GDM 2.22 Configuration
GDM is functionally split into two separate pieces. The graphical front-end (also known as the Greeter) and the back-end (or daemon). The configuration is similarly split into two.
Back-end Configuration
The GDM backend (or daemon) is configured using a key file that is usually stored in /etc/gdm/custom.conf. This is the same configuration file that previous versions GDM have used. However, it is used somewhat differently. Basically, we only support a small subset of the options that were available in previous versions of GDM. Some of these options have been moved into the configuration for the front-end and some have become obsolete due to redesign.
The names, types, and defaults of the options that are still applicable are defined in the /etc/gdm/gdm.schemas file. It should look something like: http://svn.gnome.org/viewvc/gdm/trunk/data/gdm.schemas.in.in?view=markup
These are:
daemon/User |
string |
gdm |
Username used to run the Greeter frontend |
daemon/Group |
string |
gdm |
Group name used to run the Greeter frontend |
daemon/TimedLoginEnable |
boolean |
false |
Set to true to enable the timed login feature |
daemon/TimedLogin |
string |
NULL |
Set to the username to use with timed login |
daemon/TimedLoginDelay |
int |
30 |
Set to the number of seconds to delay before a timed login |
xdmcp/Enable |
boolean |
false |
Set to true enable the XDMCP server |
xdmcp/MaxPending |
int |
4 |
|
xdmcp/MaxSessions |
int |
16 |
The maximum number of concurrent remote XDMCP sessions |
xdmcp/MaxWait |
int |
15 |
|
xdmcp/DisplaysPerHost |
int |
2 |
The maximum number of XDMCP sessions per client system |
xdmcp/Port |
int |
177 |
The port number on which to listen for XDMCP client requests |
xdmcp/HonorIndirect |
boolean |
true |
Set to true to enable honoring indirect XDMCP requests |
xdmcp/MaxPendingIndirect |
int |
4 |
|
xdmcp/MaxWaitIndirect |
int |
15 |
|
xdmcp/PingIntervalSeconds |
int |
15 |
|
xdmcp/Willing |
string |
@gdmconfdir@/Xwilling |
Set to a command to run that will output the message sent to clients |
For example, to turn on timed login for a user named "you", put the following in /etc/gdm/custom.conf:
[daemon] TimedLoginEnable=true TimedLogin=you
Front-end Configuration
The GDM frontend (or Greeter) uses GConf for most of its configuration settings. These GConf settings can be split into two categories, ones that are: specific to the Greeter, generally applicable to desktop sessions.
Greeter specific settings
These are fully specified by the schemas file: http://svn.gnome.org/viewvc/gdm/trunk/gui/simple-greeter/gdm-simple-greeter.schemas.in?view=markup
These are:
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/banner_message_enable |
boolean |
false |
Set to true to show the banner message text |
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/banner_message_text |
string |
NULL |
Text banner message to show on the login window |
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/logo_icon_name |
string |
computer |
Set to the themed icon name to use for the greeter logo |
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_restart_buttons |
boolean |
false |
Set to TRUE to disable showing the restart buttons in the login window |
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_accessibility_button |
boolean |
false |
Set to TRUE to disable showing the accessibility button in the login window |
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/wm_use_compiz |
boolean |
false |
Set to true to use compiz as the window manager |
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/accessibility/screen_keyboard_enabled |
boolean |
false |
Set to True to enable the on-screen keyboard |
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/accessibility/screen_reader_enabled |
boolean |
false |
Set to True to enable the screen reader |
/apps/gdm/simple-greeter/accessibility/screen_magnifier_enabled |
boolean |
false |
Set to True to enable the screen magnifier |
General session settings
The GDM Greeter uses some of the same framework that your desktop session will use. And so, it is influenced by a number of the same GConf settings. For each of these settings the Greeter will use the default value unless it is specifically overridden by a) GDM's installed mandatory policy b) system mandatory policy. GDM installs its own mandatory policy to lock down some settings for security. These can be found here: http://svn.gnome.org/viewvc/gdm/trunk/data/session-setup.entries?view=markup
gnome-settings-daemon
GDM 2.22 enables the following gnome-settings-daemon plugins: a11y-keyboard, background, sound, xsettings
These are responsible for things like the background image, font and theme settings, sound events, etc.
Plugins can also be disabled using GConf. For example, if you want to disable the sound plugin then unset the following key: /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/settings-manager-plugins/sound/active