[SOLVED] How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Quick to answer questions about finding your way around Linux Mint as a new user.
Forum rules
There are no such things as "stupid" questions. However if you think your question is a bit stupid, then this is the right place for you to post it. Stick to easy to-the-point questions that you feel people can answer fast. For long and complicated questions use the other forums in the support section.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
Frank-95
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 1:04 pm

[SOLVED] How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by Frank-95 »

Hello.

I was trying to change the login windows appearance but I really couldn't find how. From the login window options I could find nothing to install new themes. Then I found out that I was using lightdm, which I had when I used ubuntu years ago and I just hated it. That was one of the reason why I passed to mint, to have mdm.

I've been using mint 18.3 with mate since some months, and recently moved to mint 19, and I've been completely disoriented when I've found out about the login windows manager change. May I ask why? It is almost unadjustable to user preferences and it does not support any themes.
So, is there a clean way to pass to mdm?
With my surprise I've also found out that mdm package in synaptic is not what I thought but a completely different thing.

At the moment is this the only way to get mdm? Why it is not included in the default repositories?

Thank you
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
User avatar
karlchen
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 18177
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:21 am
Location: Germany

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by karlchen »

Hello, frank-95.

About an outdated instruction:

You are aware that the instruction, which you linked to, applied to Ubuntu 12.04, which reached the end of its supported life in April 2017. You should not assume that the same steps still apply on Ubuntu 18.04 / Mint 19, in particular as Mint has switched to LightDM as well.

About configuring LightDM and Slick Greeter:
It will be your decision whether LightDM & Slick Greeter is something which you can get used to on Mint 19 or not.

Regards,
Karl
Image
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
User avatar
smurphos
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8501
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 am
Location: Irish Brit in Portugal
Contact:

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by smurphos »

Frank-95 wrote: Fri Aug 03, 2018 2:06 pm Why it is not included in the default repositories?
Because it's deprecated and no longer under development.

I've just checked the dependencies of the deb package from http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/upstream/m/mdm/ and it can't be installed on Mint 19 as it relies on gksu which is also deprecated and not in the Mint 19 repos.
For custom Nemo actions, useful scripts for the Cinnamon desktop, and Cinnamox themes visit my Github pages.
Frank-95
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 1:04 pm

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by Frank-95 »

You are aware that the instruction, which you linked to, applied to Ubuntu 12.04, which reached the end of its supported life in April 2017. You should not assume that the same steps still apply on Ubuntu 18.04 / Mint 19, in particular as Mint has switched to LightDM as well.
Yes, I imagined that would have not worked, but I was referring in general to any PPA which might have mantained mdm.
Because it's deprecated and no longer under development.
That is really a pity. Adjustability was one of the reason I quit from gnome 3 and passed to mint, and GDM login windows were just too great and nice look :(

Is there any possibility to install it anyway? By ppa or by compiling it? I really don't care at all if it is supported since in Mint 18.3 worked well and never found a bug. Otherwise I think I will move back to mint 18.3 in the hope that someone will ressurect that package in the meanwhile.

Thank you for your answers
User avatar
smurphos
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8501
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 am
Location: Irish Brit in Portugal
Contact:

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by smurphos »

I've tested this on a Mint 19 and 19.1 Cinnamon 64bit install in Vbox...all links are for 64bit packages.

Edited Instructions to avoid the need to install gksu to install and use MDM

There were various errors reported in the final stage of reconfiguring mdm.
Boot time to mdm was significantly slowed down. Time to desktop having input password was significantly slowed down. However it does boot and does log in.

I've only tested as far that I can log in and log out, reboot and select various mdm themes ...there may be other unwanted side-effects. Make a timeshift backup before attempting this so you can restore if it all goes horribly wrong.


Open a terminal and

1) Create and enter the working directory

Code: Select all

mkdir -p mdm-mod; cd mdm-mod
2 Download the relevant debs files from the Mint Sylvia repos.

