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XDM

A screenshot of an XDM login screen
Original author(s)	Keith Packard
Developer(s)	X.Org Foundation
Initial release	October 1988; 36 years ago (1988-10)
Stable release	1.1.14  / 3 December 2022; 2 years ago (3 December 2022)
Repository	gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xdm
Written in	C, C++
Type	X display manager
License	MIT License

The X Display Manager (XDM) is the default display manager for the X Window System. It is a bare-bones X display manager. It was introduced with X11 Release 3 in October 1988, to support the standalone X terminals that were just coming onto the market. It was written by Keith Packard.

Functions

XDM is used to boot an X.org based desktop environment. It can control a display directly or indirectly in order to start an X session and supports remote login. XDM is initialized on system startup.

It can be edited through the use of a configuration file, modules, or scripts. The configuration file is usually found in /usr/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-config.

History

XDM is one of the earliest display managers for Linux. It was developed by Keith Packard after he joined the X Consortium due to his frustration using a text-based environment to try and configure X.

XDM is available but unused on most systems because of its rudimentary nature. Desktop environments released afterwards tended to include their own display manager, such as dtlogin on CDE.

See also

• X display manager
• GDM
• KDM

References

1. "[ANNOUNCE] xdm 1.1.14". 3 December 2022. Archived from the original on 30 July 2023.
2. Impson, Jeremy (2002-01-01). "VNC, Transparently". www.linuxjournal.com. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
3. ^ Anderson, Robin; Johnston, Andy (2002). Unix Unleashed. Sams Publishing. ISBN 978-0-672-32251-8.
4. ^ Edward, Robert (2024-03-18). "What Are Display Managers and How Do They Work?". Baeldung. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
5. Quercia, Valerie; O'Reilly, Tim (1993). X Users Guide Motif R5: Motif Edition. "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". ISBN 978-1-56592-015-6.
6. Barkakati, Naba (2005-09-19). Red Hat Fedora Linux Secrets. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-77492-1.
7. Levi, Bozidar (2002-05-29). UNIX Administration: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for Effective Systems & Network Management. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-0003-0.
8. O'Neal, Miles (1996-07-10). "Taming The X Display Manager". www.rru.com. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
9. Gerganov, Hiks (2024-03-18). "Linux Display Managers (LightDM, SLiM, XDM, GDM, SDDM, KDM, Ly): Install and Uninstall Guide". Baeldung. Retrieved 2024-05-13.

Further reading

• Mui, Linda & Pearce, Eric (July 1993). X Window System Volume 8: X Window System Administrator's Guide for X11 Release 4 and Release 5 (softcover) (3rd ed.). O'Reilly and Associates. ISBN 0-937175-83-8.

v t e X Window System
Architecture	Core protocol X Window selection X Window authorization X11 color names X Input Method Wayland
Extensions	X Image Extension X keyboard extension RandR X Rendering Extension Shape extension Shared memory extension X Display Manager Control Protocol X video extension X-Video Motion Compensation AIGLX GLX Multi-Pointer X Display PostScript Composite Extension Xinerama
Components and notable implementations	Display servers X.Org Server Cygwin/X X-Win32 X386 XFree86 XDarwin Xming Xsgi Xsun Xgl Xephyr XQuartz XWayland Client libraries Xlib XCB X Toolkit Intrinsics Display managers Session managers GDM KDM SDDM XDM LightDM LXDM Entrance WDM Window managers (comparison) Compositing Compiz KWin Metacity Mutter Xfwm Enlightenment Stacking 4Dwm AfterStep amiwm Blackbox CTWM cwm Fluxbox FLWM FVWM IceWM Matchbox mwm olwm Openbox Qvwm Sawfish swm tvtwm twm vtwm WindowLab Window Maker wm2 Tiling awesome dwm i3 Ion ratpoison wmii xmonad StumpWM larswm
Standards	ICCCM EWMH XDS freedesktop.org
Applications	xcalc xclock xedit xload xterm xeyes Desktop environments (comparison)

• Free system software
• Software using the MIT license
• X display managers
• Free software programmed in C
• Free software programmed in C++