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8 Chapter 1: Introduction to the X Window System
Display manager
Enables a user to log in to the system graphically. Most display managers ask the
user to type his user ID and password, but it??™s possible to use almost any authentication
scheme, including biometric scanning.
Session manager
Tracks application state across login sessions, starting standard clients such as
the window manager and desktop environment components, restarting applications
that were active at the end of a previous session, and optionally restarting
applications if they crash.
Window and Compositing manager
Manages window placement and provides window decorations. This includes window
title bars, borders, and controls for common operations such as resizing,
maximizing, minimizing, moving, and closing windows. When the COMPOSITE
extension is available, the window manager also acts as the compositing manager.
The X developers tried separating them, but in order to work really well, the compositing
manager needs access to information about the windows that only a window
manager knows. A window manager is considered to be a special class of
client, and only one can be active on a display at a time.
Desktop environment
One or more programs that provide a desktop paradigm for the user.
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