gnome-session(1) User Commands gnome-session(1)
NAME
gnome-session - starts up the GNOME desktop environment
SYNOPSIS
gnome-session [--choosesession] [--failsafe] [--purge-delay=delay] [--warn-delay=delay] [--suicide-delay=delay] [session-name] [gnome-std-
options]
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 either load your last session, or provide a default session for the user as defined by
the system administrator (or the default GNOME installation on your system). You can optionally specify a specific session name to
restore.
gnome-session is an X11R6 session manager. It can manage GNOME applications as well as any X11R6 SM compliant sessions. If the user has
previously saved a session, the session is loaded from the ~.gnome2/session file. Otherwise, the session is loaded from the
/usr/share/gnome/default.session file. Any programs specified in the ~/.gnome2/session/.session-manual will also be started.
gnome-session also exports an X Atom called GNOME_SM_DESKTOP on the root window, to indicate that gnome-session has started. Some applica-
tions may require such information to proceed correctly.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
--choosesession User can specify a session to load, as opposed to the session specified in the ~/.gnome/session-options file. If that
entry does not exist in the ~/.gnome/session file (or if that file does not exist), gnome-session will use the default ses-
sion, and all saves to that session will be to the new session name.
--failsafe Fail-safe operations mode: gnome-session only reads saved sessions from the default.session file.
--purge-delay=deThe number of milliseconds that gnome-session will wait for clients to register. If delay is 0, gnome-session will wait
forever. The default value is 30,000 milliseconds.
--suicide-delay=Theanumber of milliseconds that gnome-session will wait for clients to die. If delay is 0, gnome-session will wait forever.
The default value is 10,000 milliseconds.
--warn-delay=delThe number of milliseconds that gnome-session will wait for clients to respond. If delay is 0, gnome-session will wait for-
ever. The default value is 10,000 milliseconds.
gnome-std-optionStandard options available for use with most GNOME applications. See gnome-std-options(5) for more information.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
session-name The name of the session to be loaded.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Starting a session named "MySession"
example% gnome-session --choose-session=MySession
Example 2: Starting the system default session, ignoring the user's session
example% gnome-session --failsafe
Example 3: Setting the purge delay to 50000ms
example% gnome-session --purge-delay=50000
Example 4: Setting the suicide delay to 50000ms
example% gnome-session --suicide-delay=50000
Example 5: Setting the warning delay to 50000ms
example% gnome-session --warn-delay=50000
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
gnome-session accepts all of the standard environment variables used by GNOME programs, as well as the SESSION_MANAGER environment vari-
able. gnome-session also sets several environment variables for the use of its child processes.
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables:
SESSION_MANAGER Used by session-manager-aware clients to contact gnome-session.
DISPLAY Set to the X display being used by gnome-session. Note that the --display option, if specified, overrides the set-
ting of the DISPLAY environment variable.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Application exited successfully
>0 Application exited with failure
FILES
The following files are used by this application:
/usr/bin/gnome-session The command-line executable for the application.
/usr/share/gnome/defaultDefaultnsystem session file.
~/.gnome2/session User session file.
~/.gnome2/session/.sessiSpecifies programs to start that do not support session management.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWgnome-session |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface stability |External |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
gnome-std-options(5), default.session(5), gnome-smproxy(1), gnome-session-save(1)
NOTES
Written by Brian Cameron, Sun Microsystems Inc., 2003.
SunOS 5.10 13 Jan 2003 gnome-session(1)