Hi guys! I wanted to give opensuse a try, so I took the chance of my debian partition being broken to replace it with OSuse 11.4.
I come from Arch (which resides in my other partition), so I’m used to have my system under full control, by directly reading and manipulating the config text files. So in these days I’m reading the official OpenSuse Docs. Today I was concentrating on the boot and init part and I was wondering what is the default login manager of Opensuse, cause I noticed that kdm is installed, but is not present in /etc/init.d, whilst xdm is, marked with “S”, therefore started.
So I was wondering: is xdm the default login manager, or is it kdm, but called by some other script in the init sequence? I run OSuse with the default kde installation.
Thanks in advance!
In kde the settings are
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Display_window_Manager/display-manager-kde4.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Display_window_Manager/window-manager-kde4.jpg
it is KDM. I think xdm just runs the display manager specified in /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager
So, how is it technically run? I mean: In Arch, in the MODULES section of your /etc/rc.conf file, you set your display manager (i.e.: gdm), which the system can find in the /etc/rc.d folder (the equivalent bsd-like style of /etc/init.d). Then the dm starts X and all the other stuff. How is this done in OpenSuse, considering that no kdm exists in the init.d folder? Is /usr/bin/kdm started by any other script in the init.d dorectory?
Off-topic: can anyone send me via pm the explanation about how to use and search entries in the opensuse wiki? I really can’t figure it out!
The “/etc/init.d” startup scripts source the defines in the “/etc/sysconfig” settings, then use those in setting up the display manager and various other configurable features.
Well, I get the stuff about sysconfig, in which you can define the default display manager… But what I’m trying to say is: apart from configuration, there must be some script which physically executes kdm… In Arch, this is the kdm script in /etc/rc.conf, which launches /usr/bin/kdm. I mean: inittab, fir example, defines that at the boot /etc/init.d/boot must be run, but then /etc/init.d/boot practically launches all the apps required for starting up the system. Now, sysconfig defines that kdm is the default dm, but, then, how is kdm launched at the startup? Which one is the script launching it? Maybe xdm, like Ah suggested?
Got it! Here it is, in the kdm script in /etc/init.d
[script]
KDM_BIN=/opt/kde3/bin/kdm
KDM4_BIN=/usr/bin/kdm
WDM_BIN=/usr/bin/wdm
SLIM_BIN=/usr/bin/slim
LXDM_BIN=/usr/bin/lxdm
ENTRANCE_BIN=/usr/sbin/entranced
RELOADSIGNAL="-HUP"
DM=${DISPLAYMANAGER##*/}
case “${DM}” in
kdm3) DISPLAYMANAGER=$KDM_BIN
PIDFILE=$KDM_PIDFILE
;;
kdm|kde|KDM|KDE) DISPLAYMANAGER=$KDM_BIN
if ! -r “$DISPLAYMANAGER” ]; then
DISPLAYMANAGER=$KDM4_BIN
fi
PIDFILE=$KDM_PIDFILE
;;
kdm4) DISPLAYMANAGER=$KDM4_BIN
PIDFILE=$KDM_PIDFILE
;;
[/script]
Thanks Ah! 
I didn’t check all the script, cause it’s pretty long, but I think it should be the “culprit”! If anyone got the technical knowledge to confirm it, please tell me!
On 2011-05-08 23:36, xaber1488 wrote:
> but, then, how is kdm
> launched at the startup? Which one is the script launching it? Maybe
> xdm, like Ah suggested?
Of course. It knows what to start based in the sysconfig file.
Alsmost everything is configured there. Then, there is a script,
SuSEconfig, that applies the changes there to the appropriate configuration
file for each program.
If, for example, you want to configure postfix on your own, you would
modify the “mail” file to tell it not to configure mail for you.
On other cases, the system keeps md5 signatures of configuration files
(/var/adm/SuSEconfig/md5/). If you change the corresponding configuration
file manually, then SuSEconfig will refuse to touch it again.
YaST also calls SuSEconfig.
Typically, we use Yast at least once to configure each thing we want, then
perhaps switch to the “manual” way. You can concentrate on learning how to
configure the things you really need, and leave the rest on automatics.
Saves time 
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
On 2011-05-08 23:36, xaber1488 wrote:
> Got it! Here it is, in the kdm script in /etc/init.d
minas-tirith:~ # ls /etc/init.d/kdm
ls: cannot access /etc/init.d/kdm: No such file or directory
Telcontar:~ # which rckdm
/usr/sbin/rckdm
Telcontar:~ # l /usr/sbin/rckdm
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 5 Dec 28 13:44 /usr/sbin/rckdm -> rcxdm*
So, it is xdm.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
On 2011-05-08 22:06, ah7013 wrote:
>
> it is KDM. I think xdm just runs the display manager specified in
> /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager
That’s different, that’s a binary. Different job.
Telcontar:~ # l /usr/bin/kdm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 169128 Mar 15 2010 /usr/bin/kdm*
Telcontar:~ # file /usr/bin/kdm
/usr/bin/kdm: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV),
dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.4, stripped
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
OK Thanks
OK Thanks
OK Thanks
Whoops sorry for triple post. Don’t know what happened?
Yep! I meant xdm, not kdm! Sorry for the miswriting! And thanks for the technical explanation! Cheers!