Debian-newbie questions

[Fraser Campbell]

On Saturday 04 October 2003 15:45, Anton Markov wrote:

> Look in /etc/inittab and see which run level starts gdm.  Then change
> the default runlevel near the top
> of the file to 3 (I think.  I could also be 2).

Debian doesn't start gdm/xdm/kdm from inittab.  With Debian you get runlevel 0 
(halt), runlevel 1 (single user), runlevel 2 (multi-user), runlevel 6 
(reboot).  Starting/stopping gdm is no different that starting/stopping any 
other daemon ... /etc/init.d/gdm start|stop

If you install gdm, kdm and xdm you can choose which display manager is the 
one actually started by running "dpkg-reconfigure packagename".

> >  b) I've installed FVWM.  I can't find switchdesk, which does the
> >config setup to switch from GNOME to KDE or FVWM or whatever.  How do I
> >do this in Debian.
>
> I am not sure about Debian.  In Redhat you edit the .XClients (or
> .xclients).  Also try one of the
> .xinitrc files.

That's probably a redhatism.  In Debian I have an executable file in my home 
named .xsession, it contains the following line:

    /usr/bin/ssh-agent /usr/bin/startkde

If you use gdm for your display manager then it should offer a drop down list 
of window managers to start, that's an alternative way to do it.  My 
.xsession file was from a few version of Debian ago but I'm pretty sure that 
it's still used.

> >  3) What is the Debian equivalant to /etc/rc.local
>
> /etc/rc.d/rc.local should be the standard location on most SysV style
> systems.

Not sure what standards there might be but in Debian your startup scripts are 
expected to be in /etc/init.d/ .  If you need to do some custom startup stuff 
the just create a script /etc/init.d/whatever and make sure that it gets call 
during boot (either by making a bunch of links or by using the update-rc.d 
utility).

Not sure what you want to do with rc.local though, I don't recall ever needing 
it on Debian, there's always a package or config file where most things can 
be done.

-- 
Fraser Campbell <fraser-Txk5XLRqZ6CsTnJN9+BGXg at public.gmane.org>                 http://www.wehave.net/
Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada                             Debian GNU/Linux

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