Re: DM info variants for the new xdm init.d script

On 22:30 Mon 25 Oct     , Michał Górny wrote:
> 1) 'profile' files installed by DMs
> -----------------------------------
> 
> This is the most flexible yet heaviest of the possible solutions. It
> assumes that we set up some kind of 'session' directory in which
> various DMs install a single file describing how to launch them, and
> the XDM script tries to match one of these files and use them to set
> the DM up.
> 
> For example, xdm would install a file like:
> 
> 	# /usr/share/gentoo/dms/xdm
> 	exe=/usr/bin/xdm
> 	pidfile=/var/run/xdm.pid
> 
> This is very close to what we do now. It still requires a lot of
> customization for non-typical DMs (like lxde).
> 
> On the other hand, this way we could grab 'any installed DM' easily
> without requiring user to specify it in DISPLAYMANAGER.

I do like the idea of not needing to modify xdm/xinit stuff every time 
there's a new DM. I also like the parallels with Xsessions 
(/etc/X11/Sessions/).

> 2) separate init.d scripts
> --------------------------
> 
> This one is even heavier but more clean. This way, we only keep
> a minimal subset of DM-related code in common, and let every DM install
> its own init.d script. This way, we keep them clean and flexible.
> 
> On the other hand, that would introduce a lot of repeating code,
> and user would need to explicitly add appropriate DM to the runlevel.

Meh. The problems you pointed out are enough to hammer the nails into 
this one's coffin.

> 3) fixing DMs and a lot of guessing
> -----------------------------------
> 
> Many DMs resemble a common concept of executable name and pidfile. If
> we limited the amount of DISPLAYMANAGER possibilities, we could use
> an approach like:
> 
> 	EXE=$(which ${MY_XDM})
> 	PIDFILE=/var/run/${MY_XDM}.pid
> 
> But that won't work with all current DMs, so we'll probably end up with
> a thing similar to what we do now...

The guessing games will have to be done (or pre-empted) somewhere. It 
makes sense to me to do it in a way that pushes work onto the DM 
maintainers (who are experts in that DM).

-- 
Thanks,
Donnie

Donnie Berkholz
Desktop project lead
Gentoo Linux
Blog: http://dberkholz.wordpress.com

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