[SOLVED] Restart GDM/X from command line

[tusharkant15]

So here's how it's done(thanks to jpollard)

sudo kill -9 $(ps -e | grep gdm-binary | cut -d' ' -f1)

Save it in a script. I have an alias in my ~/.bashrc with this

Hi!
Yesterday I was working on my own extension for gnome and my computer froze. I could switch to other virtual consoles using Alt+Ctrl+F(2) but I couldn't figure out how to restart gdm. On debian I could do a "service restart gdm3", but couldn't find the equivalent systemd command. I tried "systemctl restart graphical.target" but with no luck I finally had to restart my system(not an issue coz my system boots in like 6 seconds thanks to systemd )

I love the whole concept of systemd and the only thing that would make it better is more pratical documentation.

Thanks
(PS: It's my first post on any linux forum!!)

[nonamedotc]

Did you try

startx

This works for me when I try what you have described (other than the coding part )

[tusharkant15]

Nope, it starts a new gnome-session on a sepperate VC.

Thanks anyways coz I din't knwo how to start a graphical session with root!!

This is what I love about linux, you look for one thing and you find the answers to many!

[nonamedotc]

Originally Posted by tusharkant15

Nope, it starts a new gnome-session on a sepperate VC.

Thanks anyways coz I din't knwo how to start a graphical session with root!!

This is what I love about linux, you look for one thing and you find the answers to many!

oh yes! I was so wrong! I somehow did not notice that at all! Thanks

[hadrons123]

For systemd

systemctl restart gdm.service

should restart gdm.

[tusharkant15]

Thanks for replying there is no gdm service. The only thing remotely related to GUI is graphical.target. The output of your command is :

systemctl restart gdm.service
[sudo] password for tushar:
Failed to issue method call: Unit gdm.service failed to load: No such file or directory. See system logs and 'systemctl status gdm.service' for details.

[jpollard]

The simple way to restart gdm is "killall gdm" (you might have to put a "-s 9" to force it to exit).

systemd will restart it when it terminates.

Normally though, no extension to gnome requires this UNLESS you are modifying low level libraries. This is because gdm is nothing more than a login handler using gtk for display access.

Working on extensions to gnome-shell (more likely) should only need gnome-shell to be restarted (logout/login or directing gnome-shell to restart).

[tusharkant15]

Thanks....I'm not at the computer right now....will try it when I'm back.....I don't need it for the extension, I was just working on one and it froze up my system....I'm writing an extension to show a simple workspace switcher without going into overlay mode (if anyone is interested)

---------- Post added at 11:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:00 PM ----------

Hey it works!!

[secipolla]

A way to stop the graphical target is
systemctl isolate multi-user.target (or just init 3)
then
systemctl isolate graphical.target (or default.target or init 5)