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.