User Commands                                           STARTX(1)

NAME
     startx - initialize an X session

SYNOPSIS
     startx [ [ client ] options ... ] [ -- [ server ] [  display
     ] 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 spe-
     cial 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 Xorg(1) server  and  specified  in  the  xorg.conf(4)
     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

     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/X11/lib/X11/xinit directory.

     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'' appli-
     cation.  Assuming that the window manager has  been  config-
     ured  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.
                             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  automati-
                              cally  setting  up  insecure  host-
                              based authentication for the  local
                              host.    See   the  Xserver(1)  and
                              Xsecurity(5) 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/X11/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc
                              Client to run if the  user  has  no
                              .xinitrc file.

     /usr/X11/lib/X11/xinit/xserverrc
                              Server to run if the  user  has  no
                              .xserverrc file.

SEE ALSO
     xinit(1), Xserver(1), Xorg(1)

ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWxwplt                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


     /usr/X11/lib/X11/xinit/xserverrc
                              Server to run if the  user  has  no
                              .xserverrc file.

SEE ALSO
     xinit(1), Xserver(1), Xorg(1)

ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWxwplt                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Committed                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

X Version 11        Last change: xinit 1.1.0                    3