Difference between revisions of "SLiM"
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− | Note that, in this script, the default option simply executes, e.g., exec icewm (if that is the default session), without icewmbg and icewmtray. You may want simply to repeat everything you've put under, e.g., icewm) again under *). | + | Note that, in this script, the default option simply executes, e.g., exec icewm (if that is the default session), without icewmbg and icewmtray. You may want simply to repeat everything you've put under, e.g., icewm) again under *). When done use F1 to cycle through sessions in SLiM. |
=== Themes === | === Themes === |
Revision as of 08:15, 21 December 2011
Template:Article summary text Template:Article summary heading Template:Article summary wiki Template:Article summary end
SLiM is an acronym for Simple Login Manager. SLiM is simple, lightweight and easily configurable. SLiM is used by some because it does not require the dependencies of GNOME or KDE and can help make a lighter system for users that like to use lightweight desktops like Xfce, Openbox, and Fluxbox.
Contents
- 1 Installation
- 2 Configuration
- 3 Other options
- 3.1 Changing the cursor
- 3.2 Match SLiM and Desktop Wallpaper
- 3.3 Shutdown, reboot, suspend, exit, launch terminal from SLiM
- 3.4 SLiM init error with rc.d daemon
- 3.5 Power-off error with Splashy
- 3.6 Power-off tray icon fails
- 3.7 Login information with SLiM
- 3.8 SLiM and Gnome Keyring
- 3.9 SLiM and Environment Variables
- 3.10 Setting DPI with SLiM
- 3.11 Use a random theme
- 3.12 Move the whole session to another VT
- 3.13 Automatically mount your encrypted /home on login
- 4 All Slim Options
- 5 See also
Installation
Install SLiM from the extra repository:
# pacman -S slim
Configuration
Enabling SLiM
SLiM can be loaded on startup by entering it in your daemons array in rc.conf
or by modifying inittab
. See Display Manager for detailed instructions.
Single environments
To configure SLiM to load a particular environment, edit your ~/.xinitrc
to load your desktop environment:
#!/bin/sh # # ~/.xinitrc # # Executed by startx (run your window manager from here) # exec [session-command]
SLiM reads the local ~/.xinitrc
configuration and then launches the desktop according to what is in that file. If you do not have a ~/.xinitrc
file, you can use the skeleton file by:
$ cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~
Remember to make .xinitrc executable:
chmod +x ~/.xinitrc
Replace [session-command]
with the appropriate session command. Some examples of different desktop start commands:
exec awesome exec dwm exec startfluxbox exec fvwm2 exec gnome-session exec openbox-session exec startkde exec startlxde exec startxfce4 exec enlightenment_start exec ck-launch-session $ONE_OF_THE_ABOVE
To get automount to work it might be necessary to use something like e.g.:
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch startxfce4
If your environment is not listed here, refer to the appropriate wiki page.
PolicyKit
If you have problems with PolicyKit, use ConsoleKit's ck-launch-session
by changing the login_cmd
line of your /etc/slim.conf
to:
login_cmd exec ck-launch-session /bin/bash -login ~/.xinitrc %session
and leave your ~/.xinitrc
as plain as possible; for instance:
#!/bin/sh exec startxfce4 # or the window manager of your choice
Autologin
To make SLiM automatically login as a specified user (without having to type a password) the following lines in /etc/slim.conf
should be changed.
# default_user simone
Uncomment this line, and change "simone" to the user to be logged into automatically.
# auto_login no
Uncomment this line and change the 'no' to 'yes'. This enables the auto login feature.
Multiple environments
To be able to choose from multiple desktop environments, SLiM can be setup to log you into whichever you choose.
Put a case statement similar to this one in your ~/.xinitrc
file and edit the sessions variable in /etc/slim.conf
to match the names that trigger the case statement. You can choose the session at login time by pressing F1. Note that this feature is experimental.
