This chapter assumes that kdm is already up and running on your system, and that you simply want to change its behavior in some way.
When kdm starts up, it reads its configuration from the folder
$KDEDIR/share/config/kdm/
(this may
be /etc/kde3/kdm/
or something else
on your system).
The main configuration file is kdmrc
; all other files are
referenced from there and could be stored under any name anywhere on
the system - but usually that would not make much sense for obvious
reasons (one particular exception is referencing configuration files
of an already installed xdm - however when a new kdm is installed,
it will import settings from those files if it finds an already installed
xdm).
Since kdm must run before any user is logged in, it is not
associated with any particular user. Therefore, it is not possible to have
user-specific configuration files; all users share the common kdmrc
. It
follows from this that the configuration of kdm can only be altered by
those users that have write access to
$
(normally
restricted to system administrators logged in as KDEDIR
/share/config/kdm/kdmrcroot
).
You can view the kdmrc
file currently in use on your system, and you
can configure kdm by editing this file. Alternatively, you can use the
graphical configuration tool provided by the KDE Control Center (under
->), which is described in the KDE Control Center help files.
The remainder of this chapter describes configuration of kdm
via the KDE Control Center module, and the next
chapter describes the options available in kdmrc
itself. If
you only need to configure for local users, the KDE Control Center module
should be sufficient for your needs. If you need to configure remote
logins, or have multiple kdm sessions running, you will need to read
on.
Using this module, you can configure the KDE graphical login manager, kdm. You can change how the login screen looks, who has access using the login manager and who can shutdown the computer.
All settings will be written to the configuration file
kdmrc
, which in its original state has many comments to help you
configure kdm. Using this KDE Control Center module will strip these
comments from the file. All available options in kdmrc
are covered
in Chapter 5, The Files kdm Uses for Configuration.
The options listed in this chapter are cross referenced with
their equivalents in kdmrc
. All options available in the KControl
module are also available directly in kdmrc
but the reverse is not
true.
In order to organize all of these options, this module is divided into several sections: Appearance, Font, Background, Shutdown, Users and Convenience.
You can switch between the sections using the tabs at the top of the window.
If you are not currently logged in as a superuser, you will need to click the Button. You will then be asked for a superuser password. Entering a correct password will allow you to modify the settings of this module.
From this page you can change the visual appearance of kdm, KDE's graphical login manager.
The Greeting: is the title of the login
screen. Setting this is especially useful if you have many servers users
may log in to. You may use various placeholders, which are described
along with the corresponding key
GreetString
in kdmrc
.
You can then choose to show either the current system time, a logo or
nothing special in the login box. Make your choice in the radio buttons
labeled Logo area:. This corresponds to LogoArea
in kdmrc
If you chose Show logo you can now choose a logo:
Drop an image file on the image button.
Click on the image button and select a new image from the image chooser dialog.
If you do not specify a logo the default
$
will be displayed.KDEDIR
/share/apps/kdm/pics/kdelogo.xpm
Normally the login box is centered on the screen. Use the
Position: options if you want it to appear
elsewhere on the screen. You can specify the relative position
(percentage of the screen size) for the center of the login window,
relative to the top left of the display, in the fields labeled
X: and Y: respectively.
These correspond to the key
GreeterPos
in kdmrc
.
While KDE's style depends on the settings of the user logged
in, the style used by kdm can be configured using the GUI
Style: and Color Scheme: options.
These correspond to the keys GUIStyle
and ColorScheme
in
kdmrc
respectively.
Below that, you have a drop down box to choose the language for
your login box, corresponding to setting Language
in
kdmrc
.
From this section of the module you can change the fonts used in the login window. Only fonts available to all users are available here, not fonts you have installed on a per user basis.
You can select three different font styles from the drop down box (General:, Failures:, Greeting:). When you click on the button a dialog appears from which you can select the new characteristics for the font style.
The General: font is used in all other places in the login window.
The Failures: font is used when a login fails.
The Greeting: font is the font used for the title (Greeting String).
You can also check the box labeled Use anti-aliasing for fonts if you want smoothed fonts in the login dialog.
Here you can change the desktop background which will be displayed before a user logs in. You can have a single color or an image as a background. If you have an image as the background and select center, the selected background color will be used around the image if it is not large enough to cover the entire desktop.
The background colors and effects are controlled by the options on the tab labeled Background and you select a background image and its placement from the options on the tab labeled Wallpaper.
To change the default background color(s) simply click either of the color buttons and select a new color.
The drop down box above the color buttons provides you with several different blend effects. Choose one from the list, and it will be previewed on the small monitor at the top of the window. Your choices are:
By choosing this mode, you select one color (using the color button labeled ), and the entire background is covered with this one color.
By choosing this mode, you select two colors (using both color buttons).
You then select a pattern by clicking Setup. This opens a new dialog window, which gives you the opportunity to select a pattern. Simply click once on the pattern of your choice, then click on OK, and KDE will render the pattern you selected using the two colors you selected. For more on patterns, see the section Background: Adding, Removing and Modifying Patterns.
By selecting this option, you can have KDE use an external program to determine the background. This can be any program of your choosing. For more information on this option, see the section entitled Background: Using an external program.
