GDM.8(8)

NAME
gdm - GNOME Display Manager

SYNOPSIS
gdm

DESCRIPTION
gdm is the equivalent of xdm(1x) or wdm(1x), but uses the GNOME libraries to provide a GNOME look-and-feel. It provides the GNOME equivalent of a "login:" prompt.

gdm reads /etc/gdm/custom.conf for its configuration. For each local display, gdm starts an X server and runs a minimal GNOME session including a graphical greeter. If configured so, the main gdm process also listens for XDMCP requests from remote displays. These requests can either be direct, causing gdm to start a session on the remote display, or indirect, causing a chooser to be opened.

When managing a display, gdm attempts to execute /etc/gdm/Init/display, or /etc/gdm/Init/Default if that does not exist. When a user logs in, gdm first attempts /etc/gdm/PreSession/display (or /etc/gdm/PreSession/Default), and then one of the sessions defined in /usr/share/xsessions. When the session has completed, gdm attempts to run /etc/gdm/PostSession/display, or /etc/gdm/PostSession/Default.

gdm maintains information about the displays it is managing in /var/lib/gdm. This includes xauth information, so this directory is not readable to normal users.

gdm uses PAM to perform authentication using the config file /etc/pam.d/gdm.

ENVIRONMENT

XAUTHORITY
    Upon session startup, GDM sets the XAUTHORITY environment variable to a session-specific file in /run/gdm.

    Applications and scripts that assume this file is set to ~/.Xauthority will not work. To access the display you need both DISPLAY and XAUTHORITY variables.

AUTHOR
Martin Kasper Petersen <mkp@SunSITE.auc.dk>

This manual page written by Steve Haslam <araqnid@debian.org> for Debian GNU/Linux. Updated by Raphaeel Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>, Ryan Murray <rmurray@debian.org>, Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org> and Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net>.