How to run GDM in debug mode?

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Issue

• How to run gdm in debug mode to view verbose messages?

Resolution

1. Set Enable=true in the debug section of the /etc/gdm/custom.conf configuration file.

   [debug]
   Enable=true
   

2. Restart the gdm service, using the below commands:

   • RHEL 6

     # init 3
     # init 5
     

   • RHEL 7 and later

     # systemctl restart gdm.service
     

Diagnostic Steps

Check the GDM logs.

• In RHEL 6, the logs are stored at /var/log/gdm.

• In RHEL 7 and later, the GDM log messages are sent to the system journal. You can read them with

  # journalctl --boot --unit gdm.service
  

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