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.

RELATED TO gnome-session…

gnome-session-properties(1) gnome-session-quit(1)

gnome-session (1)