# The following variable defines the session which is started if the user doesn't explicitly select a session # Source: http://svn.berlios.de/svnroot/repos/slim/trunk/xinitrc.sample DEFAULT_SESSION=twm case $1 in kde) exec startkde ;; xfce4) exec startxfce4 ;; icewm) icewmbg & icewmtray & exec icewm ;; wmaker) exec wmaker ;; blackbox) exec blackbox ;; *) exec $DEFAULT_SESSION ;; esac
Note that, in this script, the default option simply executes, e.g., exec icewm (if that is the default session), without icewmbg and icewmtray. You may want simply to repeat everything you've put under, e.g., icewm) again under *). When done use F1 to cycle through sessions in SLiM.
Themes
Install the slim-themes package:
# pacman -S slim-themes archlinux-themes-slim
The archlinux-themes-slim packages contains several different themes. Look in the directory of /usr/share/slim/themes
to see the themes available. Enter the theme name on the current_theme
line in /etc/slim.conf
:
#current_theme default current_theme archlinux-simplyblack
To preview a theme run while an instance of the Xorg server is running by:
$ slim -p /usr/share/slim/themes/<theme name>
To close, type "exit" in the Login line and press Enter.
Additional theme packages can be found in the AUR.
Dual screen setup
You can customize the slim theme in /usr/share/slim/themes/<your-theme>/slim.theme
to turn these percents values. The box itself is 450 pixels by 250 pixels:
input_panel_x 50% input_panel_y 50%
into pixels values:
# These settings set the "archlinux-simplyblack" panel in the center of a 1440x900 screen input_panel_x 495 input_panel_y 325
# These settings set the "archlinux-retro" panel in the center of a 1680x1050 screen input_panel_x 615 input_panel_y 400
If your theme has a background picture you should use the background_style setting ('stretch', 'tile', 'center' or 'color') to get it correctly displayed. Have a look at the very simple and clear official documentation about slim themes for further details.
Other options
A few things you might like to try.
Changing the cursor
If you want to change the default X cursor to a newer design, the slim-cursorAUR package is available.
After installing, edit /etc/slim.conf
and uncomment the line:
cursor left_ptr
This will give you a normal arrow instead. This setting is forwarded to xsetroot -cursor_name
. You can look up the possible cursor names here or in /usr/share/icons/<your-cursor-theme>/cursors/
.
To change the cursor theme being used at the login screen, make a file named /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme
with this content:
[Icon Theme] Inherits=<your-cursor-theme>
Replace <your-cursor-theme> with the name of the cursor theme you want to use (e.g. whiteglass).
Match SLiM and Desktop Wallpaper
To share a wallpaper between SLiM and your desktop, rename the used theme background, then create a link from your desktop wallpaper file to the default SLiM theme:
# mv /usr/share/slim/themes/default/background.jpg{,.bck} # ln -s /path/to/mywallpaper.jpg /usr/share/slim/themes/default/background.jpg
Shutdown, reboot, suspend, exit, launch terminal from SLiM
You may shutdown, reboot, suspend, exit or even launch a terminal from the SLiM login screen. To do so, use the values in the username field, and the root password in the password field:
- To launch a terminal, enter console as the username (defaults to xterm which must be installed separately... edit
/etc/slim.conf
to change terminal preference) - For shutdown, enter halt as the username
- For reboot, enter reboot as the username
- To exit to bash, enter exit as the username
- For suspend, enter suspend as the username (suspend is disabled by default, edit
/etc/slim.conf
as root to uncomment thesuspend_cmd
line and, if necessary modify the suspend command itself (e.g. change/usr/sbin/suspend
tosudo /usr/sbin/pm-suspend
))
SLiM init error with rc.d daemon
If you initialize SLiM with /etc/rc.conf
inside the DAEMONS array and it fails to initialize it's most likely a lock file issue. SLiM creates a lock file in /var/lock
on each initialization, however, in most cases the lock folder in /var does not exist preventing SLiM from initializing. Check to make sure /var/lock
exists, if it does not you can create it by typing the following:
# mkdir /var/lock/
Power-off error with Splashy
If you use Splashy and SLiM, sometimes you can't power-off or reboot from menu in GNOME, Xfce, LXDE or others. Check your /etc/slim.conf
and /etc/splash.conf
; set the DEFAULT_TTY=7
same as xserver_arguments vt07
.
