_Originally created by @anonym on [#8941 (Redmine)](https://public-redmine-archive.tails.boum.org/code/issues/8941)_ The `autotest_remote_shell.py` is started after Tails Greeter (`/etc/rc2.d/S05rc.local` vs `/etc/rc2.d/S03gdm3`) which is fragile given how we wait for the remote shell to be ready (we “ask” if it’s up as soon as we see that Tails Greeter is running). In particular, in the `test/7821-tor` branch (for tails/tails#7821) a tiny change to the remote shell server (commit 1a55905e5d51d0f578b5ab3732a8ac0453ac6363 (“Create the environment for remote shell calls more realisitcally.”)) exposes this race. To eliminate this race we should: - migrate the remote shell startup to a dedicated initscript, that acts as a no-op unless `autotest_never_use_this_option` is passed on the kernel command-line - set `X-Start-Before: $x-display-manager gdm gdm3` in the remote shell initscript - in `autotest_remote_shell.py`, touch some file after `port.open()` has succeeded - patch the `gdm3` initscript to wait for that file to appear, when `autotest_never_use_this_option` is passed on the kernel command-line, before it actually starts GDM. (above adapted from https://gitlab.tails.boum.org/tails/tails/-/issues/7821#note_97929) Feature Branch: bugfix/8941-start-remote-shell-before-greeter Parent Task: tails/tails#8539 ### Related issues - **Related to** tails/tails#7821 - **Related to** tails/tails#5491 - **Related to** tails/tails#9057