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A '''display manager''' ('''DM'''), sometimes known as '''login manager''', [[Article description::presents the user with a graphical login screen to start a GUI session, either [[Xorg|X]] or [[Wayland]].]]

A display manager is not mandatory. X or Wayland can be started from a shell in a VT, but one can provide extra or useful funtionality. For how to run X without a DM, see [[X without Display Manager]].

== Available software ==

Some display managers are listed below.

NB: Some Wayland DMs below are found in the overlay [https://github.com/bsd-ac/wayland-desktop wayland-desktop], but not yet merged to the official Portage tree.

{| class="table table-condensed table-striped sortable"
|-
! scope="col" width="25%" | Name
! Package
! Type
! Description
|-
| [[CDM]] || {{Package|x11-misc/cdm}} || Console || Minimalistic.
|-
| [[GNOME/gdm]] || {{Package|gnome-base/gdm}} || X / Wayland || Often used with GNOME.
|-
| [[Greetd]] || {{Package|gui-apps/gtkgreet}}<br>{{Package|gui-apps/tuigreet}}<br />[https://github.com/bsd-ac/wayland-desktop/tree/master/gui-apps/qtgreet gui-apps/qtgreet] || Wayland || Frontends for [[greetd]]. TUIGreetd runs in console.
|-
| [[LightDM]] || {{Package|x11-misc/lightdm}} || X || Lightweight, and customizable via greeters.
|-
| [[LXDE|LXDM]] || {{Package|lxde-base/lxdm}} || X ||LXDE Display Manager.
|-
| [[Qingy]] || {{Package|sys-apps/qingy}} || console || getty replacement.
|-
| [[SDDM]] || {{Package|x11-misc/sddm}} || X / Wayland || Modern, fast DM aiming to be simple and beautiful. Highly customizable, eye candy display manager from KDE
|-
| [[SLiM]] || {{Package|x11-misc/slim}} || X || Requires only a few dependencies.
|-
| [[WDM]] || {{Package|x11-misc/wdm}} || X || Modification of XDM.
|-
| XDM || {{Package|x11-apps/xdm}} || X || X.Org's DM.
|}

== Configuration ==

{{Warning|Before setting up and using a display manager, be sure that the chosen GUI environment, [[Xorg/Guide#Using_startx|startx]] or [[Wayland]], works without problems. If something does not work refer to the troubleshooting guides, such as [[Xorg/Guide]].}}

In all major Linux operating systems, display managers are started automatically on boot. In order for this to happen automatically a script must be added to the init system's appropriate runlevel. Examples for [[Display_manager#OpenRC|OpenRC]] and [[Display_manager#systemd|systemd]] are provided below.

=== OpenRC ===

Under most circumstances, the [[OpenRC]] init system (Gentoo's default [[init system]]) will be used to start the display manager. The following examples will set [[SDDM]] as the display manager, adjust as necessary for other display managers.

Historically, the ''xdm'' init script handled the starting of the display manager, which has now been deprecated in favor of the ''display-manager'' init script from {{Package|gui-libs/display-manager-init}}, jump to next section for a sytem still using xdm.

If {{Package|gui-libs/display-manager-init}} is not present, emerge it with:

{{Emerge|gui-libs/display-manager-init}}

The configuration file should be modified to use [[SDDM]]:

{{FileBox|filename=/etc/conf.d/display-manager|title=Set SDDM as the display manager|lang=bash|1=
CHECKVT=7
DISPLAYMANAGER="sddm"
}}

To start the chosen display manager on boot, add the ''display-manager'' to the system's ''default'' runlevel:

{{RootCmd|rc-update add display-manager default}}

To start the ''display-manager'' immediately, run:

{{RootCmd|rc-service display-manager start}}

==== Historical use of the deprecated ''xdm'' init script ====

{{FileBox|filename=/etc/conf.d/xdm|title=Set SDDM as the display manager|lang=bash|1=
CHECKVT=7
DISPLAYMANAGER="sddm"
}}

To start the chosen display manager on boot, add the ''xdm'' to the system's ''default'' runlevel:

{{RootCmd|rc-update add xdm default}}

To start SDDM immediately, run:

{{RootCmd|rc-service xdm start}}

=== systemd ===

If using [[systemd]] as the init system, first locate the chosen {{Path|<display-manager>.service}} file.

To start [[SDDM]] on boot, enable the service:
{{RootCmd|systemctl enable sddm.service}}

To start [[SDDM]] immediately, run:
{{RootCmd|systemctl start sddm.service}}

== See also ==

* {{See also|Xorg/Guide}}
* {{See also|X without Display Manager}}
* {{See also|Window manager}}
* {{See also|Desktop environment}}
* {{See also|Login}}

[[Category:Display manager]]
[[Category:Login]]
[[Category:Meta]]