The xinit program allows a user to manually start an X display server. The startx script is a front-end for xinit. By default, xinit and startx start an X display server pointing to a

display device A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signa ...

that is enumerated as :0 and then start an

xterm xterm is the standard terminal emulator for the X Window System. It allows users to run programs which require a command-line interface. If no particular program is specified, xterm runs the user's Unix shell, shell. An X display device, dis ...

on it. When the xterm terminates, xinit and startx kill the X display server. In general, xinit and startx can start an arbitrary server and run an arbitrary script. Typically, this script runs a number of programs and a

window manager A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of window (computing), windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment. They ...

. Two alternative methods for starting an X display server are by using a

display manager In the X Window System, an X display manager is a graphical login manager which starts a login session on an X server from the same or another computer. A display manager presents the user with a login screen. A session starts when a user s ...

and by starting the X server and then manually starting one or more clients. On

desktop Linux Besides the Linux distributions designed for general-purpose use on desktops and servers, distributions may be specialized for different purposes including computer architecture support, embedded systems, stability, security, localization to a spe ...

systems, a display manager is the most commonly used method.

References

* Valerie Quercia + Tim O'Reilly, X Window System User's Guide, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., USA, 1993 * Linda Mui + Eric Pearce, X Window System Administrator's Guide, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., USA, 1993

External links

xinit manual page

startx manual page
{{XWinSys X Window System