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  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 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(5) file.  Some examples of specifying server
       arguments follow; consult the manual page for your X server  to	deter-
       mine 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
       /etc/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	 back-
       ground.	 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 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
				argument,  from automatically setting up inse-
				cure host-based authentication for  the	 local
				host.	See  the  Xserver(1)  and Xsecurity(7)
				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.

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

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

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



X Version 11			  xinit 1.0.9			     STARTX(1)