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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Is there any use case of SDDM other than log in to Plasma desktop? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 14 hours ago by Villainess@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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I can log in from tty just fine and faster too sddm is kinda bloated imo, and why it called "Display Manager" instead of "Session Manager"?

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[–] flubba86@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

The term Display Manager is a vestige of the use of X11.

X11 is a Server/Client protocol.

When a user logs in to an XServer, they are given an Xsession. The user can use that Xsession to create one or more X11 Displays (they are just IDs). The X11 Display ID is passed to the X11 client application (that's what the XDISPLAY environment variable is for). The client apps render their content to that Display ID. This whole thing allows for more than one user to be able to use a single operating system on a single XServer at the same time.

All of that is pretty cumbersome for a user to do themselves in their terminal, that's what Display Managers are for. They:

Start the XServer if it isn't started yet
Provide a method (eg, login with username and password), to start a new XSession.
Use that XSession to create an empty X11 Display.
Look up which is your configured default DE or WM
Launch the DE or WM with the right parameters, passing it the new XSession and XDisplay

If you're using Wayland, then the architecture is very different. The Display Manager then simply operates as a login screen.