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Add to SafariWhen comparing GDM vs XDM, the Slant community recommends XDM for most people. In the question“What is the best Linux Display Manager?” XDM is ranked 4th while GDM is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose XDM is:
It's a lot more lightweight than the most common GTK or QT based login managers.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro It just works
GDM is dull, but it just works, and it is highly stable. It's easy to switch between environments, and it integrates really well with Fedora or other Gnome Distros.
Pro Can run Wayland sessions
GDM can start Wayland sessions, which is the default for recent GNOME versions.
Pro Always signs the GNOME keyring
Works with any desktop. SOome display managers such as SDDM don't open the GNOME keyring at login.
Pro Not so difficult to customize
You just have to know which files to edit, and you can do quite a lot.
Pro Lightweight and fast
It's a lot more lightweight than the most common GTK or QT based login managers.
Pro Allows several seats
Pro Matured Software
XDM is not new, it has been in development since the 80s and is a very stable
reliable DM.
Pro Flexibility
Very customizable and portable, although with not as advanced effects.
Cons
Con Tied to Gnome
You basically have to use Gnome or one of its forks to use it properly.
Con Really hard to customize
You'll have to recompile Gnome's resource files in order just to change the login background.
Con Depends on GTK and its dependencies
Con Ugly UI
It is very simple, and you can't change the layout.
Con Bloated
As with anything Gnome, there's a level of inelegance to be expected when it comes to absolute performance. It's supposed to be a login manager, not something bespoke.
Con By deault you can't choose desktop environments
by default you can't choose your sessions/desktops, however there are plenty of tutorials on the web to add a selection.
