Pie Palace

My desktop is an Ubuntu install. I want my instant messaging client to start automagically when I login. It doesn’t make sense to use /etc/init.d to start it, because I want the app to be run as my user, and I want it to start with my windowing session.

How does one do this with Ubuntu?

Note: These instructions work for Ubuntu 6.10, or Edgy Eft. I have not tested them on other distributions

1. Open the Ubuntu “System” menu, go to “Preferences”, and select “Sessions”
   
2. The Sessions dialog will open. It allows you to control what programs start when you log into X/GDM. It’s kind of ugly, and looks like it can do with a little love from a UI expert.
   
3. The tab we’re interested is “Startup Programs.” Switch to that tab and click “Add.”
   
4. In order to launch the given program, you need to know its path. In this case I care about pidgin, which is in my path, so I can just type pidgin.
   
5. Click “OK”, and close the Session dialog.

You’re done! Test that the setup worked by logging out of X, and logging back in. Pidgin should start automatically.