1 .\" $Xorg: startx.man,v 1.4 2001/02/09 02:05:49 xorgcvs Exp $
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27 .\" $XFree86: xc/programs/xinit/startx.man,v 1.7 2001/04/19 15:08:32 dawes Exp $
29 .TH STARTX 1 __xorgversion__
31 startx \- initialize an X session
48 The \fIstartx\fP script is a front end to \fIxinit\fP that provides a
49 somewhat nicer user interface for running a single session of the X
50 Window System. It is often run with no arguments.
52 Arguments immediately following the
54 command are used to start a client in the same manner as
58 marks the end of client arguments and the beginning of server options.
59 It may be convenient to specify server options with startx to change on a
61 default color depth, the server's notion of the number of dots-per-inch the
62 display device presents, or take advantage of a different server layout, as
64 .IR __XSERVERNAME__ (1)
65 server and specified in the
66 .IR __XCONFIGFILE__ (__filemansuffix__)
67 file. Some examples of specifying server arguments follow; consult the
68 manual page for your X server to determine which arguments are legal.
75 startx -- -layout Multihead
79 To determine the client to run,
81 looks for the following files, in order:
86 .I __libdir__/sys.startxrc
90 .I __xinitdir__/xinitrc
95 To determine the client to run,
97 first looks for a file called
99 in the user's home directory. If that is not found, it uses
106 If command line client options are given, they override this
107 behavior and revert to the
110 To determine the server to run,
112 first looks for a file called
114 in the user's home directory. If that is not found, it uses
120 If command line server options are given, they override this
121 behavior and revert to the
123 behavior. Users rarely need to provide a
128 manual page for more details on the arguments.
134 files are found in the
140 is typically a shell script which starts many clients according to the
141 user's preference. When this shell script exits,
143 kills the server and performs any other session shutdown needed.
144 Most of the clients started by
146 should be run in the background. The last client should run in the
147 foreground; when it exits, the session will exit. People often choose
148 a session manager, window manager, or \fIxterm\fP as the ''magic'' client.
151 Below is a sample \fI\.xinitrc\fP that starts several applications and
152 leaves the window manager running as the ''last'' application. Assuming that
153 the window manager has been configured properly, the user
154 then chooses the ''Exit'' menu item to shut down X.
158 xrdb \-load $HOME/.Xresources
159 xsetroot \-solid gray &
160 xbiff \-geometry \-430+5 &
161 oclock \-geometry 75x75\-0\-0 &
162 xload \-geometry \-80\-0 &
163 xterm \-geometry +0+60 \-ls &
164 xterm \-geometry +0\-100 &
165 xconsole \-geometry \-0+0 \-fn 5x7 &
169 .SH "ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES"
172 This variable gets set to the name of the display to which clients should
173 connect. Note that this gets
178 This variable, if not already defined, gets set to
179 .IR $(HOME)/.Xauthority .
180 This is to prevent the X server, if not given the
182 argument, from automatically setting up insecure host-based authentication
183 for the local host. See the
186 .IR Xsecurity (__miscmansuffix__)
187 manual pages for more information on X client/server authentication.
192 Client to run. Typically a shell script which runs many programs in
195 .I __libdir__/sys.startxrc
196 Client to use if the user has no
202 Client to run. Typically a shell script which runs many programs in
205 .I $(HOME)/.xserverrc
206 Server to run. The default is
209 .I __xinitdir__/xinitrc
210 Client to run if the user has no
214 .I __xinitdir__/xserverrc
215 Server to run if the user has no
221 .IR __XSERVERNAME__ (1)