Wow, so, good morning synchronicity lovers! At 10:59 on #gnome-hackers today, I posted the following stupid hack:
<@jdub> wow <@jdub> so <@jdub> a .xsession like this: <@jdub> gnome-settings-daemon & <@jdub> metacity & <@jdub> nautilus & <@jdub> gnome-panel & <@jdub> exec xterm <@jdub> <@jdub> is *really* fast
Which I then improved as such:
if [ "xtrue" == "x$(gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility)" ]; then # should really set a bunch of GTK_MODULES environment variables # but will start xclock for hilarity's sake xclock & fi gnome-settings-daemon & gnome-panel & nautilus --no-default-window & exec metacity
This appears to be the most performant and visually pleasing start order, too. Unfortunately, the a11y bit needs to be at the start to set the environment up correctly. gnome-settings-daemon already kickstarts xscreensaver, and d-bus/ssh-agent are dealt with by the Ubuntu/Debian X scripts, so I don’t have to worry about those. I skipped a bunch of things that would usually be in a session, but a little bit of run-parts action could fix that nicely. 
It’s fast… Surprisingly so… and it complies with the “No Splash Screen in 2.14″ challenge laid down by Luis. Do I win?