Power-off tray icon fails
If your power off tray icon fails, it could be due to not having root privileges. To start a tray icon with root privileges, be sure to have SLiM start the program. Edit /etc/slim.conf
as follows:
sessionstart_cmd /path/to/tray/icon/program &
Login information with SLiM
By default, SLiM fails to log logins to utmp and wtmp which causes who, last, etc. to misreport login information. To fix this edit your slim.conf
as follows:
sessionstart_cmd /usr/bin/sessreg -a -l $DISPLAY %user sessionstop_cmd /usr/bin/sessreg -d -l $DISPLAY %user
SLiM and Gnome Keyring
If you are using SLiM to launch a Gnome session and have trouble accessing your keyring, for example not being automatically authenticated on login, add the following lines to /etc/pam.d/slim
(as discussed here).
auth optional pam_gnome_keyring.so session optional pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start
You also have to add to /etc/pam.d/passwd
:
password optional pam_gnome_keyring.so
If you use a screensaver you also have to add
auth optional pam_gnome_keyring.so
to /etc/pam.d/gnome-screensaver
for example (replace gnome-screensaver with slimlock,slock,whatever you use). If you don't do that, your keyring is locked when screen is locked by your screensaver and not unlocked again after logging back in.
However, this fix alone no longer works since Gnome 2.30. Further changes are necessary as described here. Modifying the login_cmd
line in /etc/slim.conf
:
login_cmd exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch /bin/bash -login ~/.xinitrc %session >~/.xsession-errors 2>&1
As of GNOME 3, simply adding dbus-launch
after ck-launch-session
will work, without needing to edit /etc/pam.d/slim
.
As of GNOME 3.1, you need to add dbus-launch
after ck-launch-session
and edit /etc/pam.d/{slim,passwd}
, otherwise the keyring will not be automatically unlocked. I never tried it on 3.0, so maybe the above information about GNOME 3 is wrong.
The solutions mentioned here and also further information are found here.
If you have problems keeping the keyring unlocked for longer sessions, there is another thing that Gnome does:
Look at /etc/xdg/autostart/{gnome-keyring-gpg.desktop, gnome-keyring-pkcs11.desktop, gnome-keyring-secrets.desktop, gnome-keyring-ssh.desktop}
.
Append the following lines to .xinitrc just before you start your wm (example here is awesome wm):
/usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon --start --components=gpg /usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon --start --components=pkcs11 /usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon --start --components=secrets /usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon --start --components=ssh /usr/bin/awesome
After login check if there is only one gnome-keyring-daemon instance running (ps -A | grep gnome). If those lines are executed too early then you have 4 instances running which is not good.
You also should notice that seahorse for example does not show any pkcs11 errors anymore and that your keyring is unlocked all the time and does not lock itself anymore. Finally gnome-keyring is fully functional like in Gnome. See also here.
SLiM and Environment Variables
If you have trouble with environment variables changing after a session is started, one cause could be the module pam_env.so, by default, reads the file /etc/environment
and sets up the environment accordingly.
For example: I use SLiM, which fires up a XFCE4 session upon valid authentication. When this is done my terminal(xfterm4) can't print Unicode characters(LC_* environment variables has been defaulted/altered to "POSIX"). But when I start XFCE4 manually, like so: startxfce4
, Unicode characters on my terminal works fine.
This can be fixed by adding this to /etc/environment
or your user specific file: $HOME/.pam_environment
:
# You can change these to fit your preference, of course. LANG="en_US.UTF-8" LC_COLLATE="C"
Alternatively, you can modify the line in /etc/pam.d/slim
from:
session required pam_env.so
To:
session required pam_env.so envfile=<yourfile>
Where <yourfile> is the name of the file you want PAM to recognize as your default environment file, when starting a new session from SLiM.
