Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!CSD360B.ERIM.ORG!jgarb
From: jgarb@CSD360B.ERIM.ORG (Joe Garbarino)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: X.V11R3 and xdm
Message-ID: <8902071539.AA05529@csd360b.erim.org>
Date: 7 Feb 89 15:39:33 GMT
References: <8902070044.AA23764@DORA.MIT.EDU>
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 39


Concerning an xdm console, Chris Peterson says:
>The long and short of it is that you need to provide a method of displaying
>this information, xdm will allow this to be done via the Xstartup file, but
>you must provide the program that will actually accomplish the task.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how Xstartup solves the
problem.  According to my reading of the xdm man page:

    DisplayManager.DISPLAY.startup
         This specifies a program which is run (as root) after
         the authentication process succeeds....

To me, this means after a user has typed the username and password, and
these are verified as correct.  I think the intent is to have a console
on the screen continuously, even when no user is logged in.  Did I
misinterpret the man page?  Does it act differently?  I hope I'm wrong
since I don't feel like digging into xdmshell to hack a solution....

There is a resource named DisplayManager.DISPLAY.reset which could create
a console, but I don't think this would work if the server is being
restarted for each session (as we do for our Suns).  Also, until after
the first session, there would be no console.

Maybe there should be a DisplayManager.DISPLAY.xdmstartup resource which
points to a file which would be executed after the X server is started and
before the authentication widget is displayed.  This script could create a
console, and the DisplayManager.DISPLAY.startup script could remove it.

Thanks for looking into the problem.  The white trash at the bottom of the
screen (console messages), while easily cleared with a C-c, is annoying
and hard to explain to novice users.

					Joe Garbarino
					ERIM
					P.O. Box 8618
					Ann Arbor, Mi.  48107
					(313)994-1200 x2508
					jgarb@csd360b.erim.org