Re: [gentoo-user] Consolekit and elogind switch questions

[Dale]

Mick wrote:
> On Monday, 28 October 2019 08:25:06 GMT Neil Bothwick wrote:
>> On Mon, 28 Oct 2019 02:46:45 -0500, Dale wrote:
>>> Thanks much for the info.  Maybe the switch will go well for me too.
>> If it works for you it will be good news for the rest of us ;-)
> If hald's list of devices has anything to do with it, Dale is bound to nail it
> on the first (re)boot!  :-)
>
> The consolekit framework is responsible switching between users on a system.
> As I understand it, when you go to 'Plasma/Leave/Switch User' menu option,
> console kit daemon is responsible for:
>
> 1. Looking at PAM and any processes you own as a user in a login session.
> 2. Checking which seat (local or remote) you are logged in as and associating
> the hardware you are using with it (e.g. keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc.).
> 3. Connecting to the d-bus system bus to manage the local login session and
> pass control of hardware devices to the new user.
> 4. When the new user enters their credentials at the Display Manager, check
> with PAM what processes the new user is authorised to access/use in their
> login session.
>
> I should have the above mostly correct.  You may ask if any of this control
> framework complexity is *necessary* for a single user called Dale, who won't
> allow anyone else to take his 'seat' at the PC without a fight.  The answer is
> probably no, and this is why simpler desktop environments like *box,
> Enlightenment, etc. do not offer the facility to switch users and therefore do
> not ultimately need consolekit.
>
> There are no screenshots of consolekit/elogind because AFAIK neither offer a
> GUI application.  However, when you run 'ck-list-sessions' in a terminal
> you'll see your local session, as well as any other login sessions you may be
> running at the time, e.g. /dev/tt1, remote logins over ssh and which of these
> are active at the time.
>
> Since consolekit is no longer under development and systemd appears to have
> taken over most of the Linux distros, elogind is the current service which can
> run as stand alone on openrc (just as udev of systemd does).
>
> When elogind is running you can use 'loginctl list-sessions' in a terminal to
> see who's running a session.  The man page gives more options.
>
> You don't *have* to add elogind as a boot service, because any applications
> which need it will launch it themselves.  However, don't be surprised if some
> desktop functions are not working as expected.  For example, the SDDM Display
> Manager's shutdown/reboot buttons may not be displayed and even if they are
> displayed they'll do nothing when you click on them after a reboot.  If after
> a reboot you login/out into your Plasma desktop, then elogind will be running
> and the SDDM buttons should function again normally.
>
> I have converted a number of systems to elogind.  It should be as easy as
> setting in your make.conf:
>
> USE="elogind -consolekit"
>
> grep consolekit -r /etc/portage
>
> to find and remove/replace any USE flags still asking for consolekit to be
> emerged.  Then,
>
> emerge --depclean -v -a consolekit
>
> emerge -uaNDv @world
>
> emerge @preserved-rebuild -v -a
>
> rc-update del consolekit
> rc-update add elogind boot
>
> reboot
>
> >From memory that's all there is to it.


Thanks much for the info.  Let's not go down the hal road.  Still gets
my blood pressure up.  lol 

It sounds like I don't need it but most likely KDE will moan and groan
without it so I'll just switch and let the chips fall where they may.  I
guess if nothing else, while it is still in the tree at least, I could
switch back and try to find solutions to whatever I run into.  Once it's
gone tho, not a option, easy one at least. 

Thanks again.

Dale

:-)  :-)