[gyulai]

Graphical login managers are just a nightmare altogether.

Genuine use cases for multiuser desktop Linux are exceedingly rare. (Are university computer labs with desktop computers still a thing? Or is it just Wi-Fi and BYOD now?)

On an effectively-single-user system, there is very little point in distinguishing between the state where the single user has logged in and the session has been locked versus the state where the single user has not yet logged in. Dealing with the discontinuities between those two states, on the other hand, is a nightmare. (e.g. Wi-Fi might be controlled through the desktop session. Why should the computer not be connected to Wi-Fi and its network services reachable, just because the user hasn't logged in yet? What about power management? If the single user has turned off the feature to automatically suspend after x minutes of inactivity through KDE settings, why should that setting only start to apply after the user has logged in, and not yet when the greeter is still sitting idle? Those kinds of behaviours are usually not what you want) -- And, subjectively, I've found the KDE login manager to be the buggiest part of my KDE experience anyway.

I would advise anyone to set up auto login with something like sddm, and skip the whole thing. Password entry is a bit redundant, assuming the user has already entered at least one password for disk encryption, and things like ssh are governed through key pairs.

[lucasoshiro]

> Are university computer labs with desktop computers still a thing?

Of course, people shouldn't be forced to bring or even have a laptop powerful enough for using during the classes or finishing their tasks.

[pseudalopex]

> Why should the computer not be connected to Wi-Fi and its network services reachable, just because the user hasn't logged in yet? What about power management? If the single user has turned off the feature to automatically suspend after x minutes of inactivity through KDE settings, why should that setting only start to apply after the user has logged in, and not yet when the greeter is still sitting idle?

These were reasons GDM integrated GNOME components and KDE forked SDDM to PLM.

[BoxOfRain]

> Genuine use cases for multiuser desktop Linux are exceedingly rare. (Are university computer labs with desktop computers still a thing? Or is it just Wi-Fi and BYOD now?)

When I was a student in 2015, we had several computer labs. One was called the Delphinium because it was populated with Dell machines running Linux, and another was called the Orchard because it was full of iMacs. There was a lab of Windows machines too which didn't have a memorable name.

[TiredOfLife]

> Genuine use cases for multiuser desktop Linux are exceedingly rare.

Not everyone is a rich american. People share computers.

[VladStanimir]

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding here.

A multiuser system is a system where multiple users are logged in at the same time and ussing the computer.

So a multi-user desktop Linux would be a computer where multiple people are logged in each with their own desktop session on the same machine.

That was the way unix was first used, a big computer somewhere with multiple client terminals connected to it all doing their own thing. This is the environment x11 came about as well.

Nowadays even if the computer is shared by multiple people each with their own account only one of them is using it at a time.

[queenkjuul]

I even am a well-off American and i share one of my computers

[gyulai]

Putting Linux on dumpster-find computers is a hobby for some rich Americans. They'd be happy to hand those out to the poor and needy who, however, wouldn't be caught dead with one of those. Because, sporting the latest iPhone at all times is part of the reason they're poor. -- The world is a complicated place, man.

[halJordan]

You shouldn't assume that someone with the disk password is entitled to the user's data. That's kinda a fundamental separation. Your home directory should be encrypted separately from the disk anyway

[pseudalopex]

Universities have computer labs. Companies have shared computers. Households have shared computers.

[gyulai]

I am willing to downgrade my statement “exceedingly rare” to “relatively rare”. It is certainly exceedingly rare in my sphere of experience. The last time I worked for a company that had shared computers was 16 years ago. This was on a trading floor set up for compliance. And they were in the process of phasing that out and making the computers on the trading floor just dumb terminals for Windows terminal server. So the desktops, themselves, ceased to be multi-user because they only ran the terminal server client, and it didn't matter which user that ran under.

After that, the only setup I've ever known was company-issued single-user laptops, and rarely BYOD. Company-issued single-user laptops are also what is used by all my friends and colleagues, where I have knowledge of such things.

With that said: The multi-user model is pretty broken on modern desktop Linux anyway, if you only look at how much stuff goes in $HOME these days, including software installed through flatpaks, configuration, even configuration with system-wide effects like power management and network, etc.

[tenacious_tuna]

> Households have shared computers.

I have about five Fedora desktops running in my house that I share with my partners. Domain-style logins are handled by FreeIPA. Basic login with the KDE Fedora spin works great.

I've been meaning to set up auto-mounting network shares and such, but haven't gotten around to it; but the login management is very convenient and we use every day.