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<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" [
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<!ENTITY date "Jan 2005">
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<!ENTITY appversion "4.2.0">
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<!ENTITY app "<application>xfce4-session</application>">
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<article id="xfce4-session" lang="en">
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<title>Xfce 4 Session Manager</title>
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<holder>Benedikt Meurer</holder>
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<!-- translators: uncomment this:
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<year>2002</year> <holder>ME-THE-TRANSLATOR (Latin
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<legalnotice id="legalnotice">
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This document is provided under the terms of the GNU GPL, version
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2 or (at your option) any later version.
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<firstname>Benedikt</firstname>
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<surname>Meurer</surname>
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<address><email>benny@xfce.org</email></address>
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<orgname>os-cillation</orgname>
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<orgdiv>System development</orgdiv>
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<jobtitle>Software developer</jobtitle>
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<!-- This is appropriate place for other contributors: translators,
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maintainers, etc. Commented out by default.
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<othercredit role="translator">
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<firstname>Latin</firstname> <surname>Translator 1</surname>
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<orgname>Latin Translation Team</orgname>
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<address><email>translator@gnome.org</email> </address>
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</affiliation> <contrib>Latin translation</contrib>
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This manual describes the &app; package, version &appversion;. Last updated: &date;
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<sect1 id="xfsm-intro">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>&app; is a session manager for Xfce 4. Its task is to save the state of
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your desktop (opened applications and their location) and restore it during a next
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startup. You can create several different sessions and choose one of them on
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<para>&app; provides session management for both X11R6 and
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legacy X11R5 protocols. If you don't need legacy session management
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support, you can disable it at compile time, giving
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--disable-legacy-sm to ./configure. Do <emphasis>NOT EVER</emphasis> run <application>smproxy</application> in
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session that is managed by &app;, or weird things will happen.
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The included legacy session management does everything that <application>smproxy</application>
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would do, and besides that, it also supports multiscreen display.</para>
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<sect1 id="xfce4-session-settings">
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<title>Session Manager settings</title>
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<sect2 id="xfsm-general-settings">
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<title>General preferences</title>
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<figure id="xfsm-general-fig">
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<title>&app; general preferences</title>
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<imagedata fileref="images/xfsm-general.png" format="PNG" />
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<phrase>Shows the General tab of the &app; settings dialog.</phrase>
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<term>Display chooser on login</term>
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<para>If set, the session manager will ask you to choose a session every
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time you log in to Xfce.</para>
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<term>Automatically save session on logout</term>
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<para>This option instructs the session manager to save the current
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session automatically when you log out. If you don't select this option
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you'll be prompted whether you want to save the current session on
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<term>Prompt on logout</term>
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<para>This option disables the logout confirmation dialog. Whether
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the session will be saved or not depends on whether you enabled the
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automatic saving of sessions on logout or not.</para>
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<sect2 id="xfsm-advanced settings">
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<title>Advanced preferences</title>
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<figure id="xfsm-advanced-fig">
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<title>&app; advanced preferences</title>
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<imagedata fileref="images/xfsm-advanced.png" format="PNG" />
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<phrase>Shows Advanced tab of the &app; settings dialog.</phrase>
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<term>Launch Gnome services on startup</term>
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<para>Enable this option if you need the GNOME keyring daemon to be run
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on startup. This option also instructs &app; to bring up the GNOME assistive
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technologies at startup (if enabled in the GNOME control center). See the
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GNOME documentation for more information on this topic.</para>
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<term>Launch KDE services on startup</term>
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<para>Enable this option if you plan to run KDE applications as part of
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your Xfce Desktop session. This will notably increase the startup time,
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but on the other hand, KDE applications will startup faster. Some KDE
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applications may not work at all if you don't enable this option.</para>
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<term>Manage remote applications</term>
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<para>Allow the session manager to manage applications running on
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remote hosts. Since this option may constitute a security risk, by listening to
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a TCP port on your system, do not enable it unless you know what you are
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<para>System administrators may want to disable this option globally using the
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session managers <ulink url="#xfsm-kiosk-mode" type="html">KIOSK
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capabilities</ulink>.</para>
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<sect1 id="xfsm-customize">
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<title>Customizing the Session Manager</title>
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<para>You can customize the splash-screen that &app; will use when you log in to
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Xfce 4. There is a dedicated dialog available from the <emphasis>Xfce 4
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Settings Manager</emphasis>.</para>
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<sect2 id="xfsm-engines">
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<title>Splash screen settings</title>
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<figure id="splash-screen-settings-fig">
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<title>Splash screen settings dialog</title>
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<imagedata fileref="images/xfsm-splash.png" format="PNG" />
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<phrase>Shows the &app; splash screen settings dialog.</phrase>
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<para>On the left, the dialog shows a list of all installed engines.
