LightDM is a cross-desktop Display Manager. It was build as a relatively light-weight and highly customizable alternative to GDM. It's developed by Robert Ancell.
- No Gnome dependencies
- Uses webkit to render themes
- Supports Gtk and Qt
Highly customizable (basic gtk theme, unity theme in Ubuntu Oneiric)
LightDM is not available in Squeeze, but it's stable enough for testing purposes in Wheezy/Sid.
To install lightdm in Wheezy, run as root
aptitude install lightdm
Control
LightDM configuration file is found at
/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
Making a backup of the original configuration file is recommended, if you want to try setting up autologin in Wheezy.
To control the LightDM daemon, use
/etc/init.d/lightdm start /etc/init.d/lightdm stop /etc/init.d/lightdm restart
To change the current default Display Manager, run
dpkg-reconfigure lightdm
If you're new to LightDM, it's recommended to have GDM or another Display Manager installed as a backup.
Troubleshooting
If things go wrong you may need switch back to GDM. Some tips:
1.
- Run dpkg-reconfigure lightdm to revert to gdm3
2.
- If you have no graphics, go to terminal using alt-ctrl-F1 and login as root
- Stop LightDM: /etc/init.d/lightdm stop
- Restore the original configuration file and reboot
3.
- Uninstall LightDM and GDM will replace it after a reboot
See also
lightdm - Debian packages
LightDM at freedesktop.org, Launchpad