Today's article has us finding out which display-manager we're using.

KGIII

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It's worth knowing which display-manager you're using, especially if it breaks or you want to swap it out for something more interesting.


Feedback is awesome.
 


It's worth knowing which display-manager you're using, especially if it breaks or you want to swap it out for something more interesting.


Feedback is awesome.
You can also use
Code:
echo $DESKTOP_SESSION
 
You can also use
Code:
echo $DESKTOP_SESSION

Good point! Heck, I'm pretty sure I used that in a previous article, but memory says it was about finding your desktop. I suppose I could search for it.
 
Huh... On some it's just the DE and not the DM. Ccuriouser and curiouser...
 
The results for

echo $DESKTOP_SESSION

can vary across a wide spread of the 75 distros I have in my stable, that is why I use inxi as often as not, or the methods David has outlined at Linux Tips.

Wiz
 
Since starting this site, technically about two years ago if we count the first one, I'm pretty sure I've learned more than anyone else has (from the site). The commentary is often where I learn quite a bit, the rest would be while researching some articles.
 
Code:
inxi -xxS
gives Desktop, Window Manager, and Display Manager

Code:
inxi -xxxS
gives the same as above... plus their installed version number
~$ inxi -xxxS
System:
Host: Minty Kernel: 5.13.0-48-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A
Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 wm: muffin 5.2.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0
Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
 
Must depend on the distro.

No it is based on the DE (Desktop Environment).

By default, the following applies (DEs followed by DMs):

Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE - LightDM

GNOME - GDM (3)

KDE, LXQt - SDDM (Simple Desktop Display Manager)

Linux Mint used to use MDM (Mint Display Manager) until 18.2 Serena, when it went to LightDM.

KDE used to use KDM until Plasma 5

Lubuntu used to use LXDM (associated with LXDE), now it is on SDDM under LXQt.

There are others.

Enlightenment (example Bodhi Linux) uses Entrance.

I have a distro somewhere that uses SLiM, although that is supposed to be defunct.

Confused? Join the club ;)

Wizard
 
Feedback is awesome.
The visible part where you login , on Arch they call it "greeter" and is part of the display manager ;from my install notes it seems i had to install Desktop environment, the display manager main and the greeter element.

Code:
# pacman -S cinnamon  lightdm lightdm-greeter
 
No it is based on the DE (Desktop Environment).

By default, the following applies (DEs followed by DMs):

Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE - LightDM

GNOME - GDM (3)

KDE, LXQt - SDDM (Simple Desktop Display Manager)

Linux Mint used to use MDM (Mint Display Manager) until 18.2 Serena, when it went to LightDM.

KDE used to use KDM until Plasma 5

Lubuntu used to use LXDM (associated with LXDE), now it is on SDDM under LXQt.

There are others.

Enlightenment (example Bodhi Linux) uses Entrance.

I have a distro somewhere that uses SLiM, although that is supposed to be defunct.

Confused? Join the club ;)

Wizard
Copying this one man. Thanks!

Yes, confusing but thanks for doing the research.
 
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Always welcome, but no research done (for this Thread) as I did it all ages ago for a Thread on Linux for the Visually Challenged that I let languish but will be providing new input to shortly, I hope.

Cheers
 
'inxi -xxxS' showed 'dm: N/A', so I followed the article and got the result '/usr/bin/slimski'
slimski is a lightweight DM. I'm using antiX 21 based on SysV init and slimski.
 
Yeah, inxi isn't always going to be complete or can have issues if information isn't what/where it expects.
 
It's hard to keep up with new dms or window managers, they pop up constantly, same with compositors etc.

This is particularly the case when people make new dms out of old ones, this is the second slim based one I've heard of recently, the other one was covered partially, but not completely.

Since it's impossible for me to keep up with everything, ideally what people would do when they discover an unhandled item is to report the issue at github inxi.

For a full display manager report, I need the following information, using slimski as the sample:
  • Does it have a --version type output, if so, what is the switch, it can be many things, --version, -v, -V.
  • What is the output of that version switch? I looked at the slimski man page, so it does have it: slimski -v [show the full complete output, don't make me guess]
  • Does that output get redirected to stderr, which several dms do: slimski -v 2>/dev/null - if that is empty but the first one shows version, then it's redirecting to stderr.
  • how do you detect it is running, usually it's in /run or /var/run, what is it called in there?
  • What is the official name, upper lower, etc? According to the gitlab page, it's slimski, all lower case. In other words, how does the project itself refer to it. This is what inxi should show in the output.
slim based things do have -v but I cannot guess at what that output might look like, nor can I guess about some other things inxi needs to know which part is the version number based on the real output.

The more of these items I get, the better the dm data will be.

What is the official name, upper lower, etc? According to the gitlab page, it's slimski, all lower case.

Since I can never guess at --version stuff, that remains blank, marked as unverified internally, until it's verified, which usually ends up with me having to do all the work and testing and installation of these endless things.

If it has no --version, or if it's unverified, I leave a placeholder that contains only its official name syntax, like SLiM.

I'll be adding this to pinxi and since someone found a bug in the refactor 3.3.17 this morning, should be out soon.

Another SLiM based one I ran across recently, also without -v output samples, is brzdm.

The more info you provide, the better the inxi data will be. Note that Slim did not output to stderr according to my internal data so it's very unlikely slimski does either.

The ideal is that when a projects forks or launches a new dm, they provide that data to me so that inxi can include it before the product ships. Ly did that, amazingly, one of the only to do it.

Note that this stuff gets sort of tiresome to always have to do myself, so it would be nice if projects could be a bit more proactive, I'm not going to be doing this stuff forever, nor will I always be interested in doing all the work for people. I'm seeing a disturbing trend in inxi where people are adopting an increasingly passive role, with a few noteable exceptions, expecting that this stuff is 'just done' by 'someone out there', and not actually doing anything to help themselves.

This is particularly the case with people reporting issues on local forums that have nothing to do withi inxi, and which I only visit randomly and occasionally. If you find an issue with inxi, don't report it to your distro or local forum, report it to inxi, lol, otherwise it's a total random whether I see it. I saw this one because a guy emailed me about it, otherwise I would never have seen it. After updating to current master branch inxi, of course, because stuff gets found and fixed constantly.
 
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