gnome2

[Paul Schmehl]

--On Wednesday, December 07, 2005 11:13:45 -0500 "Louis J. LeBlanc" 
<FreeBSD at keyslapper.net> wrote:

> <quote who="Paul Schmehl">
>>
>> Edit /etc/ttys like this:
>> ttyv8   "/usr/X11R6/sbin/gdm -nodaemon" xterm   on  secure
>>
>> And gnome will start when you boot.
>>
> Actually, don't the docs suggest turning OFF ttyv8?  IIRC, the more recent
> approach is to put "gdm_enable=YES" (or something similar) in /etc/rc.d.
> Check the pkg_message file in the port directory to be sure.
>
pkg-message points to www.freebsd.org/gnome, which doesn't say anything 
about startup (AFAICS) except this:

Make GNOME 2.12 start when X starts.

Once you have the GNOME 2.12 desktop installed, GNOME 2.12 can be started 
by adding the following line to ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc, as appropriate:

exec gnome-session

There's nothing about starting gnome in /usr/ports/UPDATING.

The Handbook suggests using ttyv8 (as I do) for xdm (section 5.6.2):
ttyv8   "/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon"  xterm   off secure

It also shows the same usage in section 3.2.4, WRT the /etc/ttys file.

Section 11.12 explains how to add additional virtual consoles if you need 
them, and says, "Use as many or as few as you want."  Then it explains 
that, if you use X, you must have one virtual console that is turned off or 
unused so that X will run.

Section 5.7.1.2 says this:

The easiest way to start GNOME is with GDM, the GNOME Display Manager. GDM, 
which is installed as a part of the GNOME desktop (but is disabled by 
default), can be enabled by adding gdm_enable="YES" to /etc/rc.conf. Once 
you have rebooted, GNOME will start automatically once you log in -- no 
further configuration is necessary.

In short, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Paul Schmehl (pauls at utdallas.edu)
Adjunct Information Security Officer
University of Texas at Dallas
AVIEN Founding Member
http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/security/