enough just to log out and in
> > > > again since you want to change the display manager (not just the window
> > > > manager). "init 3 && init 5" from a console should do the trick.
> > > Not work means when I login I get GNOME not KDE.
> > > > 
> > > > > What do you think of .Xclient-default?
> > > > 
> > > > You mean .Xclients-default? It just seems to execute startkde on my
> > > > system. That won't change the display manager either.
> > > Actually running startkde does change the display manager.
> > 
> > According to
> > http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdebase-runtime/userguide/kde-startup-sequence.html :
> > 
> >         "The KDE startup sequence starts with the startkde script. In
> >         most cases this script gets called from the display manager
> >         (kdm) once the user has been authenticated."
> > 
> > > Which is how
> > > switchsession is supposed to work. You just want to change the display
> > > manager for thew one user not the whole machine.
> > 
> > I think you're confused about what the display manager does. Note that
> > you can also run KDE under gdm, the Gnome Display Manager.
> > 
> > > This is
> > > why /etc/sysconfig/desktop is not a candidate for the job.
> > 
> > So how come it works for me and apparently many other people?
> > 
> > poc
> > 
> You are partially right. Reread message replacing display manager by
> window manager. Sorry for the mistake.

OK, rereading it with substitution we get:

        "Actually running startkde does change the window manager ...
        Which is how switchsession is supposed to work. You just want to
        change the window manager for the one user not the whole
        machine"

To be pedantic, switchdesk (not "switchsession") doesn't explicitly
change the window manager, it changes the desktop (which usually will
change the window manager implicitly). However that's immaterial. If you
look at what it does -- it's a Shell script so you can read it -- it
just sets up some initialization files for the next user session. In the
case of KDE, the initialization file simply searches for startkde in a
number of standard places. Since you say that startkde works for you
when run from a terminal, I'm at a loss to understand why this doesn't
just work unless it's a bug in startkde itself.

> But you are wrong that the
> contents of /etc/sysconfig/desktop controls which window manager is
> booted when you login. Which is what I wanted to do. That does not work
> for anyone.

Doesn't work for anyone? I'm telling you (again) that it works for me,
and I think it also works for other people. Perhaps you meant it doesn't
work for *everyone*, which is why we're discussing this.

poc




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