Code: Select all

wget http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/main/m/mint-mdm-themes-gdm/mint-mdm-themes-gdm_1.8.1_all.deb

Code: Select all

wget http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/main/m/mint-mdm-themes-html/mint-mdm-themes-html_2.0.15_all.deb

Code: Select all

wget http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/main/m/mint-mdm-themes/mint-mdm-themes_2014.10.29_all.deb

Code: Select all

wget http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/upstream/m/mdm/mdm_2.0.19%2bsylvia_amd64.deb
3. Unpack mdm_2.0.19+sylvia_amd64.deb

Code: Select all

dpkg-deb -R mdm_2.0.19+sylvia_amd64.deb ./mdm
4. Remove the hard dependency on gksu

Code: Select all

sed -i "s| gksu (>= 1.0.7),||g" ./mdm/DEBIAN/control
5. Bump the version number in the control file

Code: Select all

sed -i "s|Version: 2.0.19+sylvia|Version: 2.0.20+sylvia|g" ./mdm/DEBIAN/control
6. Change the default launch command for mdmsetup from gksu to pkexec

Code: Select all

sed -i "s|Exec=gksu /usr/sbin/mdmsetup|Exec=pkexec mdmsetup|g" ./mdm/usr/share/mdm/applications/mdmsetup.desktop
7. Create a directory for the polkit action

Code: Select all

mkdir -p ./mdm/usr/share/polkit-1/actions
8. Create the polkit action. This is a single copy and paste command

Code: Select all

tee ./mdm/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/com.linuxmint.mdm.policy <<'EOB'
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE policyconfig PUBLIC
 "-//freedesktop//DTD PolicyKit Policy Configuration 1.0//EN"
 "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/PolicyKit/1/policyconfig.dtd">
<policyconfig>

  <vendor>Linux Mint</vendor>
  <vendor_url>https://linuxmint.com/</vendor_url>

  <action id="com.linuxmint.mdm.mdmsetup">
    <icon_name>mdmsetup</icon_name>
<message>Login Window</message>

    <defaults>
      <allow_any>no</allow_any>
      <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>
    </defaults>
    <annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.path">/usr/sbin/mdmsetup</annotate>
    <annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.allow_gui">true</annotate>
  </action>
</policyconfig>
EOB
9. Ensure the package files are owned by root prior to repackaging

Code: Select all

sudo chown -Rc root:root ./mdm
10. Repackage the deb

Code: Select all

dpkg-deb -b ./mdm mdm_2.0.20+sylvia_amd64.deb
11. Tidy up

Code: Select all

sudo rm -r ./mdm && rm ./mdm_2.0.19+sylvia_amd64.deb
12. Manually install some mdm dependencies

Code: Select all

apt install libdmx1 libgnomecanvas2-0 libwebkitgtk-1.0-0 gir1.2-webkit-3.0
13. Install the debs

Code: Select all

apt deb *.deb
Optional

14. Remove lightDm and slickgreeter

Code: Select all

apt purge lightdm lightdm-settings slick-greeter && sudo dpkg-reconfigure mdm
Finally reboot and keep your fingers crossed....


Edit 1 - to change gksu package link sources for gksu from artful to xenial...
Edit 2/3 - to change gksu package link sources to get later version of libgksu2
Edit 4 - revise instructions to avoid installation of gksu and amend mdm to use polkit

Edit 5/6/7 - revise instructions so whole process is copy and paste into a terminal.
Last edited by smurphos on Thu Mar 05, 2020 2:44 am, edited 7 times in total.
For custom Nemo actions, useful scripts for the Cinnamon desktop, and Cinnamox themes visit my Github pages.
User avatar
karlchen
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 18177
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:21 am
Location: Germany

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by karlchen »

Hello, Frank-95.

I suspect you may not have taken the time to have a closer look at the 2 links, which I had posted, where you could find illustrated explanations in which way LightDM / Slick Greeter can be configured. At least there is no hint that you have.
Just in order to get some eye-candy back, which you may have had in MDM, but not in LightDM, would not mess around, risking to break some fundamental functionality of your graphical desktop.
It is only the login screen. How often do you see it and for how long?
I usually log in once or twice per day, maybe three times. The login screen will be visible for less than a minute in this case.
Plus it is exactly this, only the login screen, my entrance to xfce or Cinnamon.
Just my 2 cents. You are free to do as you please, even if this means shooting your own foot.

Best regards,
Karl
Image
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
mpiter
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 80
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by mpiter »

Hello Karlchen,

I have followed this thread from the beginning because I like the slide show mdm could provide on the login screen. I followed the links you posted but I could not find a way to produce a slide show with Lightdm. I could not even find a way to choose a random background from a list every time we log in. Do you know any display manager still supported that could at least change the login background every time we log in? Of course, a slide show would be better but as you wrote, the login window is hardly seen when we work.
eddie5903
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2015 11:49 am

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by eddie5903 »

karlchen wrote: Sat Aug 04, 2018 6:16 am have a closer look at the 2 links, which I had posted, where you could find illustrated explanations in which way LightDM / Slick Greeter can be configured.
Hi Karl,

Thank you for posting the links. I can now manually change the login background, which should help to make my daily login less boring! :D

Shame that MDM has bitten the dust, but that's progress I guess...

