STARTX(1)

NAME
startx - initialize an X session

SYNOPSIS
startx [ [ client ] options ... ] [ -- [ server ] options ... ]

DESCRIPTION
NOTE: The startx script supplied with the X11 distribution is a sample designed more as a base for customization than as a finished product. Site administrators are urged to customize it for their site. And to update this manual page when they do!

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 typically run with no arguments.

One important exception is the case when a different color depth is being selected. Since this is involves passing an argument to the server, the option has to be prefixed with `--' (see the xinit(1) manual page for more details on the arguments). In order to start the server in 16bpp use

startx -- -bpp 16

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. 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. Users rarely need to provide a .xserverrc file. See the xinit(1) manual page for more details on the arguments.

The .xinitrc is typically a shell script which starts many clients according to the user's preference. When this shell script exits, startx kills the server and performs any other session shutdown needed. Most of the clients started by .xinitrc should be run in the background. The last client should run in the foreground; when it exits, the session will exit. People often choose a session manager, window manager, or xterm as the ``magic'' client.

EXAMPLE

Below is a sample .xinitrc that starts several applications and leaves the window manager running as the ``last'' application. Assuming that the window manager has been configured properly, the user then chooses the ``Exit'' menu item to shut down X.

xrdb  -load  $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot  -solid  gray  &
xbiff  -geometry  -430+5  &
oclock  -geometry  75x75-0-0  &
xload  -geometry  -80-0  &
xterm  -geometry  +0+60  -ls  &
xterm  -geometry  +0-100  &
xconsole  -geometry  -0+0  -fn  5x7  &
exec  twm

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.

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.

<XRoot>/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc
    Client to run if the user has no .xinitrc file. <XRoot> refers to the root of the X11 install tree.

<XRoot>/lib/X11/xinit/xserverrc
    Client to run if the user has no .xserverrc file. This is only needed if the server needs special arguments or is not named. <XRoot> refers to the root of the X11 install tree.

SEE ALSO
xinit(1)