Bug#429729: gnome-wm doesn't start openbox with sessionmanager-id -> slow startup

[Adrian]

Package: gnome-session
Version: 2.14.3-6

Problem description:
at least when neither metacity nor sawfish are installed, gnome-session 
seems to use the /usr/bin/gnome-wm script to find an appropriate 
window-manager.
It correctly detects an installed alternative via the link at 
/etc/alternatives/x-window-manager (in my case openbox), but will launch 
only enlightment and fvwm *with* session-manager information, not e.g. 
openbox (see near end of the said script, lines following: "create 
options OPT1 and OPT2 based on the windowmanager used"). This does not 
prevent openbox from launching and becoming the wm, but (on my 
configuration at least) delays the rest of the launching (gnome-panel 
etc) by roughly 30s (some timeout?) during which only the WM is running.

Expected behaviour:
gnome-wm should be aware that openbox (and possibly other WMs) is 
capable of cooperating with session-management, and feed it the 
sm-clientID on startup. Alternatively, it should not delay the rest of 
the gnome-session.

Proposed patch:
Near the end of the script /usr/bin/gnome-wm, add a "case" for openbox:
--- gnome-wm.orig       2007-03-17 12:17:02.000000000 +0100
+++ /usr/bin/gnome-wm   2007-06-19 01:37:59.000000000 +0200
@@ -94,6 +94,11 @@
        OPT2=$SMID
        CURRENT=fvwm
        ;;
+    openbox)
+             OPT1=--sm-client-id
+             OPT2=$SMID
+             CURRENT=openbox
+             ;;
    esac
  fi

This patch works fine for me (with the caveat that openbox only manages 
one of my two screens and requires a second instance launched on ":0.1", 
but that is probably unrelated and/or a problem with openbox)

Severity:
There may be a more canonical way of switching to another wm (?) than 
uninstalling the default wms and trusting the /etc/alternatives 
mechanism, so I leave it to others to assess the practical impact of 
this bug which I ran into. Note that other window-managers might be 
concerned.

Configuration information:
Debian Lenny with very few unstable packages (Pin-Priority testing:500, 
unstable:50), up-to-date as of 2007-06-19
Linux kernel 2.6.18-4-486
Two-display (not Xinerama) set-up using fglrx driver on radeon9600pro 
with xorg 1:7.2-3
Versions of related packages:
gconf2        2.18.0.1-3
libbonobo2-0  2.18.0-2
desktop-base  4.0.3
gnome-panel   2.14.3-5
nautilus      2.14.3-11+b1
gdm           2.16.4-1.1

more on demand...