View Full Version : [LINUX] Can someone explain the recent xsession check-in to me?
xanadu1979
2009-04-27, 16:48
I'm very intrigued by this check-in:
http://trac.xbmc.org/changeset/19725
Has anyone tried it? Can anyone please give me some details about it?
Would I just do a normal install of Jaunty and then somehow choose XBMC as my default desktop? Would I need to disable pulse audio when compiling? Are there any other hoops I would need to jump through? I loved the minimal install from the wiki on intrepid but I've had issues getting it to work on Jaunty. I'd be really happy if this would solve the issue of having an appliance-like install without having to use that guide.
And finally, will this be merged into the 9.04 branch? It seems like a pretty minor change.
It will add a XSession, wich is a choosable session in GDM or KDM.
Like this, but imagine Windows XP being XBMC instead :)
http://www.quicktweaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/windowsgdm.png
That session will only spawn XBMC and nothing else, so no gnome or kde in the background, saving both performance and memory.
This will not do anything differently to pulseaudio and you don't need to do anything. PulseAudio is a daemon on ubuntu and runs no matter if you are logged in or not.
So basically this will be automaticly installed, no need to do anything. sudo make install will fix everything. Hopefully it will help users create a simple standalone HTPC :)
It won't be merged into 9.04, hopefully to 9.10 though.
xanadu1979
2009-04-27, 17:32
This is all very interesting. I need to try this soon.
If this becomes popular, maybe someone will make a branch of 9.04 with this merged in. ::hint, hint::
Why? XBMC 9.10 will be out soon?. besides the xsession script is almost transferrable to XBMC 9.04 (just change Exec and TryExec to call xbmc instead of xbmc-standalone)
If you mean the xsession script then that one will work on all linux releases, it's not specific to ubuntu, or jaunty.
xanadu1979
2009-04-27, 17:46
Cool. I didn't know 9.10 would be out soon after 9.04. I assumed you tried to release near the same time the corresponding Ubuntu version is released. IIRC, Ubuntu 9.10 isn't slated to come out until September.
I'm a bit of a linux noob. Excuse me for asking dumb questions.
Oh crap, Sorry I have the numberings all wrong :rofl: Was thinking of 8.10.
Yes I think this will be backported to 9.04 :)
It was deemed backportable and it will be available in 9.04. If nothing goes terribly wrong that is :)
http://trac.xbmc.org/changeset/19746
xanadu1979
2009-04-27, 21:03
Cool. One last question. Once setting XBMC as the default session, how easy is it to get into gnome to do system updates and stuff? Do you just drop to the terminal and type in a command or something?
Cool. One last question. Once setting XBMC as the default session, how easy is it to get into gnome to do system updates and stuff? Do you just drop to the terminal and type in a command or something?
Nope, once you exit XBMC you'll get dropped back to the GDM login screen (as shown above). There you can select to login to gnome.
FYI:
I have created Ticket #6458 regarding Changeset #19742: It causes build errors on my Launchpad PPA builds: http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/6458.
Thank you all for your good work on XBMC!
Cheers,
hepi
Looks like the perfect solution!
I was planning to use twm to create a simular result. I do not know how much cpu&memory twm waste, but this is better of course.
xanadu1979
2009-05-03, 06:21
Anybody know why the xsession script isn't getting installed when installing xbmc from the official PPA? It made it into the branch before rc1, right?
I checked out the trunk and it installs when doing sudo make install.
Yes, I have the same problem. I just installed xbmc 9.04 on ubuntu 9.04 and I do not get any new login session.
What to do?
Ok. Extra package needed to get the xbmc session.
sudo apt-get install xbmc-standalone
(I have confirmed in wmware that this gives the session. Not tested the functionality since xbmc does not want to run in wmare anymore)
Hopefuly someone will add this to the wiki.