Session Management
This chapter introduces session management, and describes
how to set session defaults. The chapter also contains information on sessions
and login scripts.
Introduction
sessions
introduction
A GNOME desktop session occurs between the time that a user
logs in to the GNOME desktop and the time that the user logs out. The session
manager starts after the Login Manager authenticates
the user. The session manager enables the user to manage the session. For
example, a user can save the state of a session and return to that session
the next time that the user logs in.
At a minimum, the following applications run in a session:
The session manager, gnome-session.
The GConf X settings daemon, gnome-settings-daemon.
The gnome-panel application, which
runs the panels on the GNOME desktop.
The Metacity window manager.
Setting Session Defaults
sessions
setting defaults
The following table lists the files that contain default
session information:
File
Description
/usr/share/gnome/default.session
Default session file.
Default session details are stored in this file.
$HOME/.gnome2/session
User session file. When a user modifies the session,
the details are stored in this file.
To set default session details for all users, modify the default session
file.
To restore the default session settings for a user, delete the session
file from the home directory of the user. If no user session file is present,
the default settings in /usr/share/gnome/default.session
are used.
To save the current session as the default session, users can run the gnome-session-save command.
Login Scripts
sessions
login scripts
The GNOME desktop does not support system-wide login scripts
or logout scripts. The session manager only allows users to configure user
sessions. Users can configure non-session-managed startup applications with
the Sessions preference tool.
You can work around the lack of support for system-wide login scripts.
To create a system-wide login script, create the script in the /usr/dt/config/Xsession.d directory. Name the script as follows:
number_greater_than_1000.name
For example, name the script 1050.login. For more
information on the /usr/dt/config/Xsession.d file, see The XSession File in the dtlogin1 man page.