startx - Man Page

• Start an X session: startx
• Start an X session with a predefined depth value: startx -- -depth value
• Start an X session with a predefined dpi value: startx -- -dpi value
• Override the settings in the .xinitrc file and start a new X session: startx /path/to/window_manager_or_desktop_environment

tldr.sh

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

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 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 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.

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 contain 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 /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 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.

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

DISPLAY

This variable gets set to the name of the display 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 prevent the X server, if not given the -auth argument, 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 /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc will be used.

XSERVERRC

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

$(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.

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

configuration.nix(5), startlxqt(1), x11vnc(1), xauth(1), xdesktopwaves(1), xinit(1), Xserver(1).