gdmsetup

Run the GNOME Display Manager GUI configuration application

$ gdmsetup

gdmsetup [OPTION…]

-h, --help
    Display help message and exit

-V, --version
    Print version information and exit

gdmsetup is a GTK-based graphical tool for configuring the GNOME Display Manager (GDM), primarily used in GDM 2.x versions. It offers a user-friendly interface with tabs for settings like General (greeter, timeouts), Security (allow root login, relaunch command), XDMCP (remote access), Display (servers, virtual terminals), and more.

Launch it to visually edit options without manually tweaking config files. Changes are applied after saving, often prompting for root password via gksu or polkit. It generates or updates /etc/gdm/gdm.conf, controlling login screen appearance, auto-login, and daemon behavior.

Ideal for sysadmins preferring GUI over text editing, but limited to local use—no remote config support. On modern distros, it's often absent, favoring declarative configs.

Deprecated in GDM 3.x+: Unavailable on most modern systems (e.g., Ubuntu 18.04+). Use gsettings set org.gnome.login-screen ... or dconf-editor instead.
Requires root privileges to save changes; may fail silently if config locked.

Key sections: General (daemon basics), Greeter (login UI), Security (auth limits), XDMCP (network login).

Edits /etc/gdm/gdm.conf; restart GDM (systemctl restart gdm) to apply.

Developed for GDM 2.x (circa 2003-2011) as frontend to gdm.conf. Discontinued with GDM 3.0 (2011), shifting to GSettings/dconf for Wayland/X11 flexibility.

gdm(8), gsettings(1), dconf-editor(1), gdmflexiserver(1)