Xsplash only uses the default wallpaper during transition to desktop.

[Vish]

Binary package hint: xsplash

In single user setup , with auto-login:
The present xsplash uses the default wallpaper > /usr/share/backgrounds/warty-final-ubuntu.png before transitioning to desktop.

It is better to use the boot background for:
-xsplash
-/etc/gdm/Init/Default (before gdm greeter shows)
-/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default (after gdm greeter, going into user session)
Using the same background for all the transitions would be better. so that the user just sees only 2 backgrounds
1 background during boot and then second [User's custom background] after login .

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed Aug 12 21:10:38 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: xsplash 0.3-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-5.24-generic
SourcePackage: xsplash
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-5-generic i686

[Ken VanDine (ken-vandine)]

Using the wallpaper is just temporary while we wait for final artwork. There are some mockups at:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Karmic/Boot/Demo

We don't know what the final artwork will look like yet.

[Vish (vish)]

I'm confirming this for now , since this is a known issue.
you could mark it as fixed once development is completed :)

[Dana Goyette (danagoyette)]

As it is right now, before login, xsplash flickers several times between black, white, the default wallpaper, and my custom gdm wallpaper. After login, it then flickers several more times, between custom gdm wallpaper, white, black, default wallpaper, gdm wallpaper again, and finally my user wallpaper. I sure hope the final version will address these assumptions -- the users should be allowed to customize the login screen wallpaper.

In addition, if the GDM wallpaper is a slideshow (xml) type, then the xsplash will only consistently match if it uses the same drawing routines gnome-settings-daemon uses.

[Vish (vish)]

@Dana Goyette:
The color flicker is Bug #416004 ,

GDM customization , is not possible its hardcoded , for now > Bug #395299 is an Ubuntu effort to make it customizable , you might wanna comment , what features you would want.

[Vish (vish)]

@Ahmed El-Mahmoudy:

I think this was what you were looking for , see comment #2 ,
 - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usplash/+bug/412655/comments/2
 - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopExperienceTeam/BootExperienceProject

[Cody Russell (bratsche)]

So you can now change the background that's used on the command-line. We will not be supporting using the user's desktop background in Karmic (or probably ever) because it will involve making connections to gconf and reading keys out of it, and we're trying to minimize this type of thing in order to avoid disk I/O wherever possible at this stage of the boot process.

[Cody Russell (bratsche)]

Uhh, also forgot to mention.. the transition should be smoother now since xsplash now works to avoid 'flickering' between the splash screen and the desktop background by using some XComposite related hacks.

[Dana Goyette (danagoyette)]

The only oddity now is that it still switches back and forth between xsplash and gdm-background several times. I believe xsplash should at least follow the gdm user's background -- that is, the background used at the login screen itself. Try it yourself (change the gdm user's background to something drastically different from the default).

Alternatively, we could make the gdm background be an 'alternative' -- and then have xsplash obey it.

[Dana Goyette (danagoyette)]

To clarify, what I mean by 'several times' is that you see xsplash (brown), and then login screen (blue, in my case). Once you log in, it then shows brown, then blue, then the user's wallpaper.
A nicer behavior would be to have at least the _second_ instance of xsplash (between gdm and desktop) use the gdm user's background. That would give you this behavior:
Current behavior: usplash -> xsplash (brown) -> gdm (blue) -> xsplash (brown) -> gdm (blue) -> user desktop.
Better behavior: usplash -> xsplash (brown) -> gdm (blue) -> xsplash (blue) -> user-desktop.

[Cody Russell (bratsche)]

Well, we can use a different image for the different xsplash stages if we want to. For example, look at

/etc/gdm/Init/Default (before gdm greeter shows)

and

/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default (after gdm greeter, going into user session)

We can set a different background image on the command line here, depending on what the design team comes up with. But we probably don't want to query the gconf server to find out what backgrounds gdm or user have set.

[Vish (vish)]

Cody , from what i understood ,
Mat is designing the Boot experience to use a *Single Background* for boot , gdm
While the boot uses the overlay of the throbber , the gdm will use the overlay of the user list.

So that background image is better to use than the default wallpaper for all these three:
-xsplash
-/etc/gdm/Init/Default (before gdm greeter shows)
-/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default (after gdm greeter, going into user session)
Using the same background for all the transitions would be better. so that the user just sees only 2 backgrounds
1 background during boot and then second after login.

When i started this bug , I was under the impression that it was supposed to use the users wallpaper and my suggestion in the description[to use the user defined wallpaper] was since i thought the setting wasnt yet done. [i'll edit the description accordingly]

But I'll leave it to Mat to confirm this[I'v subscribed Mat]

[Cody Russell (bratsche)]

I'm having trouble understanding what change you're proposing now. Can you restate exactly what it is you want to see changed?

[Mat Tomaszewski (mat.t.)]

The background currently used is temporary, the correct background will be implemented shortly. Also, we can't use two backgrounds (which one would you see in the autologin case?).

[Vish (vish)]

Just so that others are not mistaken by the invalid status:[confirmed with Mat]

The background will use the boot background during transition to desktop , this has actually been fixed.
But the bug report is for a non issue , since it was started very early .

[Dana Goyette (danagoyette)]

Hmm, I'd say, in the autologin case, it should stick with the boot-stage background all the way up to the desktop. This would match the existing behavior of autologin without xsplash -- that is, it goes from usplash to desktop, skipping the gdm background entirely.

[Cody Russell (bratsche)]

The new startup infrastructure will be landing in Karmic soon.. but basically, X11 will be starting earlier than before and you're going to be seeing xsplash for longer than you're seeing it now. You won't be seeing usplash in most cases.

Design team will be providing updated media in the near future, so please sit tight. They're pretty good at making stuff look good so I hope you'll be happy once all the pieces fall into place. ;)

Thanks for your interest and comments. Let us know once the new stuff lands, we hope you like it.