Setting DPI with SLiM
The Xorg server generally picks up the DPI but if it doesn't you can specify it to SLiM. If you set the DPI with the argument -dpi 96 in /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc
it will not work with SLiM. To fix this change your slim.conf
from:
xserver_arguments -nolisten tcp vt07
to
xserver_arguments -nolisten tcp vt07 -dpi 96
Use a random theme
Use the current_theme
variable as a comma separated list to specify a set from which to choose. Selection is random.
Move the whole session to another VT
Lets say you have commented out tty terminals 3-6 as you may not use them. (You may use screen and therefore only need one terminal)
So, to move the X-Server you need to change one number in the /etc/slim.conf
file. Just a few lines down you should see:
xserver_arguments -nolisten tcp vt07
Simply change the vt07 to lets say vt03 as there is no agetty started there.
Automatically mount your encrypted /home on login
You can use pam_mount.
All Slim Options
Here is a list of all the slim configuration options and their default values.
sessionstart_cmd allows %user (execd right before login_cmd) and it is also allowed in sessionstop_cmd
login_cmd allows %session and %theme
Option Name | Default Value |
---|---|
default_path | /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
|
default_xserver | /usr/bin/X
|
xserver_arguments | vt07 -auth /var/run/slim.auth
|
numlock | |
daemon | yes
|
xauth_path | /usr/bin/xauth
|
login_cmd | exec /bin/bash -login ~/.xinitrc %session
|
halt_cmd | /sbin/shutdown -h now
|
reboot_cmd | /sbin/shutdown -r now
|
suspend_cmd | |
sessionstart_cmd | |
sessionstop_cmd | |
console_cmd | /usr/bin/xterm -C -fg white -bg black +sb -g %dx%d+%d+%d -fn %dx%d -T
|
screenshot_cmd | import -window root /slim.png
|
welcome_msg | Welcome to %host
|
session_msg | Session:
|
default_user | |
focus_password | no
|
auto_login | no
|
current_theme | default
|
lockfile | /var/run/slim.lock
|
logfile | /var/log/slim.log
|
authfile | /var/run/slim.auth
|
shutdown_msg | The system is halting...
|
reboot_msg | The system is rebooting...
|
sessions | wmaker,blackbox,icewm
|
sessiondir | |
hidecursor | false
|
input_panel_x | 50%
|
input_panel_y | 40%
|
input_name_x | 200
|
input_name_y | 154
|
input_pass_x | -1
|
input_pass_y | -1
|
input_font | Verdana:size=11
|
input_color | #000000
|
input_cursor_height | 20
|
input_maxlength_name | 20
|
input_maxlength_passwd | 20
|
input_shadow_xoffset | 0
|
input_shadow_yoffset | 0
|
input_shadow_color | #FFFFFF
|
welcome_font | Verdana:size=14
|
welcome_color | #FFFFFF
|
welcome_x | -1
|
welcome_y | -1
|
welcome_shadow_xoffset | 0
|
welcome_shadow_yoffset | 0
|
welcome_shadow_color | #FFFFFF
|
intro_msg | |
intro_font | Verdana:size=14
|
intro_color | #FFFFFF
|
intro_x | -1
|
intro_y | -1
|
background_style | stretch
|
background_color | #CCCCCC
|
username_font | Verdana:size=12
|
username_color | #FFFFFF
|
username_x | -1
|
username_y | -1
|
username_msg | Please enter your username
|
username_shadow_xoffset | 0
|
username_shadow_yoffset | 0
|
username_shadow_color | #FFFFFF
|
password_x | -1
|
password_y | -1
|
password_msg | Please enter your password
|
msg_color | #FFFFFF
|
msg_font | Verdana:size=16:bold
|
msg_x | 40
|
msg_y | 40
|
msg_shadow_xoffset | 0
|
msg_shadow_yoffset | 0
|
msg_shadow_color | #FFFFFF
|
session_color | #FFFFFF
|
session_font | Verdana:size=16:bold
|
session_x | 50%
|
session_y | 90%
|
session_shadow_xoffset | 0
|
session_shadow_yoffset | 0
|
session_shadow_color | #FFFFFF
|