So, you've decided to take control of your X session. Let's get started.
You should first go read the simple way of doing this. Click here. Go ahead, I'll wait.

OK, now you know how to edit /opt/kde/share/config/kdmrc . So let's start hacking...

The /etc/X11/kdm/Xsession file

#!/bin/sh
# $XConsortium: Xsession /main/10 1995/12/18 18:21:28 gildea $
# $Id: Xsession,v 1.6 1998/09/29 16:49:02 bieker Exp $

# modified for COL 2.2 by Matthias Hoelzer-Kluepfel
# further hacked by Douglas Hunley

wm=$1

if [ -r "$HOME/.profile" ]; then
    . "$HOME/.profile"
else
    [ -r /etc/config.d/shells/bashrc ] && . /etc/config.d/shells/bashrc
    [ -r /etc/config.d/shells/profile ] && . /etc/config.d/shells/profile
fi

# redirect errors to a file in user's home directory if we can
for errfile in "$HOME/.xsession-errors" "${TMPDIR-/tmp}/xses-$USER"
do
    if ( cp /dev/null "$errfile" 2> /dev/null )
    then
        chmod 600 "$errfile"
        exec > "$errfile" 2>&1
        break
    fi
done

if [ -z "$KDEDIR" ] ; then
    KDEDIR=/opt/kde
    export KDEDIR
fi

if [ -z "$GNOMEDIR" ] ; then
    GNOMEDIR=/opt/gnome
    export GNOMEDIR
fi

PATH=$KDEDIR/bin:$GNOMEDIR/bin:$PATH
export PATH

if [ -n "$wm" ]; then
    case $wm in
    kde)
        exec /etc/X11/xinit/kde
        ;;
    kde2)
        KDEDIR=/opt/kde2
        export KDEDIR
        exec /etc/X11/xinit/kde2
        ;;
    e)
        exec /etc/X11/xinit/e
        ;;
    gnome)
        exec /etc/X11/xinit/gnome
        ;;
    failsafe)
        exec xterm -geometry 80x24-0-0
        ;;
    *)
        which "$wm" && exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc `which $wm`
        # windowmanager not found, tell user
        message="Sorry, $wm not found."
        if [ -x $KDEDIR/bin/kdialog ]; then
            exec $KDEDIR/bin/kdialog --msgbox "$message"
        else
            exec xmessage -center "$message"
        fi
        ;;
    esac
else
    message="No window manager specified"
    if [ -x $KDEDIR/bin/kdialog ]; then
      exec $KDEDIR/bin/kdialog --msgbox "$message"
    else
      exec xmessage -center "$message"
    fi
fi

The /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc file

#!/bin/sh

# Hacked together from common sources and modified by Douglas Hunley

# do the default thing that is common to all environments

# where is the xinit dir
if [ x"$XWINHOME" != x ]; then
    XINIT_DIR=$XWINHOME/lib/X11/xinit
else
    XINIT_DIR=/etc/X11/xinit
fi

# support for Sun's OpenWindows
export OPENWINHOME=/usr/openwin
export HELPPATH=$OPENWINHOME/help

# all the relevant X resources
sysmodmap=$XINIT_DIR/.Xmodmap
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=$XINIT_DIR/.Xresources
userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
sysdefaults=$XINIT_DIR/.Xdefaults
userdefaults=$HOME/.Xdefaults

# what's the correct way to use xrdb
if [ -x /lib/cpp ]; then
    XRDB=xrdb
else
    XRDB="xrdb -nocpp"
fi

# build the X resources settings
for res in $sysresources $userresources $sysdefaults $userdefaults ; do
    if [ -f $res ]; then
        $XRDB -merge $res
    fi
done

# alter the keymap as needed
for map in $sysmodmap $usermodmap ; do
    if [ -f $map ] ; then
        xmodmap $map
    fi
done

# check for needed space
space_tmp=`df /tmp | xargs | cut -d" " -f11`
space_home=`df $HOME | xargs | cut -d" " -f11`
if [ $space_tmp -lt 50 ]; then
    echo "Not enough free disk space on /tmp"
    exit 1
fi
if [ $space_home -lt 25 ]; then
    echo "Not enough free disk space on $HOME"
    exit 1
fi

# check for needed write perms
testfile=X_$$.testfile
if ! echo TEST_TEXT >/tmp/$testfile 2>/dev/null ; then
    echo "Have no write permissions for /tmp"
    exit 1
fi
rm -f /tmp/$testfile 
if ! echo TEST_TEXT >$HOME/$testfile 2>/dev/null ; then
    echo "Have no write permissions for $HOME"
    exit 1
fi
rm -f $HOME/$testfile 

# now we do the environment specific things

# how were we called (i.e. what environment are we running)
case `basename $0` in
    kde|kde2)
        # KDE specific things

