XSTART(1) X Version 11 (Release 5) XSTART(1)
NAME
xstart - X Window System startup tool
SYNOPSIS
xstart [-xdefaults ResourceFile] [-log ErrorLogFile] [-
client ProgramOrShellscript]
[-- [Xserver] [display#] ServerOptions]
If used on the command line, the -- option must
appear last. Other options may appear in any order.
DESCRIPTION
The xstart program is used to start the X Window System
display server program, set the server's resources, and
start a X client program or a executable shell script of X
client programs.
xstart will first check if the X server is already running,
in which case xstart exits with an error message. Options
are then read in (see below), environment variables set, the
server started, xrdb(1) is run to set server resources, and
a client or shell script is run. Unless otherwise specified
on the command line, xstart assumes that the server and
client program are in the current search path. Once these
steps have been completed, xstart will terminate. The X
window desktop will continue to run until terminated by the
user or another program.
Three environment variables will be set:
DISPLAY has the format: hostname:display#, and will be set
according to the display# option of the x server
(unix:display# if specified with the server option;
unix:0 if not specified.) If DISPLAY is defined in
the environment before invocation of xstart,
hostname will not be changed, but display# will be
set to match the display# that the x server is
started with.
RDISPLAY
is set to hostname:display# where hostname is the
name of the machine running xstart and display# is
the same as for the DISPLAY environment variable
(note that this variable will have the same value as
DISPLAY unless DISPLAY is unix:display#.) This
value is provided for users who may want to use
rsh(1) from a remote machine.
XSERVERPID
is set to the process id of the server, so that it
may be terminated (by some other client or the user)
when the session is over.
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XSTART(1) X Version 11 (Release 5) XSTART(1)
xstart runs xrdb to set the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER
property on the root window. Resources set by xrdb will be
read first from `/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Xdefaults' and
then from `$HOME/.Xdefaults' (or from the file specified
with the -xdefaults option on the command line), with the
information from the `/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Xdefaults'
file having lower priority.
OPTIONS
There are four places where options can be specified:
On the command line.
Options which appear on the command line will
override all other options. This is where the user
puts options which may change upon each invocation
of xstart.
($HOME/.Xdefaults).
The resource file in the user's home directory
This is where the user puts frequently-used xstart
options and server resources. Settings in this file
override those in the `/usr/lib/X11/app-
defaults/Xdefaults' file and built-in options.
In /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Xdefaults.
This resource file can only be modified by a system
administrator. It provides a base set of X resource
settings. These values will override the values
built-in to the xstart program.
Built-in to the xstart program.
Any xstart options not specified in one of the three
above ways will be assigned default values by xstart
(as noted below).
All xstart options which can be specified in
`$HOME/.Xdefaults' can also be specified on the command
line. All options on the command line must be preceded by a
dash and have white space separating the option name and
value. Options in files must be preceded by `xstart.', and
have a colon separating the option name and value.
Whenever a value is given for an option which cannot be
used, (ie. cannot find client file) xstart will terminate
the server if it is running and exit with an error message.
Available options are:
-log The name of the file to log xstart and X server
errors. The default value is not to redirect error
output.
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XSTART(1) X Version 11 (Release 5) XSTART(1)
-client The filename of a client program or shell script
containing X client programs. The default value is
`/usr/lib/X11/xstart/xstart.sh'. If both the user
specified client and the default client file is not
given, xstart will start three X clients, `twm' (a
window manager), `xterm' and `xclock'. If the user
specified client is a shell script, the file must
have execute permission by the owner.
-- (server or display number, and server options)
This must be the last argument to xstart if given on
the command line. This option is specified as
`xstart.server:' in the resource file. Either an X
server program may be specified (by pathname), or a
display number on which to start the default server.
Following these arguments may be a list of options
to the specified or default server. If no `--'
argument is specified, the default is to run the
display server `X' on display `unix:0'.
The last option is available on the command line only:
-xdefaults
Specify a user's resource file other than
`$HOME/.Xdefaults'. The `$HOME/.Xdefaults' file
will not be read if this option is used.
FILES
$HOME/.Xdefaults User's resource specification
/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Xdefaults
System resource specification
/usr/lib/X11/xstart/xstart.sh Default X client script
EXAMPLE
xstart -xdefaults ~/.MyXDefaults -- :1 -a 2 >& Xerrors
Read `~/.MyXDefaults' rather than `$HOME/.Xdefaults'. The
log and client options will be read from `/usr/lib/X11/app-
defaults/Xdefaults' if they are not specified in
`~/.MyXDefaults'. If they are still not specified, error
messages will be put in 'Xerrors', and clients will be read
from the `/usr/lib/X11/xstart/xstart.sh' file (if this file
does not exist, xstart will start a console, vtterm, and
twm.) Start up the `X' server on display `unix:1' with
pointer acceleration of `2'.
An example shell script:
#!/bin/sh
twm &
xterm -vb &
xclock &
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XSTART(1) X Version 11 (Release 5) XSTART(1)
rsh SomeMachine xterm &
xbiff &
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XSTART(1) X Version 11 (Release 5) XSTART(1)
An example user's resource file:
xstart.server: Xdg -c -l
xstart.log: /user/jones/Xerrors
xstart.client: /user/jones/xstart.sh
SEE ALSO
X(1), Xserver(1), xrdb(1), twm(1), xclock(1), xterm(1),
rsh(1).
BUGS
When giving options to xstart for the server, xstart will
assume the first sequence of characters is the server unless
the first character of that sequence is a : or a -. It is
thus impossible to only specify an option that does not
start with a -. Example of bad line: xstart.server:v
The c pre-processor is run by xrdb after xstart has read the
resource file.
COPYRIGHT
Data General Corporation, 1989.
See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.
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