LightDM

In this article, we will explore the fascinating world of LightDM, a topic that has captured the attention of people of all ages and walks of life. With a rich and diverse history, LightDM has played a crucial role in the formation of our societies and cultures. From its ancient roots to its relevance today, LightDM has proven to be a topic worthy of study and reflection. Throughout these pages, we will examine its many facets and its impacts in various areas, thus providing a complete and enriching overview of LightDM.
LightDM
Original author(s)Robert Ancell
Developer(s)
  • Robert Ancell
  • David Edmundson
Initial releaseSeptember 10, 2010 (2010-09-10)
Stable release
1.32.0[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 18 July 2022 (18 July 2022)
Repository
Written inC
Operating systemLinux, OpenIndiana
Size1 MB
Available in>50 languages[2][3][4]
TypeX display manager
LicenseGPL-3.0-or-later
Websitegithub.com/CanonicalLtd/lightdm

LightDM is a free and open-source X display manager that aims to be lightweight, fast, extensible and multi-desktop.[5] It can use various front-ends to draw the user interface,[6] also called Greeters.[7] It also supports Wayland.[8][9]

LightDM is the default display manager for Edubuntu, Xubuntu and Mythbuntu since the 11.10 release,[10][11][12] for Lubuntu since the 12.04 release[13] until 16.10,[14] for Kubuntu beginning with 12.10[15] until 15.04[16] for Linux Mint[17] and Antergos.

Features

Features include:

  • Codebase with very few dependencies
  • Supports different display technologies (X11 and Wayland through Mir)
  • Supports remote login (incoming – XDMCP, VNC, outgoing – XDMCP, pluggable)
  • Comprehensive test suite
  • Standards-compliance (PAM, logind, etc.)
  • Well-defined interface between the server and user interface
  • Cross-desktop (greeters can be written in any toolkit)
  • Well-defined greeter API allowing multiple GUIs
  • Support for all display manager use cases, with plug-ins where appropriate

LightDM has a simpler code base than GDM and does not load any GNOME libraries to work, but at the cost of some features that the user may or may not need.[18][19]

Available greeters

LightDM Greeters in active development
Name Key feature(s) Version Website
Arctica Greeter Greeter for Arctica,[20] fork of Unity Greeter 0.99.1.4[21] github.com/ArcticaProject/arctica-greeter
Deepin Greeter Greeter for Deepin 5.0.0[22] github.com/linuxdeepin/dde-session-ui
GTK Greeter Greeter for Xubuntu and former GTK reference implementation,[23] former Lubuntu default,[13] Xubuntu default[11] 2.0.8[24] github.com/Xubuntu/lightdm-gtk-greeter
Mini Greeter Minimalist, single-user. INI configuration 0.5.1[25] github.com/prikhi/lightdm-mini-greeter
Pantheon Greeter Greeter for elementary OS[26] 7.0.0[27] github.com/elementary/greeter
Qt5 Greeter Greeter for Qt 5 0.11.1[28] github.com/rezso/lightdm-qt5-greeter
Slick Greeter Greeter for Linux Mint, fork of Unity Greeter 1.4.1[29] github.com/linuxmint/slick-greeter
WebEngine Greeter QtWebEngine-based, C++ rewrite of Web Greeter 3.0 — github.com/matijaskala/lightdm-webengine-greeter
Web Greeter QtWebEngine-based, continuing Antergos Web Greeter 3.0,[30] allows to create web based themes 3.4.1[31]

github.com/JezerM/web-greeter

WebKit2 Greeter Easy theming[6] 2.0.0[32] gitlab.com/tearch-linux/applications-and-tools/lightdm-webkit2-greeter
Dormant LightDM Greeters
Name Key feature(s) Version Website
Antergos Web Greeter Default greeter for Antergos.[33] Uses HTML/Javascript for theming[34] 2.2.5[35] github.com/Antergos/web-greeter
Crowd Greeter Demonstration for an OpenGL-based Greeter[36][37] 0.0.2[38] launchpad.net/crowd-greeter
GTK Builder Greeter An alternative implementation from LXDE for GTK based on GtkBuilder featuring WYSIWYG theme editing with Glade Interface Designer. 0.2.0[39] lxde.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=lxde%2Fldm-gtk-builder-greeter%3Ba%3Dsummary
KDE Greeter Plasma 4 integration,[40][41] Kubuntu default[15] until superseded by SDDM[16] 0.3.2.2[42] github.com/KDE/lightdm
LXQt Greeter Qt-only Greeter for LXQt desktop (formerly Razor Greeter[43]) until superseded by SDDM[44] 0.7 github.com/surlykke/qt-lightdm-greeter
Qt Greeter Reference implementation in Qt — launchpad.net/lightdm-qt-greeter
Unity Greeter Former Ubuntu default[6] 15.04.3[45] launchpad.net/unity-greeter