        # Kill esd if running
        killall esd >/dev/null 2>&1

        # start the background module early to give visual feedback
        $KDEDIR/bin/kbgndwm &

        # create the kde-config-dir (essential for kpanel)
        #if [ ! -d $HOME/.kde/config ]; then
        #  install -d -m 755 $HOME/.kde/config
        #fi

        # create the 2nd config dir for KDE
        for dir in Desktop/Autostart Desktop/Trash .kde/share/apps/kfm; do
          if [ ! -d $HOME/$dir ]; then
            install -m 700 -d $HOME/$dir
          fi
        done

        f=$HOME/.kde/share/apps/kfm/magic
        [ -f $f ] || dd if=/dev/random bs=1 count=16 | md5sum > $f
 
        #if [ ! -d $HOME/Desktop/Templates ]; then
        #  install -m 700 -d $HOME/Desktop/Templates
        #  cp -a $KDEDIR/share/apps/kfm/Desktop/Templates/* $HOME/Desktop/Templates
        #fi

        # copy the default keyboard configuration file
        if [ ! -f $HOME/.kde/share/config/kikbdrc ]; then
          install -d -m 700 $HOME/.kde/share/config
          install -m 644 $KDEDIR/share/config/kikbdrc $HOME/.kde/share/config/kikbdrc
        fi

        # create the default kderc file
        if [ ! -f $HOME/.kderc ]; then
          install -m 644 $KDEDIR/share/config/kderc $HOME/.kderc
          source /etc/system.cnf
          echo "[Locale]" >> $HOME/.kderc
          echo "Language=$CONF_LST_LANG:C:C" >> $HOME/.kderc
        fi

        if [ ! -f $HOME/.kde/share/config/kvtrc ]; then
          install -m 644 $KDEDIR/share/config/kvtrc $HOME/.kde/share/config/kvtrc
        fi

        exec $KDEDIR/bin/startkde 
        ;;
    e)
        # Enlightenment specific things (under KDE)

        $KDEDIR/bin/kbgndwm &
        for dir in Desktop/Autostart Desktop/Trash .kde/share/apps/kfm; do
                  if [ ! -d $HOME/$dir ]; then
                    install -m 700 -d $HOME/$dir
                  fi
                done

                f=$HOME/.kde/share/apps/kfm/magic
                [ -f $f ] || dd if=/dev/random bs=1 count=16 | md5sum > $f

                if [ ! -f $HOME/.kde/share/config/kikbdrc ]; then
                  install -d -m 700 $HOME/.kde/share/config
                  install -m 644 $KDEDIR/share/config/kikbdrc $HOME/.kde/share/config/kikbdrc
                fi
                if [ ! -f $HOME/.kderc ]; then
                  install -m 644 $KDEDIR/share/config/kderc $HOME/.kderc
                  source /etc/system.cnf
                  echo "[Locale]" >> $HOME/.kderc
                  echo "Language=$CONF_LST_LANG:C:C" >> $HOME/.kderc
                fi

                if [ ! -f $HOME/.kde/share/config/kvtrc ]; then
                  install -m 644 $KDEDIR/share/config/kvtrc $HOME/.kde/share/config/kvtrc
                fi
        
        kcontrol -init
        exec kfm &
        exec krootwm &
        exec kpanel &

        (sleep 1; krunonce kdewizard &)

        $GNOMEDIR/bin/esd &
        exec $GNOMEDIR/enlightenment/bin/enlightenment
        ;;
    gnome)
        # Gnome specific things

        exec $GNOMEDIR/bin/gnome-session
        ;;
    xinitrc)
        # unknown window manager things
        exec ${1-/usr/X11R6/bin/twm}
        ;;
esac

As you can see, we have KDE, Gnome, and Enlightenment on our machine. Edit the
file to match your site. Each different environment/window manager gets a stanza
of its own in our case statement. We use these stanzas to start up things
specific to that environment (like the KDE sound daemon, or the Gnome sound
daemon). The really neat thing about this is that if we install another window
manager that doesn't need anything specific (like afterstep), we DO NOT
need to add another stanza. The last stanza, called 'xinitrc' will launch the
window manager automatically (IF IT IS IN YOUR PATH). Isn't that slick?

Now, given our above example, we would cd to /etc/X11/xinit and we would issue
the following commands:

ln -s xinitrc e
ln -s xinitrc gnome
ln -s xinitrc kde
ln -s xinitrc kde2

That's the magic at work here. Our new xinitrc file examines how it was called,
and uses that to determine which stanza in the case statement gets executed.
That's why running afterstep without creating it's own stanza will work. You
will have to create a symbolic link for afterstep:

ln -s xinitrc afterstep

Another neat effect of this change shows up under run-level 3. If you ever end
up at the command-line (console mode), you can now tell startx which window
manager to start. Simply pass the full-path name to the window manager as the
last argument to startx. For example:

startx -- -bpp 16 /opt/gnome/bin/gnome-session

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