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STARTX(1)		    General Commands Manual		     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(1) that provides  a  somewhat
       nicer  user interface for running a single session of the X Window Sys-
       tem.  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 them
       on a per-session	basis.	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  checks  the  environment
       variable	XINITRC	for a filename.	If that	variable is unset, or does not
       contain a filename, it 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  checks  the	 environment  variable
       XSERVERRC  for  a filename. If that variable is unset, or does not con-
       tain a filename,	it 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/lo-
       cal/etc/X11/xinit directory.

       The .xinitrc is typically a shell script	which starts many clients  ac-
       cording 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  ses-
       sion 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 dis-
				play 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  pre-
				vent  the X server, if not given the -auth ar-
				gument,	from automatically setting up insecure
				host-based  authentication for the local host.
				See the	 Xserver(1)  and  Xsecurity(7)	manual
				pages  for more	information on X client/server
				authentication.

       XINITRC			This variable should contain the  location  of
				an xinitrc file. If unset, $(HOME)/.xinitrc or
				/usr/local/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc will be used.

       XSERVERRC		This variable should contain the  location  of
				an xserver file. If unset, $(HOME)/.xinitrc or
				/usr/local/etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc   will   be
				used.

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/local/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
				Client to run if  the  user  has  no  .xinitrc
				file.

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

SEE ALSO
       xinit(1), X(7), Xserver(1), Xorg(1), xorg.conf(5)

X Version 11			  xinit	1.4.2			     STARTX(1)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLE | ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES | FILES | SEE ALSO

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