1GNOME-SESSION(1) General Commands Manual GNOME-SESSION(1)
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6 cinnamon-session - Start the GNOME desktop environment
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9 cinnamon-session [-a|--autostart=DIR] [--session=SESSION] [--fail‐
10 safe|-f] [--debug] [--whale]
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13 The cinnamon-session program starts up the GNOME desktop environment.
14 This command is typically executed by your login manager (either mdm,
15 xdm, or from your X startup scripts). It will load either your saved
16 session, or it will provide a default session for the user as defined
17 by the system administrator (or the default GNOME installation on your
18 system).
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20 The default session is defined in gnome.session, a .desktop-like file
21 that is looked for in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cinnamon-session/sessions,
22 $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/cinnamon-session/sessions and $XDG_DATA_DIRS/cinnamon-
23 session/sessions.
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25 When saving a session, cinnamon-session saves the currently running
26 applications in the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cinnamon-session/saved-session
27 directory.
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29 cinnamon-session is an X11R6 session manager. It can manage GNOME
30 applications as well as any X11R6 SM compliant application.
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33 The following options are supported:
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35 --autostart=DIR
36 Start all applications defined in DIR, instead of starting the
37 applications defined in gnome.session, or via the --session
38 option. Multiple --autostart options can be passed.
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40 --session=SESSION
41 Use the applications defined in SESSION.session. If not speci‐
42 fied, gnome.session will be used.
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44 --failsafe
45 Run in fail-safe mode. User-specified applications will not be
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48 --debug
49 Enable debugging code.
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51 --whale
52 Show the fail whale in a dialog for debugging it.
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55 Sessions are defined in .session files, that are using a .desktop-like
56 format, with the following keys in the GNOME Session group:
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58 Name Name of the session. This can be localized.
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60 RequiredComponents
61 List of component identifiers (desktop files) that are required
62 by the session. The required components will always run in the
63 session.
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65 RequiredProviders
66 List of task providers that are required by the session. A
67 default provider for each task has to be defined with a Default‐
68 Provider-TASK key; the provider can be overridden by required
69 components, the saved session or autostart applications. The
70 task providers will always run in the session.
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72 DefaultProvider-TASK
73 Identifier (desktop file) of the default provider for TASK. If
74 no provider for TASK is found in the required components, the
75 saved session and in the autostart applications, the default
76 provider will be started.
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78 Here is an example of a session definition:
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80 [GNOME Session]
81 Name=GNOME fallback
82 RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;metacity;gnome-settings-daemon;
83 RequiredProviders=notifications;
84 DefaultProvider-notifications=notification-daemon
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86 The .session files are looked for in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cinnamon-ses‐
87 sion/sessions, $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/cinnamon-session/sessions and
88 $XDG_DATA_DIRS/cinnamon-session/sessions.
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91 cinnamon-session sets several environment variables for the use of its
92 child processes:
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94 SESSION_MANAGER
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96 This variable is used by session-manager aware clients to con‐
97 tact cinnamon-session.
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99 DISPLAY
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101 This variable is set to the X display being used by cinnamon-
102 session. Note that if the --display option is used this might be
103 different from the setting of the environment variable when cin‐
104 namon-session is invoked.
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107 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/config/autostart $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/config/autostart
108 /usr/share/gnome/autostart
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110 The applications defined in those directories will be started on
111 login. cinnamon-settings(1) can be used to easily configure
112 them.
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114 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cinnamon-session/sessions $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/cinnamon-
115 session/sessions $XDG_DATA_DIRS/cinnamon-session/sessions
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117 These directories contain the .session files that can be used
118 with the --session option.
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120 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cinnamon-session/saved-session
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122 This directory contains the list of applications of the saved
123 session.
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126 cinnamon-settings(1) cinnamon-session-quit(1)
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130 GNOME GNOME-SESSION(1)