<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
      type="topic" style="task"
      id="session-user">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="sundry#session" />
    <link type="guide" xref="login#management" />
    <link type="seealso" xref="session-custom" />
    <revision pkgversion="3.4.2" date="2012-12-01" status="draft"/>
    <revision pkgversion="3.8" date="2013-08-06" status="review" />
    <revision pkgversion="3.12" date="2014-06-17" status="review" />

    <credit type="author copyright">
      <name>minnie_eg</name>
      <email>amany.elguindy@gmail.com</email>
      <years>2012</years>
    </credit>
    <credit type="editor">
      <name>Jana Svarova</name>
      <email>jana.svarova@gmail.com</email>
      <years>2013</years>
    </credit>
    <credit type="editor">
      <name>Petr Kovar</name>
      <email>pknbe@volny.cz</email>
      <years>2014</years>
    </credit>

    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>

    <desc>Specify the default session for a user.</desc>
   </info>

  <title>Configure a user default session</title>

  <comment>
    <cite date="2012-11-20"
    href="mailto:amany.elguindy@gmail.com">minnie_eg</cite>
    <p>This assumes the reader knows how to edit files as root user. By the
    end of this page, the reader will be able to specify default sessions for
    users.</p>
  </comment>

  <p>The default session is retrieved from a program called
  <app>AccountsService</app>. <app>AccountsService</app> stores this information
  in the <file>/var/lib/AccountsService/users/</file> directory.</p>

<note style="note">
  <p>In GNOME 2, the <file>.dmrc</file> file in the user home directory was used
  to create default sessions. This <file>.dmrc</file> file is no longer used.</p>
</note>

  <steps>
    <title>Specify a default session for a user</title>
    <item>
      <p>
        Make sure that you have the <sys>gnome-session-xsession</sys>
        package installed on your system.
      </p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>
         Navigate to the <file>/usr/share/xsessions</file> directory
         where you can find <file>.desktop</file> files for each of the
         available sessions. Consult the contents of the
         <file>.desktop</file> files to determine the session you want to
         use.
      </p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>
        To specify a default session for a user, update the user’s
        <sys>account service</sys> in the
        <file>/var/lib/AccountsService/users/<var>username</var></file>
        file:
      </p>
<code>[User]
Language=
XSession=gnome-classic</code>
       <p>
         In this sample,
         <link href="help:gnome-help/gnome-classic">GNOME Classic</link> has
         been set as the default session, using the
         <file>/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-classic.desktop</file> file.
       </p>
     </item>
  </steps>

  <p>After specifying a default session for the user, that session will be
  used the next time the user logs in, unless the user selects a different
  session from the login screen.</p>

</page>