Session manager

[Benedikt Meurer]

Chris Green wrote:
>>>I use xfce 4.0.6 and have been thinking that I'd like to upgrade to the 
>>>new 4.2. I have been lurking on the list for quite some time and have on 
>>>occasion seen mention of a session manager. I have absolutely no idea 
>>>what a "session manager" is, what it does, nor why you would even need 
>>>one. There appears to be no such beast in 4.0.6 - or maybe it is hidden, 
>>>exactly the way it should be. It should be entirely transparent to me as 
>>>I have no need/desire to know about such things.
>>>
>>>Could someone please enlighten me - and please tell me that the 
>>>functionality IS actually hidden.
>>
>>In simple terms, a session manager keeps track of the applications that 
>>you start so that when you login again it will restore your desktop to 
>>the state that it was when you last logged off.
> 
> Which would be a real pain in the backside if it was the only thing it
> could do.  I expect a session manager to be able to save a particular
> desktop arrangement and then make that arrangement my default whenever
> I start up.  (CDE on which xfce was originally loosely based has a
> session manager which works as I describe/expect)

Thats not the job of the session manager. The session manager only 
remembers the active workspace number for every screen, but the window 
positions, workspaces, states, etc. are saved by the window manager when 
the session manager tells him to do so.

Benedikt