Bug 387847 – Guide for autostarting GDM doesn't work

• Product: [OLD] Docs on www.gentoo.org
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description Thomas Käfer 2011-10-20 10:31:22 UTC]

I am new to gentoo and I just set up my notebook with gentoo and I got as far as having a running gentoo system with X and gnome, but I can't make gnome autostart. The guide tells me to adapt the DISPLAYMANAGER variable in /etc/conf.d/xdm but when rebooting it still only starts xdm and no gnome (after emerging xdm & xsm because I thought maybe it is necessary)

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. followed http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xorg-config.xml
2. followed http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/nvidia-guide.xml
3. followed http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gnome-config.xml
--> working gnome but no autostart on boot

[Comment 1 Thomas Käfer 2011-10-20 10:34:00 UTC]

I also checked /etc/rc.conf for a DISPLAYMANAGER entry but there wasn't one and no matter if I have the line DISPLAYMANAGER="gdm" in either or both of the files /etc/rc.conf and /etc/conf.d/xdm it always only starts this minimal X without gnome.

[Comment 2 Thomas Käfer 2011-10-20 11:16:59 UTC]

Okey with the help of the IRC user hangfire I found out that you have to install gdm seperatly and its not part of gnome or gnome-light. But it would be nice if the docs would say so, since theres a whole chapter about making gnome autostart it would fit very well there ;)

[Comment 3 James Broadhead 2011-10-20 11:35:45 UTC]

Confirmed - 

gdm is not part gnome-light, so before Section 3.1 it should say something like: 

"If you installed gnome-light earlier and not gnome, then you will need to separately install gdm before setting up xdm"

[Comment 4 Sven Vermeulen (RETIRED) 2011-10-23 09:36:08 UTC]

Thanks. I've updated the document in CVS so it should show up on the site in an hour or so. Thank you for reporting!