xinit

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 on display :0 and then start an xterm 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.

Two alternative methods for starting an X display server are by using a display manager and by starting the X server and then manually starting one or more clients. On desktop Linux systems, using a display manager is the most commonly used method.

External links

• xinit manual page
• startx manual page

X Window System Architecture Core protocol X Window selection X Toolkit Intrinsics X Window authorization X11 color names X Input Method Wayland Extensions X Image Extension X keyboard extension RandR X Rendering Extension Shape extension Shared memory extension X Display Manager Control Protocol X video extension X-Video Motion Compensation AIGLX GLX Multi-Pointer X Display PostScript Composite Xinerama Components and notable implementations display servers X.Org Server Cygwin/X X-Win32 X386 XFree86 XGGI XDarwin Xming Xsgi Xsun Xgl Xnest Xephyr XQuartz XWayland client libraries Xlib XCB display managers session managers GDM KDM SDDM XDM LightDM LXDM SLiM Entrance WDM window managers Compositing Compiz KWin Metacity Mutter Xfwm Tiling awesome dwm i3 Ion PWM ratpoison wmii xmonad Stacking AfterStep amiwm Blackbox cwm Enlightenment Fluxbox FVWM IceWM JWM Matchbox mwm Openbox PekWM Sawfish twm Window Maker Standards ICCCM EWMH XDS freedesktop.org Applications xcalc xclock xedit xload xterm xeyes desktop environments