Is there a way to check logs about user login?

Question

The login process to my Ubuntu box takes a long time, maybe a minute or longer.

Unlike the bootstrap which prints a lot of messages to the console, there is nothing displayed when GUI started.

I've checked /var/log/Xorg.0.log and /var/log/Xorg.1.log, most of them are a bit of lower level information about display devices, seem like things happened before the login, and nothing related to startup applications.

Any idea?

Answer 1

When is it slow? Before you see the login screen or between entering your password and getting to a usable desktop?

If before, bootchart may help.

If after, you should also have a look in the file .xsession-errors for any errors.

And try disabling programs via System->Preferences->Startup Applications and log out and in each time, until you see which one makes a big difference.

Another option is the audit subsystem. Before logging in, switch to a virtual console (e.g. press Ctrl+Alt+F1), then log in, and run auditctl to make it record every process starting and finishing. Then press Ctrl+Alt+F7 to get back to the graphical login screen, log in, then run aureport to print the information out.

You may also be able to put strace -e trace=process > /tmp/startup.log 2>&1 into your startup configuration files somewhere, e.g. edit /etc/gdm/Xsession and change eval exec $command to eval exec strace -e trace=process $command >/tmp/startup.log 2>&1. Whether Xsession is the right place will depend on when the slowness is happening.

Answer 2

In addition to bootchart, which looks to be in the repositories, gnome-system-log is very useful for checking all your system logs.