1README file for the X Session Manager (xsm)
2-------------------------------------------
3
4xsm is a session manager.  A session is a group of applications, each
5of which has a particular state.  xsm allows you to create arbitrary
6sessions - for example, you might have a "light" session, a "development"
7session, or an "xterminal" session.  Each session can have its own set of
8applications.  Within a session, you can perform a "checkpoint" to save
9application state, or a "shutdown" to save state and exit the session.  When
10you log back in to the system, you can load a specific session, and you can
11delete sessions you no longer want to keep.
12
13Some session managers simply allow you to manually specify a list of
14applications to be started in a session.  xsm is more powerful because it
15lets you run applications and have them automatically become part of the
16session.  On a simple level, xsm is useful because it gives you this ability
17to easily define which applications are in a session.  The true power of
18xsm, however, can be taken advantage of when more and more applications
19learn to save and restore their state.
20
21This README file discusses the necessary steps you must take to run xsm.  To
22learn more about the details of xsm's functionality, read the xsm man page.
23
24Before building xsm, you should make sure you have the following libraries
25built on your system:
26
27libICE - the Inter Client Exchange Library
28libSM  - the Session Management Library
29libXt  - the X Toolkit with support for session management
30
31Once you are sure all of the required libraries are built, you are ready
32to build xsm.
33
34Before you can run xsm, you must make sure that the following programs are
35built and installed on your system:
36
37smproxy - the session manager proxy for applications that don't support
38          R6 style session management
39iceauth - handles storing/retrieving ICE authentication information
40rstart  - allows xsm to start applications on remote machines
41twm     - window manager that support R6 style session management - takes
42          care of saving window configurations in a session
43
44Note that to install rstart, you will need to have root privileges because
45the program must be installed in a system wide default path.
46
47*** rstart and iceauth should be installed on each machine that you expect
48    to run applications on that will be part of your session ***
49
50Also note that twm is the default window manager that xsm starts up.  If you
51would like to use a different window manager, follow the instructions in the
52xsm man page for defining the default startup applications.  Be aware that if
53the window manager you choose has not been modified to support R6 style
54session management, window configurations will not be saved in your sessions.
55
56Once again, for more information about actually using xsm, please read the
57xsm man page.
58
59To learn more about making your applications "session aware", consult the
60X Toolkit Intrinsics documentation.
61