The xterm option on the login screen can cause a lot of troubles

[Bart Broeckx]

Binary package hint: gdm

I'm used to start Ubuntu with auto login enabled. Today I wanted to see what it's like. One of the options is that you can login with:
1. Gnome
2. Gnome save mode
3. Xterm

I've never heard about xterm so i gave it a try. I get a nice gnome-terminal-like-screen :)
OK, enough. I would like to go back to Gnome so I reboot ... but I have autologin enabled so there is no way I get back to Gnome. Ubuntu keeps me sending to Xterm.

I've been looking on the internet for over 1 hour before I found the solution.
1. Type: gnome-session (this will start GNOME)
2. Go to System -> Administration -> "Login Screen"
3. Click the option: "Show the screen for choosing who will log in"
4 . :D

I'm a regular Ubuntu user since Breezy Badger and I can say that I have some experience with the terminal. but total newbies who stumble on this problem get no warning, no easy way to get back ... They may find it to difficult. There should be some sort of warning when choosing this option or an easy way to get back to the login screen once you're in xterm.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Oct 26 20:42:37 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: gdm 2.28.1-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=nl_BE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: gdm
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1690): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1690): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (nautilus:1799): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1832): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Closing the command line dialog by clicking in the corner or doing ctrl-d or exit should bring you back to gdm no?

[Bart Broeckx (bart)]

Clicking in the corner doesn't work. CTRL-D or exit do work. Thx.

But I still beleve that it should be clear to new users how to get back to gnome-session.
There should be some sort of notification wich tells you how to go back when autologin is activated.

[fabianav (fabianarielvidela)]

tnx a lot
you save my life!!!