Cannot pass additional command-line options to X server

[Daniel Richard G.]

I am using LightDM 1.0.6-0ubuntu1.2 on Oneiric.

I would like to pass the "-logdir /path/to/file" option to the X server. In the old days, I would edit a file like /etc/X11/Xserver and add the option in there. LightDM, however, constructs the X server invocation in C code, specifically in src/xserver-local.c (search for "nolisten" and you'll be in the thick of it).

Many of the arguments passed to the X server relate to LightDM configuration parameters, so I'm not taking issue with the server options in C code. (In theory, this could prevent LightDM from supporting non-X.org X servers, but I don't think that's likely to be of much interest to anyone.) However, I would like there to be an additional LightDM config parameter that allows me to specify arbitrary options to tack on to the server invocation, as that would handily address my needs and otherwise serve as a good catch-all.

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

In lightdm.conf you can set the X server command, e.g.

[SeatDefaults]
xserver-command=X -do-something-interesting

All options are shown here:
/usr/share/doc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

[Daniel Richard G. (skunk)]

Thanks, I missed this in reviewing the code.

Could you add a clarification in the sample lightdm.conf that options are allowed, and that [the standard X.org] server options are appended to this command? It's easy to read xserver-command as specifying either just the server program name/path, or the invocation in its entirety.

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

Good idea, I've done that now.