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Select an engine, and you will see, if available, a preview and
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information about it. You can click on the <guibutton>Test</guibutton>
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button to see a demonstration of the selected splash screen
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<para>&app; provides three Splash themes engines by default. Their
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respective configuration options - if any - are available from the
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<guibutton>Configure</guibutton> button.</para>
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<sect2 id="xfsm-shutdown">
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<title>Shutdown/reboot options</title>
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<para>&app; supports shutting down your computer when you log out
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of your desktop session. To be able to shutdown the computer, you
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have to be listed in the systems <filename>sudoers</filename> file,
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in particular, you must be allowed to execute the command
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<filename>${libexecdir}/xfsm-shutdown-helper</filename>
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(<filename>/usr/sbin/xfsm-shutdown-helper</filename> on Debian GNU/Linux)
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as user root (where <filename>${libexecdir}</filename> is the <filename
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role="directory">libexec</filename> sub directory in the prefix you
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installed &app;, for example
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<filename role="directory">/usr/local/libexec</filename>).</para>
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<para>For example, lets say, you installed &app; into <filename
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role="directory">/usr/local</filename>, your hostname is <emphasis>myhost</emphasis>
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and your user account is named <emphasis>myuser</emphasis>, then you
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would have to add the following line to your <filename>sudoers</filename>
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file (remember to use <application>visudo</application> to edit
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myuser myhost=/usr/local/libexec/xfsm-shutdown-helper
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<sect1 id="xfsm-advanced">
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<title>Advanced</title>
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<sect2 id="files-and-env-vars">
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<title>Files and Environment Variables</title>
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<para>Xfce now uses the Basedir Specification as defined on <ulink
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url="http://freedesktop.org/" type="http">Freedesktop.org</ulink> to
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locate its data and configuration files. This means that file locations
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will be specified as a path relative to the directories described in
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the specification.</para>
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<term>${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}</term>
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<para>The first base directory to look for configuration
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files. By default this is set to <filename
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role="directory">~/.config/</filename>.</para>
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<term>${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS}</term>
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<para>A list of system directories that contain configuration
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data. By default the panel will look in <filename
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role="directory">${sysconfdir}/xdg/</filename> and
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<filename role="directory">/etc/xdg/</filename>. The value of
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${sysconfdir} depends on how the program was build and will often be
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<filename role="directory">/etc/</filename> for binary
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<term>${XDG_CACHE_HOME}</term>
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<para>Specifies the root for all user-specific cache data. If
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this environment variable is unset, it defaults to <filename
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role="directory">~/.cache</filename>.</para>
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<term>${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS}/xfce4-session/xfce4-session.rc</term>
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<para>This is the location of the configuration file that
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includes the various settings for &app;, which can be changed
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from the settings dialog.</para>
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<term>${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS}/xfce4-session/xfce4-splash.rc</term>
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<para>This is the location of the configuration file that
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includes the configuration for the splash screen, which
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can be changed from the settings dialog.</para>
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<term>${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/sessions/</term>
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<para>The directory where &app; and <application>xfwm4</application>
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store the session data to.</para>
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<term>${sysconfdir}/xdg/xfce4/kiosk/kioskrc</term>
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<para>Kiosk mode configuration file. See <ulink url="#xfsm-kiosk-mode">next
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section</ulink> for an explanation.</para>
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<para>None of the configuration files, except the <filename>kioskrc</filename>,
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are designed to be edited by hand during a Xfce session; in fact, the changes will
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be overwritten if you edit them while the session manager or the settings managers
