NAME

startx - initialize an X session

SYNOPSIS

startx [ [[ ''client''? options ... ] [ __--__ [[ ''server''? options ... ]

DESCRIPTION

The startx script is a front end to xinit that provides a somewhat nicer user interface for running a single session of the X Window System. It is often run with no arguments.

Arguments immediately following the startx command are used to start a client in the same manner as xinit(1). The special argument '--' marks the end of client arguments and the beginning of server options. It may be convenient to specify server options with startx to change on a per-session basis the default color depth, the server's notion of the number of dots-per-inch the display device presents, or take advantage of a different server layout, as permitted by the XFree86(1) server and specified in the XF86Config (5x) file. Some examples of specifying server arguments follow; consult the manual page for your X server to determine which arguments are legal.

startx -- -depth 16 startx -- -dpi 100 startx -- -layout Multihead

startx can also be used to start a program without a window manager, which can be useful for kiosks and other displays that need to be locked down

startx "konqueror --geometry 800x600-1+1"

You can run multiple X sessions on the same computer (if you wanted to run different window managers at the same time). If you already have an X session running you can hit CTRL-ALT-F1 to get to a text console, login and type

startx -- :1

This command will open up a new xsession on your second X console, then you can switch back and forth between these X consoles using the CTRL-ALT-F7/CTRL-ALT-F8 combos. In the same way you can have quite a few X consoles open (ie startx -- :2 becomes CTRL-ALT-F9 and startx -- :n becomes CTRL-ALT-F(n+7)

Note that in the Debian system, what many people traditionally put in the .xinitrc file should go in .xsession instead; this permits the same X environment to be presented whether startx , xdm , or xinit is used to start the X session. All discussion of the .xinitrc file in the xinit(1) manual page applies equally well to .xsession. Keep in mind that .xinitrc is used only by xinit(1) and completely ignored by xdm(1).

To determine the client to run, startx first looks for a file called .xinitrc in the user's home directory. If that is not found, it uses the file xinitrc in the xinit library directory. If command line client options are given, they override this behavior and revert to the xinit(1) behavior. To determine the server to run, startx first looks for a file called .xserverrc in the user's home directory. If that is not found, it uses the file xserverrc in the xinit library directory. If command line server options are given, they override this behavior and revert to the xinit(1) behavior. Users rarely need to provide a .xserverrc file. See the xinit(1) manual page for more details on the arguments.

The system-wide xinitrc and xserverrc files are found in the /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit directory.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

DISPLAY

This variable gets set to the name of the display to which clients should connect. Note that this gets set , not read.

XAUTHORITY

This variable, if not already defined, gets set to $(HOME)/.Xauthority . This is to prevent the X server, if not given the -auth argument, from automatically setting up insecure host-based authentication for the local host. See the Xserver (1) and Xsecurity (7x) manual pages for more information on X client/server authentication.

FILES

$(HOME)/.xinitrc

Client to run. Typically a shell script which runs many programs in the background.

$(HOME)/.xserverrc

Server to run. The default is X .

/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc

Client to run if the user has no .xinitrc file.

/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xserverrc

Server to run if the user has no .xserverrc file.

SEE ALSO

xinit(1), Xserver(1), XFree86(1)