Arch Linux

stonebrakermatt

Member

Registered: 2023-01-09

Posts: 5

Making Display Manager Work Without Desktop Environment

Hello,

I do not use a desktop environment. I currently just autostart X when I log into my user account. I have noticed that if I leave my PC running and inactive for a long enough time, everything freezes and I have to hard reset my PC. To avoid this, I wanted to try using a display manager and session locking. I never got to the step where I tried to implement session locking, because I can't get any display manager I have tried to work.

I use bspwm, and I have a desktop entry for bspwm in /usr/share/xsessions. When I log in, the display manager just resets and prompts me to log in again. This was the case for every display manager I have tried. I'd be happy to post the content of any of my relevant files, but what I am really looking for is a quick tutorial on how one would go about setting this up. I have obviously tried to follow the Arch Wiki, but it doesn't seem to have anything for my specific use case that is helpful.

Best regards,
Matt

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,471

Website

Re: Making Display Manager Work Without Desktop Environment

I highly doubt adding a DM will fix the freeze as it doesn't change anything that could be relevant (other than to bring in more ways to fail).  You can use screelockers without a DM ... there's really no relation between the two.  But screen locking is also likely irrelevant to the problem.

Rather than trying to pile other things on top of the problem, diagnose it.  Check logs (or post them here).

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,648

Re: Making Display Manager Work Without Desktop Environment

Moving to Newbie Corner.

twelveeighty

Member

Registered: 2011-09-04

Posts: 1,453

Re: Making Display Manager Work Without Desktop Environment

I agree with Trilby that your freezing problem is probably not going to get fixed with a screenlocker, unless you have very discreet aliens messing with your PC when you're not around.

However, your original question on how to configure a DM is well documented in the Wiki, so please share more data on which exact DM you tried, the configuration you used and what errors you found.