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1 JohnMcPherson 1 !!NAME
2 startx - initialize an X session
3
4 !!SYNOPSIS
5 __startx__ [[ [[ ''client'' ] ''options'' ... ] [[ __--__ [[ ''server'' ] ''options'' ... ]
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7 !!DESCRIPTION
8 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.
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10 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.
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12 startx -- -depth 16
13 startx -- -dpi 100
14 startx -- -layout Multihead
2 GrantShearer 15
16 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:
17 startx "konqueror --geometry 800x600-1+1"
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19 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:
20 startx -- :1
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22 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)''
1 JohnMcPherson 23
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25 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).
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27 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.
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29 The system-wide ''xinitrc'' and ''xserverrc'' files are found in the ''/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit'' directory.
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31 !!ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
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33 ;DISPLAY : This variable gets set to the name of the display to which clients should connect. Note that this gets ''set'' , not read.
34 ;XAUTHORITY : This variable, if not already defined, gets set to ''$(HOME)/.Xauthority'' . This is to prevent the X server, if not given the ''-auth'' argument, from automatically setting up insecure host-based authentication for the local host. See the ''Xserver'' (1) and ''Xsecurity'' (7x) manual pages for more information on X client/server authentication.
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36 !!FILES
37
38 ;''$(HOME)/.xinitrc'' : Client to run. Typically a shell script which runs many programs in the background.
39 ;''$(HOME)/.xserverrc'' : Server to run. The default is ''X'' .
40 ;''/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc'' : Client to run if the user has no ''.xinitrc'' file.
41 ;''/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xserverrc'' : Server to run if the user has no ''.xserverrc'' file.
42
43 !!SEE ALSO
44 xinit(1), Xserver(1), XFree86(1)
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