NAME¶
gnome-session - Start the GNOME desktop environment
SYNOPSIS¶
gnome-session [-a|--autostart=DIR] [--session=SESSION] [--failsafe|-f]
[--debug] [--whale]
DESCRIPTION¶
The
gnome-session program starts up the GNOME desktop environment. This
command is typically executed by your login manager (either gdm, xdm, or from
your X startup scripts). It will load either your saved session, or it will
provide a default session for the user as defined by the system administrator
(or the default GNOME installation on your system).
The default session is defined in
gnome.session, a .desktop-like file
that is looked for in
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnome-session/sessions,
$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/gnome-session/sessions and
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/gnome-session/sessions.
When saving a session,
gnome-session saves the currently running
applications in the
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnome-session/saved-session
directory.
gnome-session is an X11R6 session manager. It can manage GNOME
applications as well as any X11R6 SM compliant application.
OPTIONS¶
The following options are supported:
- --autostart=DIR
- Start all applications defined in DIR, instead of starting the
applications defined in gnome.session, or via the --session
option. Multiple --autostart options can be passed.
- --session=SESSION
- Use the applications defined in SESSION.session. If not specified,
gnome.session will be used.
- --failsafe
- Run in fail-safe mode. User-specified applications will not be
started.
- --debug
- Enable debugging code.
- --whale
- Show the fail whale in a dialog for debugging it.
SESSION DEFINITION¶
Sessions are defined in
.session files, that are using a .desktop-like
format, with the following keys in the
GNOME Session group:
- Name
- Name of the session. This can be localized.
- RequiredComponents
- List of component identifiers (desktop files) that are required by the
session. The required components will always run in the session.
Here is an example of a session definition:
[GNOME Session]
Name=GNOME
RequiredComponents=gnome-shell;gnome-settings-daemon;
The
.session files are looked for in
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnome-session/sessions,
$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/gnome-session/sessions and
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/gnome-session/sessions.
ENVIRONMENT¶
gnome-session sets several environment variables for the use of its child
processes:
SESSION_MANAGER
- This variable is used by session-manager aware clients to contact
gnome-session.
DISPLAY
- This variable is set to the X display being used by gnome-session.
Note that if the --display option is used this might be different
from the setting of the environment variable when gnome-session is
invoked.
FILES¶
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/config/autostart
$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/config/autostart /usr/share/gnome/autostart
- The applications defined in those directories will be started on login.
gnome-session-properties(1) can be used to easily configure
them.
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnome-session/sessions
$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/gnome-session/sessions
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/gnome-session/sessions
- These directories contain the .session files that can be used with
the --session option.
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnome-session/saved-session
- This directory contains the list of applications of the saved
session.
BUGS¶
If you find bugs in the
gnome-session program, please report these on
https://bugzilla.gnome.org.
SEE ALSO¶
gnome-session-properties(1) gnome-session-quit(1)