DM-TOOL(1)

📦
version 1.33.1 · 3 versions
, in alpine 3.24, debian trixie, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 DM-TOOL — the little bestie that talks to your display manager 💖

okay so this is dm-tool, from the General Commands Manual section (section 1, obviously, we're main-character CLI girls here). she's a tool. she controls the display manager. that's the whole vibe. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

dm-tool — a tool to control the display manager 🎀

💅 SYNOPSIS 💅

dm-tool [ OPTIONS ] COMMAND [ ARGS ]

like. options, then a command, then whatever args that command wants. simple. iconic. no notes. 🫶

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

dm-tool is a tool that talks to the LightDM display manager. that's it, that's the job — she's the group chat between you and LightDM. 💬💖

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • -h, --help — shows the help options, bestie. when in doubt, ask for help. always. 🙈
  • --version — shows the release version. just the version. no drama. ⭐
  • --session-bus — tries to connect to the display manager using the session bus instead of the system bus. this is lowkey useful if you're running a display manager in a test mode. if this option is not present, dm-tool connects using the system bus by default. so like, no flag = system bus, flag = session bus. got it? got it. 💅

and then — drumroll pls 🥁 — the following commands are available:

  • switch-to-greeter — switches to the greeter, the one that's suitable for logging into a new session. new session loading screen type beat. 🌈
  • switch-to-user USERNAME [SESSION] — switches to a user session. if that user is already logged in, the display manager just switches over to that existing session. if they're not, a new session gets started. if authentication is required, a greeter starts up to collect it. and if you pass the SESSION option, that session type gets used — otherwise it's whatever the default for that user is. periodt. 👑
  • switch-to-guest [SESSION] — switches to a guest session. if the guest session is already active, the display manager switches to it; otherwise the guest session is started fresh. if you give the SESSION option, that session type is used, otherwise it's the default for the guest user. 💜
  • lock — locks the current seat. this switches to a greeter with a hint that the screen is locked. you get back to your session by authenticating in the greeter. so it's not a one-way door, bestie, you just gotta prove it's you. 🔒
  • list-seats — lists the active seats and the sessions that are running. very "who's here rn" energy. 🪑
  • add-nested-seat — starts an X server inside a session and connects it to a display manager. nesting dolls but make it displays. 🪆
  • add-local-x-seat DISPLAY_NUMBER — connects an existing X server to the display manager. 📺
  • add-seat TYPE [NAME=VALUE...] — adds a dynamic seat. 🎀

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

  • XDG_SEAT_PATH — dm-tool uses this to figure out which display manager session it's running in. when you run dm-tool outside of a display manager, use its list-seats command to show the active sessions, then set the session to connect to like this:
export XDG_SEAT_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/SeatX

where SeatX is one of the listed sessions. iykyk. 🧚

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

lightdm(1) — her sister. go say hi. 💖

okay that's the whole page!! and for the sign-off — this page is from the General Commands Manual, dated 7 November 2013, and the source/version tag on the bottom is DM-TOOL(1). so like, vintage but make it slay. 💅✨🌸 no cap, go switch some seats. 🫶

📦 where this page comes from