C'est la vie...
User avatar
smurphos
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8501
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 am
Location: Irish Brit in Portugal
Contact:

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by smurphos »

mpiter wrote: Sat Aug 04, 2018 4:45 pm I could not even find a way to choose a random background from a list every time we log in.
This can be done via a bash script run from a root crontab.

I have the script below saved as /opt/slick-pic-updater.sh, owned by root with permissions 755.

Edit - the script referred to in this post is now hosted on Github - https://github.com/smurphos/nemo_action ... background
Last edited by smurphos on Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
For custom Nemo actions, useful scripts for the Cinnamon desktop, and Cinnamox themes visit my Github pages.
mpiter
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 80
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by mpiter »

Many thanks smurphos. This is very helpful. I will keep Lightdm.
User avatar
smurphos
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8501
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 am
Location: Irish Brit in Portugal
Contact:

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by smurphos »

mpiter wrote: Sun Aug 05, 2018 2:13 am Many thanks smurphos. This is very helpful. I will keep Lightdm.
No worries - you are welcome.
smurphos wrote: Sat Aug 04, 2018 5:25 am I've only tested as far that I can log in and log out, reboot and select various mdm themes ...there may be other unwanted side-effects. Make a timeshift backup before attempting this so you can restore if it all goes horribly wrong.[/b][/color]
I've done a bit more testing of the VM install with MDM on Mint 19. Subsequent reboots seem to have sped up although it's definitely a bit sluggish compared to lightDM. I've reviewed dmesg output - there is nothing of concern there and nothing of concern in xsession-errors either. Package management system is all OK. So other than the lacuna of having to manually install gksu to allow the mdm deb to install (and gksu is only being used to open the mdm settings screen as root) I'll tentatively say that this method is probably OK if you really really want MDM on Mint 19.
For custom Nemo actions, useful scripts for the Cinnamon desktop, and Cinnamox themes visit my Github pages.
Frank-95
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 1:04 pm

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by Frank-95 »

I've tested this on a Mint 19 Cinnamon 64bit install in Vbox...all links are for 64bit packages.

Disclaimer - GKSU was deprecated for security reasons so installing it on Mint 19 may cause unwanted side-effects or create security vulnerabilities.

There were various errors reported in the final stage of reconfiguring mdm.

Boot time to mdm was significantly slowed down. Time to desktop having input password was significantly slowed down. However it does boot and does log in.

I've only tested as far that I can log in and log out, reboot and select various mdm themes ...there may be other unwanted side-effects. Make a timeshift backup before attempting this so you can restore if it all goes horribly wrong.

Download the following deb files
Thank you very much for the links. Anyway I had the idea to add xenial and sylvia repository and install mdm from there, and obviously removing them after that. It works very good, maybe it's a little bit slower than light (matter of 2 seconds) but it's absolutely worthy.
I suspect you may not have taken the time to have a closer look at the 2 links, which I had posted, where you could find illustrated explanations in which way LightDM / Slick Greeter can be configured. At least there is no hint that you have.
Yes I did read it but it's not even remotely close to the potential of mdm.
Just in order to get some eye-candy back, which you may have had in MDM, but not in LightDM, would not mess around, risking to break some fundamental functionality of your graphical desktop.
It is only the login screen. How often do you see it and for how long?
I usually log in once or twice per day, maybe three times. The login screen will be visible for less than a minute in this case.
Plus it is exactly this, only the login screen, my entrance to xfce or Cinnamon.
Just my 2 cents. You are free to do as you please, even if this means shooting your own foot.
Okay, but I don't understand what could I break... To install mdm I had to install NEW libraries, so no uninstall, no downgrade, anything to my actual configuration (I kept note of such packages to remove them in case in the future). So mdm relies only on these new packages and as you said, it's just few seconds. What vulnerability may I get in few seconds of login screen using gksu? Note that every other program uses pkexec once I log in.
Shame that MDM has bitten the dust, but that's progress I guess...
The progress is not lightdm, it is the (right) choice of removing gksu which might be subjected to vulnerabilities. The problem was that mdm is no longer mantained and thus didn't move to pkexec, am I right?
I've done a bit more testing of the VM install with MDM on Mint 19. Subsequent reboots seem to have sped up although it's definitely a bit sluggish compared to lightDM. I've reviewed dmesg output - there is nothing of concern there and nothing of concern in xsession-errors either. Package management system is all OK. So other than the lacuna of having to manually install gksu to allow the mdm deb to install (and gksu is only being used to open the mdm settings screen as root) I'll tentatively say that this method is probably OK if you really really want MDM on Mint 19.
Thank you very much for your tries, I really appreciate it. My method with repository is basically the same thing, right? I also noted a longer delay on first boot, but then it considerably got better
User avatar
smurphos
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8501
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 am
Location: Irish Brit in Portugal
Contact:

