Turning off the automatic loading of Nautilus under IceWM

From K12LTSP Wiki

UPDATE March 3, 2006: Somewhere between K12LTSP version 2.0.1 and version 4.4.1, the file that needs to be modified changed (as did the whole gdm configuration process, apparently). In 4.4.1 the file that launches IceWM and calls Nautilus is /usr/bin/icewm-start. Edit this file, using the changes described below, to turn off Nautilus or to start Nautilus but have it not automatically open the user's home directory upon login. I don't know of any method to make this change graphically, as the GDM Configurator (/usr/bin/gdmsetup) does not offer access to this configuration info any more. END UPDATE

To prevent Nautilus from being automatically loaded when using the Ice window manager (IceWM), follow the steps below. These notes are from K12LTSP version 2.0.1, although other versions should be similar. If you're a command line kind of person, you can make the necessary change by editing the /etc/X11/gdm/Sessions/IceWM file.

1. Run the GDM Configurator: click on the IceWM 'start' button, go to the Gnome menu, choose System, choose GDM Configurator.

1. Enter the root password if/when it asks you.

1. In the GDM Configurator, select the Expert Options, then select the Login Sessions tab, and then select IceWM under Available Sessions. When you do this you'll see the script that is run whenever IceWM is started, including the line that calls Nautilus:

       #====/bin/bash
====

       nautilus &

       exec /usr/X11R6/bin/icewm

1. Turn off Nautilus by putting a # at the beginning of the line that calls it, like so:

        #====/bin/bash
====

        #nautilus &

        exec /usr/X11R6/bin/icewm

1. Click on the OK button to save your changes.

Why do this?

IceWM is ideal for older hardware because it is small and loads quickly (it works well on newer hardware, too, but you get the idea). Nautilus is a terrific file manager/desktop, but it requires a lot of resources, i.e., memory and processor cycles. As such, using Nautilus on slower hardware can make it seem sluggish if not unusable. If you turn off Nautilus, IceWM will seem very quick and snappy. On a 200Mhz server with 128Mb RAM, the time from logging in to IceWM being up and ready to run is about 2 seconds; with Nautilus loading, that time stretches out to about 45 seconds, which will be frustrating for many users.

Note that if you turn off Nautilus, you will lose the desktop icons it provides. IceWM has no provision for desktop icons. It does, however, allow you to put icons on the tool bar and on the menu system, which is adequate for most users. If you still want the desktop icons, change the line

#nautilus &

to

nautilus -n &

This will start Nautilus's desktop portion, but won't open a window for the file manager. However, since Nautilus is now running, it may affect the system performance as mentioned above.