See also

References

  1. ^ "Release 1.32.0". 18 July 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Translations: Light Display Manager". Translations.launchpad.net. 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  3. ^ "Translations: LightDM GTK Greeter". Translations.launchpad.net. 2013-05-08. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  4. ^ "Translations: Unity Greeter". Translations.launchpad.net. 2012-01-24. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  5. ^ The Light Display Manager (LightDM), retrieved 17 May 2011
  6. ^ a b c Ubuntu 11.10 To Switch From GDM To LightDM, 12 May 2011, retrieved 18 May 2011
  7. ^ Fischer, Matt (2012-02-07). "» So You Want to Write a LightDM Greeter… Matt Fischer's Blog". Mattfischer.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-19. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  8. ^ "Readme Manual of LightDM". GitHub. 3 May 2022.
  9. ^ "LightDM". Arch Linux Wiki. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  10. ^ Ubuntu 11.10 ReleaseNotes, Canonical, retrieved 28 May 2012
  11. ^ a b Xubuntu 11.10 Release Notes, Canonical, retrieved 17 December 2012
  12. ^ "BionicBeaver/ReleaseNotes - Ubuntu Wiki".
  13. ^ a b Lubuntu 12.04 ReleaseNotes, Canonical, retrieved 14 Jun 2012
  14. ^ "Discussion about greeter (Log in) application for 16.10 Qt versi... : Blueprints : Lubuntu Next". 11 May 2014.
  15. ^ a b RFC] Merging LightDM into KDE Workspaces, mail.kde.org, 20 August 2012, retrieved 2013-05-29
  16. ^ a b Bhartiya, Swapnil. "Kubuntu 15.04 With Plasma 5.3 - A Totally Different Kubuntu - Linux.com". Linux.com - The source for Linux Information. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2015-05-03.
  17. ^ New features in Linux Mint 18.2 Cinnamon Archived 2020-11-12 at the Wayback Machine (go down or search for LightDM), retrieved 2017-07-02
  18. ^ Ubuntu adopts LightDM, login screens to get more exciting, Geek.com, 12 May 2011, archived from the original on 16 October 2012, retrieved 18 May 2011
  19. ^ LightDM, or: an examination of a misunderstanding of the problem, 12 May 2011, retrieved 14 July 2015
  20. ^ "The Arctica Project". arctica-project.org. The Arctica Project. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  21. ^ "Arctica Greeter". Github.
  22. ^ "dde-session-ui". Github.
  23. ^ LightDM GTK Greeter in Launchpad, Launchpad.net, 29 November 2011, retrieved 2012-12-16
  24. ^ "GTK LightDM Greeter for Xubuntu". Github.
  25. ^ Mini Greeter Releases, GitHub, retrieved 2022-03-13
  26. ^ Hello, Luna Beta 1 | elementary, Elementaryos.org, 2012-11-14, retrieved 2013-05-29
  27. ^ "LightDM Greeter for Pantheon". Github.
  28. ^ "LightDM Greeter for Qt 5". Github.
  29. ^ Slick Greeter Releases, GitHub, retrieved 2020-09-20
  30. ^ Antergos Web Greeter 3.0, GitHub, retrieved 2021-07-10
  31. ^ Web Greeter 3.4.1 release, GitHub, retrieved 2021-04-10
  32. ^ LightDM Webkit Greeter, GitLab, 11 January 2016, retrieved 2020-09-20
  33. ^ "Antergos | Your Linux. Always Fresh. Never Frozen". Antergos Linux. Archived from the original on 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
  34. ^ "lightdm-webkit2-greeter - master". doclets.io. Archived from the original on 2016-10-07. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
  35. ^ "Antergos/web-greeter". GitHub. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
  36. ^ ~lightdm-team/crowd-greeter/trunk (2011-07-27), ~lightdm-team/crowd-greeter/trunk : contents of NEWS at revision 33, Bazaar.launchpad.net, retrieved 2013-05-29
  37. ^ LightDM Crowd Greeter, YouTube, 2011-09-07, retrieved 2013-05-29
  38. ^ Crowd Greeter : "LightDM Development Team" team, Launchpad.net, 2011-09-08, retrieved 2013-05-29
  39. ^ Status of LXDE Components, LXDE Team, archived from the original on 17 October 2019, retrieved 17 December 2012
  40. ^ Edmundson, David (2012-07-21), LightDM-KDE 0.2.0, Sharpley.org.uk, archived from the original on 2012-12-24, retrieved 2012-08-23
  41. ^ Rationales, Static.davidedmundson.co.uk, retrieved 2013-05-29
  42. ^ LightDM-KDE File Archive, KDE, archived from the original on 27 October 2017, retrieved 6 June 2013
  43. ^ Razor-qt, razorqt-lightdm-greeter, Github.com, retrieved 2012-08-23
  44. ^ Leclanche, Jerome (2013-10-30). "[Lxde-list] CALL FOR TESTERS: LXQt now available for testing". sourceforge.net. SourceForge. Retrieved 2016-05-08. ... For a display manager, SDDM is recommended ...
  45. ^ Unity Greeter, Launchpad.net, 31 May 2011, retrieved 2012-12-16
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