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by smurphos »

Frank-95 wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:45 am Thank you very much for your tries, I really appreciate it. My method with repository is basically the same thing, right? I also noted a longer delay on first boot, but then it considerably got better
No worries - yep your method should have more or less the same results - the only difference is that I used the artful gksu rather than xenial but their probably isn't much difference - libgksu2 has a slightly newer version in artful - you can review the changelog between the versions here if you want to- http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs ... /changelog
For custom Nemo actions, useful scripts for the Cinnamon desktop, and Cinnamox themes visit my Github pages.
Frank-95
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 1:04 pm

Re: How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by Frank-95 »

Thank you, I update libgksu2 to the last version using the artful package.

Anyway your guide should be sticked somewhere in my opinion. I think that a lot of people would love to go back to mdm
patday8472

Re: [SOLVED] How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by patday8472 »

It doesn't work on a clean install of xfce 19.1 several dependencies are required for libgksu2-0_2.0.13_pre1-6ubuntu8_amd64
User avatar
smurphos
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8501
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 am
Location: Irish Brit in Portugal
Contact:

Re: [SOLVED] How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by smurphos »

patday8472 wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 12:44 pm It doesn't work on a clean install of xfce 19.1 several dependencies are required for libgksu2-0_2.0.13_pre1-6ubuntu8_amd64
I've fixed the link to pull libgksu2-0_2.0.13~pre1-9ubuntu2_amd64 which doesn't have that dependency issue.
For custom Nemo actions, useful scripts for the Cinnamon desktop, and Cinnamox themes visit my Github pages.
User avatar
smurphos
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8501
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 am
Location: Irish Brit in Portugal
Contact:

Re: [SOLVED] How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by smurphos »

viewtopic.php?p=1507275#p1507275 has been revised to provide instructions to install mdm in Mint 19+ without any reliance on the deprecated gksu.
For custom Nemo actions, useful scripts for the Cinnamon desktop, and Cinnamox themes visit my Github pages.
patday8472

Re: [SOLVED] How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by patday8472 »

I know this is a little bit off topic, for those wanting mdm on Xubuntu 18.04 I thought I would provide info on this here since it referrers to instructions provided by smurphos.

Instructions are a little different to work on Xubuntu 18.04 this is how I got it done.


Make sure synaptic is installed.

Code: Select all

 sudo apt install synaptic 
I did a testing with Linux mint Xfce 18.3 and Xubuntu 18.04 LTS. Not tested with Linux Mint xfce 19.x yet.

You can not remove gksu without major work from Linux mint 18.3.

This was a clean install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS without gksu installed.

Don’t install gdebi. Use the software install to install the deb files. Just right click each file. Gdebi (graphical interface) won’t work in Xubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Do all steps 1-12 shown by smurphos
Do not do step 13.

After you install mdm_2.0.20 +sylvia_amd64.deb Choose MDM as your display manager. Software install should ask you.

Reboot. You will have a default login. It will delay a little on the first boot.

You will get an error message about light-locker once logged in.

Code: Select all

 sudo apt purge light-locker 
Do not uninstall lightdm it would crash your system.

You can use either power manager or xscreensaver to lock your system. There maybe other program that could do the same.

Open whisker menu type login window. Right click on the login window edit application and change gksu to pkexec Save changes.

Open up login windows to change your theme. Then reboot.

Open up synaptic, search for mdm. Select all the mdm files that are installed. Under package chose lock. This prevent it from being uninstalled do to an update.

Also, you may have to uninstall light-locker again after an update. I don’t know if it would be wise to block it. I leave that up you.
patday8472

Re: [SOLVED] How to change lightdm to mdm in MINT 19

Post by patday8472 »

Just an update-Xubuntu 18.04 it now blocks the install somehow. It still will install but it won't work and causes error messages. If Xubuntu is blocking this, that just wrong in my book. At least, I have it installed on my main computer before Xubuntu may have blocked it. I just removed it & went back to lightdm.
Locked

Return to “Beginner Questions”