Auto login and `startx` without a display manager (systemd)

[Head_on_a_Stick]

This Howto is aimed at users who wish to automatically login to their Debian stable system and start the X server without having to enter startx at the command prompt.

It is primarily aimed at users of simple window manager environments rather then those who prefer fully-blown desktop environments as the latter usually have integrated display mangers to perform this function.

This guide only applies to those users who chose to run systemd as their init system.

If you have chosen to use SysVinit as PID1, refer to the "traditional" guides such as viewtopic.php?f=16&t=29333

This guide assumes an ability to edit system configuration files that may require root permissions to alter and will require correct configuration of the X server initialisation files at ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc (see startx(1) for more on this). If no ~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession file is present then whatever is linked to /etc/alternatives/x-session-manager or /etc/alternatives/x-window-manager will be run instead (use the update-alternatives(1) command to change these).

For automatic login, run this command (as root):

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systemctl edit getty@tty1

Then enter this text and save the file afterwards:

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[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --autologin $username --noclear %I $TERM

Replace $username with your user name.

For automatic `startx` add this snippet to the end of the file at ~/.profile:

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[ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ] && exec startx

Finally, set the correct default.target to ensure the system boots to the console (TTY) rather than to a display manager:

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# systemctl set-default multi-user.target

To reverse this change, reset the default.target with:

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# systemctl set-default graphical.target

[mzsade]

Nope, tried out the auto-login part, still have to type in my user name and password to get to my Desktop. Shutdown and cold booted just to make sure. Could rEFind have something to do with it?
On the positive side, my first foray into this systemd territory did not break anything.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Nope, tried out the auto-login part, still have to type in my user name and password to get to my Desktop.

Hmm strange -- I tested this on my jessie system before posting.

What is the content of /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty@tty1.service and what is the output of:

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systemctl status default.target
ls -l /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service

[mzsade]

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~$ cat  /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty@tty1.service
#  This file is part of systemd.
#
#  systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
#  under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
#  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
#  (at your option) any later version.

[Unit]
Description=Getty on %I
Documentation=man:agetty(8) man:systemd-getty-generator(8)
Documentation=http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/serial-console.html
After=systemd-user-sessions.service plymouth-quit-wait.service
After=rc-local.service

# If additional gettys are spawned during boot then we should make
# sure that this is synchronized before getty.target, even though
# getty.target didn't actually pull it in.
Before=getty.target
IgnoreOnIsolate=yes

# On systems without virtual consoles, don't start any getty. Note
# that serial gettys are covered by serial-getty@.service, not this
# unit.
ConditionPathExists=/dev/tty0

[Service]
# the VT is cleared by TTYVTDisallocate
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --noclear %I $TERM
Type=idle
Restart=always
RestartSec=0
UtmpIdentifier=%I
TTYPath=/dev/%I
TTYReset=yes
TTYVHangup=yes
TTYVTDisallocate=yes
KillMode=process
IgnoreSIGPIPE=no
SendSIGHUP=yes

# Unset locale for the console getty since the console has problems
# displaying some internationalized messages.
Environment=LANG= LANGUAGE= LC_CTYPE= LC_NUMERIC= LC_TIME= LC_COLLATE= LC_MONETARY= LC_MESSAGES= LC_PAPER= LC_NAME= LC_ADDRESS= LC_TELEPHONE= LC_MEASUREMENT= LC_IDENTIFICATION=

[Install]
WantedBy=getty.target
DefaultInstance=tty1

I have changed the ExecStart line back to what it was but really, it's no biggie, just wanted to try it out..

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~$ systemctl status default.target
● graphical.target - Graphical Interface
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/graphical.target; static)
   Active: active since Sat 2015-07-18 14:19:38 IST; 42min ago
     Docs: man:systemd.special(7)
~$ ls -l /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 Jul 11 09:36 /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service -> /lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service


[Head_on_a_Stick]

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~$ systemctl status default.target
● graphical.target - Graphical Interface
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/graphical.target; static)
   Active: active since Sat 2015-07-18 14:19:38 IST; 42min ago
     Docs: man:systemd.special(7)
~$ ls -l /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 Jul 11 09:36 /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service -> /lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service


It didn't work because you have a display manager installed (LightDM) and your system is set to boot to the display manager by default ("graphical.target").

To get it working on your system, you need to either remove LightDM or run:

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# systemctl set-default multi-user.target

[mzsade]

How essential is this display manager, i would be completely at sea if i booted into the console or something like that.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

How essential is this display manage

IMO display managers are only useful for multi-user, multi-desktop systems.

Having said that, my $BETTER_HALF's laptop has 3 users and 2 different desktops and I still don't use a display manager on it...

Pure eye-candy bloat, especially if you have it set to auto-login.

i would be completely at sea if i booted into the console or something like that.

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startx

[mzsade]

Awesome, works like a charm. Is there a command to set things back as they were..

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Is there a command to set things back as they were..

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# systemctl set-default graphical.target

[mzsade]

Being able to someday ask you a linux question that baffles you is now on my bucket list.

Edit: I am a GUI monkey and deserve no respect..and lightdm is not as bloated as something similar for Gnome or Mate, right, right? No, i am a monkey and that's it. Anyways, since i decided to live with lightdm, this is how i did it; http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116370

[mzsade]

Sorry to be a pain in...I couldn't live with it, and i realized both the how-tos complement each other and have to be implemented together to avail of the full benefit (slow on the uptake, that's me). Since i didn't have a ~/.bash_profile, only a ~/.bashrc, i created an empty file and put that second "snippet"

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[[ -z $DISPLAY && $XDG_VTNR -eq 1 ]] && exec startx

inside it. No results, not only that on the next reboot ~/.bash_profile was empty again!

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Since i didn't have a ~/.bash_profile, only a ~/.bashrc, i created an empty file and put that second "snippet" [...] inside it. No results, not only that on the next reboot ~/.bash_profile was empty again!

OK, thanks for the feedback.

I use zsh so I didn't check the .bash_profile bit... :/

Does it work if you put it in ~/.profile?

[mzsade]

Nope, i might have placed it incorrectly,

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# ~/.profile: executed by the command interpreter for login shells.
# This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login
# exists.
# exists.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files for examples.
# the files are located in the bash-doc package.

# the default umask is set in /etc/profile; for setting the umask
# for ssh logins, install and configure the libpam-umask package.
#umask 022
[[ -z $DISPLAY && $XDG_VTNR -eq 1 ]] && exec startx
# if running bash
if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
    # include .bashrc if it exists
    if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
   . "$HOME/.bashrc"
    fi
fi

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Well, I just changed my shell to BASH and ~/.bash_profile works just fine and persists across reboots so I don't know why your system does that.

The snippet also works in my system if it's placed at the end of ~/.profile

What is the output of:

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echo $DISPLAY $XDG_VTNR $PATH

[mzsade]

My friend, my friend, you may yet make a man of this monkey..decided to READ the code for a change and it says right there as plain as can be;
"This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login exists."
Repositioned your code and deleted the blank ~/.bash_profile, and i cannot describe the joy of watching the magic of bash at work..