This chapter introduces session management, and describes how to set session defaults. The chapter also contains information about sessions and login scripts.
A session occurs between the time that a user logs in to the 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 desktop.
The Metacity
window manager.
The Nautilus
file manager.
The gnome-keyring daemon.
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.
The Java Desktop System 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 about the /usr/dt/config/Xsession.d file, see The XSession File in the dtlogin man page.