Start XDM at boot and only set up MATE when it's running

roles/distro/tasks/freebsd.yml

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     state: present
   vars:
     packages:
+      - dbus
       - emacs
       - firefox-esr
       - fusefs-ntfs
@@ -36,3 +37,15 @@
       - vim
       - xinput
       - zsh
+- name: Start DBUS service
+  become: true
+  service:
+    name: dbus
+    state: started
+    enabled: yes
+- name: Enable XDM
+  become: true
+  lineinfile:
+    path: /etc/ttys
+    regexp: '^ttyv8	.*'
+    line: 'ttyv8	"/usr/local/bin/xdm -nodaemon"	xterm	on  secure'

roles/home/tasks/mate.yml

@@ -6,26 +6,33 @@
     dest: "{{ prefix }}/share/mate-panel/layouts/acp.layout"
   vars:
     prefix: "{{ '/usr/local' if ansible_distribution == 'FreeBSD' else '/usr' }}"
+- name: Detect running mate-panel process
+  pids:
+    name: mate-panel
+  register: mate_panel
 - name: Set default panel layout
   dconf:
     key: /org/mate/panel/general/default-layout
     value: "'acp'"
   register: layout_changed
-  ignore_errors: yes
+  when: mate_panel.pids | length > 0
 - name: Reset panel
   command: mate-panel --reset || true
-  when: layout_changed.changed
+  when: layout_changed.changed and mate_panel.pids | length > 0
   ignore_errors: yes
   changed_when: false
 - name: Add cities to clock applet
   dconf:
     key: /org/mate/panel/objects/clock/prefs/cities
     value: ['<location name="" city="Luton" timezone="Europe/London" latitude="51.866669" longitude="-0.366667" code="EGGW" current="true"/>', '<location name="" city="Washington" timezone="America/New_York" latitude="38.848331" longitude="-77.034164" code="KDCA" current="false"/>', '<location name="" city="San Francisco" timezone="America/Los_Angeles" latitude="37.619720" longitude="-122.364723" code="KSFO" current="false"/>', '<location name="UTC" city="" timezone="GMT" latitude="-0.000000" longitude="-0.000000" code="-" current="false"/>']
+  when: mate_panel.pids | length > 0
 - name: Set workspace switcher to two rows
   dconf:
     key: /org/mate/panel/objects/workspace-switcher/prefs/num-rows
     value: 2
+  when: mate_panel.pids | length > 0
 - name: Expand locations in clock
   dconf:
     key: /org/mate/panel/objects/clock/prefs/expand-locations
     value: 'true'
+  when: mate_panel.pids | length > 0