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# Console TDM

From ArchWiki

Related articles

- Display manager
- CDM

Console TDM is an extension for xorg-xinit written in pure bash. It is inspired by CDM, which aimed to be a replacement of display managers such as GDM.

## Installation

Install the console-tdmAUR package.

Now ensure no other display managers get started by disabling their systemd services.

After installing Console TDM, you should modify your `~/.bash_profile`, and add a line:

    source /usr/bin/tdm

If you use zsh, add to your `~/.zprofile` the following line:

    bash /usr/bin/tdm

or

    tdm

Tip Since version 1.3.0, `tdm` may be forced to start if X is already running by adding the `--disable-xrunning-check` flag to the first call of `tdm`.

Regardless of which shell is used you should edit `~/.xinitrc` and replace your existing `exec` line with:

    exec tdm --xstart

## Configuration

Note Since version 1.3.0, `tdm` follows the XDG base directory specification. By default, `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` is set to `$HOME/.config`.
Warning Since support for `~/.tdm` will eventually be dropped, consider moving your configuration to `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tdm`. You can use `tdmctl migrate` to automatically migrate your configuration.

You should copy the links to your WM/DE starter to `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tdm/sessions`, and links to non-X programs to `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tdm/extra`. For convenience, you can just run `tdmctl init`.

The use of the program `tdmctl` is much like `systemctl`, and it is a powerful tool to configure Console TDM.

You can customize Console TDM by editing `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tdm/tdminit` (sourced before the user is prompted for a session) and `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tdm/tdmexit` (sourced before the session is actually started).

## See also

- Homepage

Category:

- Display managers

Console TDM
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