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<para>System administrators might want to customize the file
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<filename>${sysconfdir}/xdg/xfce4-session/xfce4-session.rc</filename> to change
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the default applications that are run on Xfce startup. For example, if you want to
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start the <application>xfce4-iconbox</application> instead of the
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<application>xftaskbar4</application>, you would change the <emphasis>[Failsafe
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Session]</emphasis> section like to something like this:</para>
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Client0_Command=xfwm4
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Client0_PerScreen=False
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Client1_Command=xfce4-panel
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Client1_PerScreen=True
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Client2_Command=xfce4-iconbox
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Client2_PerScreen=True
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Client3_Command=xfdesktop
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Client3_PerScreen=False
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<sect2 id="xfsm-kiosk-mode">
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<title>Kiosk Mode</title>
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<para>The session manager offers support for the Kiosk Mode, that helps to
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prevent users from making changes to their session settings. To use it you
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have to edit or create the file
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<filename>${sysconfdir}/xdg/xfce4/kiosk/kioskrc</filename>.</para>
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<para>The way to explain the format of this file is by using an example. The
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xfce4-session section of your <filename>kioskrc</filename> might look like
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CustomizeCompatibility=%wheel
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CustomizeSecurity=NONE
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<para>This allows all users to change their splash, chooser and logout settings,
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but allows only users in the group <emphasis>wheel</emphasis> to customize the
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compatibility settings and shutdown the system. No one will be allowed to adjust
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the security settings.</para>
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<para>The session manager supports the following KIOSK capabilities:</para>
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<term>CustomizeSplash</term>
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<para>Whether or not the user is allowed to customize the splash screen.</para>
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<term>CustomizeChooser</term>
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<para>Whether or not the user is allowed to customize the session chooser settings.</para>
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<term>CustomizeLogout</term>
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<para>Whether or not the user is allowed to customize the logout settings.</para>
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<term>CustomizeCompatibility</term>
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<para>Whether or not the user is allowed to customize the compatibility
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settings (KDE/Gnome compat)</para>
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<term>CustomizeSecurity</term>
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<para>Whether or not the user is allowed to customize the security settings.
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This is one of the most <emphasis>IMPORTANT</emphasis> settings, since it
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prevents users (actually <filename>libICE</filename>) from binding to a TCP port.</para>
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<term>Shutdown</term>
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<para>Whether or not the user is allowed to shutdown (reboot or poweroff) the system.
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If a user lacks this capability the reboot and poweroff options in the shutdown
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dialog will be greyed out.</para>
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<sect1 id="xfsm-copyright">
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<title>About &app;</title>
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<para>&app; was written by Benedikt Meurer
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(<email>benny@xfce.org</email>).
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To find more information, please visit the
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<ulink url="http://www.xfce.org" type="http">Xfce web site</ulink>.
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<para>To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding this application or
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this manual, use the bug tracking system at <ulink
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url="http://bugzilla.xfce.org/"
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type="http">http://bugzilla.xfce.org/</ulink>.
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<para>If you have questions about the use or installation of this package,
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please ask on the <ulink
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url="http://lunar-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/xfce"
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type="http">xfce</ulink> mailing list. Development discussion takes
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url="http://lunar-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/xfce4-dev"
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type="http">xfce4-dev</ulink> mailing list.
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<para> This program is distributed under the terms of the
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GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
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either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
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<para>You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
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Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307,
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