GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 302166
WISHLIST: sort by GECOS field in 'userlist' element of graphical greeter
Last modified: 2005-07-25 19:35:20 UTC
Presently the <item .. id='userlist'> in the XML greeter definitions sorts purely by UNIX username. We use the GECOS info to store a user's real name in the form "Surname.Forename" .. so if the userlist were sorted by that, it'd be far easier for users to find their login name :) Cheers, Gavin.
The new "Include" configuration option can be used to setup the userid's that appear in gdm2's userlist. Does this meet your needs? If not, feel free to provide a patch. Also, the patch should not be OS (GECOS) specific.
Alas no, we have a couple of hundred users changing regularly, and I can't program more than a few lines of dodgy Perl - might as well close this bug, then. gdh
Are you just suggesting that the usernames be sorted alphabetically in the list. I'm assuming that the "Surname.Forename" syntax is just how you name users on your platform. I'll leave the bug open since it seems a reasonable request. Perhaps I'll have time to work on this.
The users are already sorted alphabetically in the gdm userlist - the UNIX usernames are lr1500 -> lr1700... yes the 'Surname.Forename' is purely a local decision for management purposes :) So, any work would really just be changing the sort criterion from the UNIX username to the GECOS field. Cheers, Gavin.
The gecos field is now displayed by default in the graphical userlist. So, it should sort alphanumerically by that field. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 311013 ***
Hm. The contents of the field have been displayed for as long as I've been using gdm (about a year), just that they were sorted alphanumerically by the UNIX username, and not the GECOS field. Has this behaviour changed recently?
yes, refer to bug 311013.