By choosing this mode, you select two colors (using both color buttons). KDE will then start with the color selected by Color 1 on the left edge of the screen, and slowly transform into the color selected by Color 2 by the time it gets to the right edge of the screen.
By choosing this mode, you select two colors (using both color buttons). KDE will then start with the color selected by Color 1 on the top edge of the screen, and slowly transform into the color selected by Color 2 as it moves to the bottom of the screen.
By choosing this mode, you select two colors (using both color buttons). KDE will then start with the color selected by Color 1 in each corner of the screen, and slowly transform into the color selected by Color 2 as it moves to the center of the screen.
By choosing this mode, you select two colors (using both color buttons). KDE will then start with the color selected by Color 1 in each corner of the screen, and slowly transform into the color selected by Color 2 as it moves to the center of the screen. The “shape” of this gradient is different then the pyramid gradient.
By choosing this mode, you select two colors (using both color buttons). KDE will then start with the color selected by Color 2 in the center of the screen, and slowly transform into the color selected by Color 1 as it moves to the edges, in an elliptical pattern.
The setup button is only needed for if you select Background program or Patterns. In these instances, another window will appear to configure the specifics.
Wallpaper
To select a new background image first, click on the Wallpapers tab, then you can either select an image from the drop down list labeled Wallpaper or select and select an image file from a file selector.
The image can be displayed in six different ways:
No image is displayed. Just the background colors.
The image will be centered on the screen. The background colors will be present anywhere the image does not cover.
The image will be duplicated until it fills the entire desktop. The first image will be placed in the upper left corner of the screen, and duplicated downward and to the right.
The image will be duplicated until it fills the entire desktop. The first image will be placed in the center of the screen, and duplicated upward, downward to the right, and to the left.
The image will be placed in the center of the screen. It will be scaled to fit the desktop, but it will not change the aspect ratio of the original image. This will provide you with an image that is not distorted.
The image will be scaled to fit the desktop. It will be stretched to fit all four corners.
Allow Shutdown
Use this drop down box to choose who is allowed to shut down:
Nobody: No one can shutdown the computer using kdm. You must be logged in, and execute a command.
Everybody: Everyone can shutdown the computer using kdm.
Only Root: kdm requires that the
root
password be entered before shutting down the
computer.
You can independently configure who is allowed to issue a shutdown command for the Local: and Remote: users.
Commands
Use these text fields to define the exact shutdown command.
The Halt: command defaults to /sbin/halt. The Restart: command defaults to /sbin/reboot.
When Show boot options is enabled, kdm will on reboot offer you options for the lilo boot manager. For this feature to work, you will need to supply the correct paths to your lilo command and to lilo's map file. Note that this option is not available on all operating systems.
From here you can change the way users are represented in the login window.
You may disable the user list in kdm entirely in the Show Users section. You can choose from:
Only show users you have specifically enabled in the list alongside
If you do not check this box, no list will be shown. This is the most secure setting, since an attacker would then have to guess a valid login name as well as a password. It's also the preferred option if you have more than a handful of users to list, or the list itself would become unwieldy.
Allows you to intead select a list of users that should not be shown, and all other users will be listed.
Independently of the users you specify by name, you can use the System UIDs to specify a range of valid UIDs that are shown in the list. By default user id's under 1000, which are often system or daemon users, and user id's over 65000, are not shown.
You can also enable the Sort users checkbox, to have the user list sorted alphabetically. If this is disabled, users will appear in the order they are listed in the password file. kdm will also autocomplete user names if you enable the Autocompletion option.
If you choose to show users, then the login window will show images (which you select), of a list of users. When someone is ready to login, they may select their user name/image, enter their password, and they are granted access.
If you permit a user image, then you can configure the source for those images.
You can configure the admin picture here, for each user on the system. Depending on the order selected above, users may be able to override your selection.
If you choose not to show users, then the login window will be more traditional. Users will need to type their username and password to gain entrance. This is the preferred way if you have many users on this terminal.
In the convenience tab you can configure some options that make life easier for lazy people, like automatic login or disabling passwords.
Please think more than twice before using these options. Every option in the Convenience tab is well-suited to seriously compromise your system security. Practically, these options are only to be used in a completely non-critical environment, e.g. a private computer at home.
Automatic login will give anyone access to a certain account on your system without doing any authentication. You can enable it using the option Enable Auto-login.
You can choose the account to be used for automatic login from the list labeled User:.
Using this feature, you can allow certain users to login without having to provide their password. Enable this feature using the Enable Password-less logins option.
Below this option you'll see a list of users on the system. Enable password-less login for specific users by checking the checkbox next to the login names. By default, this feature is disabled for all users.
Again, this option should only be used in a safe
environment. If you enable it on a rather public system you should
take care that only users with heavy access restrictions are granted
password-less login, e.g.
guest
.
You can also choose which user is “preselected” when kdm starts. The default is None, but you can choose Previous to have kdm default to the last successfully logged in user, or you can Specify a particular user to always be selected from the list. You can also have kdm set the focus to the password field, so that when you reach the kdm login screen, you can type the password immediately.
The Automatically login after X server crash option allows you to skip the authentication procedure when your X server accidentally crashed.
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