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Re: Dang .xinitrc
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Re: Dang .xinitrc


  • Subject: Re: Dang .xinitrc
  • From: "Joseph R. Kiniry" <email@hidden>
  • Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 14:16:37 +0100

--On zondag, 19 januari 2003 13:34 +0100 Martin Costabel <email@hidden> wrote:

Joseph R. Kiniry wrote:
[]
It all looks like a standard X install to me that happens to have an
icon I can click on.  As near as I can tell, clicking on the icon
performs the exact same actions as running "startx".  I get an identical
environment including all ssh agent env. vars and the like.

I don't know what startx script you are using. The one that comes with Apple's X11 package starts up an X server OK, namely /usr/X11R6/bin/X. But this X doesn't have an OSX interface, no menu bar, no preferences, no way to quit from the GUI. This is not what I would call working.

The problem is that, I presume, you don't have an .xinitrc or .Xclients defined. So is it the case that the Apple X11 install does not come with a startx script (/usr/X11R6/bin/startx) and my date comparison was a coincidence or side-effect from the install procedure?


It is definitely the case that if you have a default or minimal X startup script, whether you are running from the icon/launcher or startx, you won't have a very functional environment.

OTOH, if you click on the icon, you get an OSX interface with your X
server (not that it is very developped yet), but the system xinitrc file
is not read, there is no standard way to choose a keyboard, and the
applications started from the GUI don't have a reasonable set of
environment variables (which was the starting point of this thread).

I agree with the issues of keyboard layout choice and lack of a non-minimal X preferences GUI.


I should have mentioned that my .xinitrc does basically one thing: it runs gnome-session. Thus, everything like env. vars, panels, window manager choice, etc. are all controlled, initialized, and configured via Gnome.

It is of course possible to write your own scripts, and I gave an example
on this list of a wrapper script that lets you click on the icon *and*
get a decent startup procedure, but this is highly non-standard.

Are you presuming that Apple does not expect users to provide a .xinitrc or .Xclients at this time?


OTOH, if you are only interested in getting a gnome or kde desktop up and
running, and you don't care about the interaction with OSX's finder and
desktop, then startx may be enough indeed.

Indeed. Of course, I am running Gnome and the Quartz window manager, so I see the best of both worlds, IMO.


Joe
---
Joseph R. Kiniry                          http://www.kindsoftware.com/
KindSoftware, LLC                         ID 78860581      ICQ 4344804
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  • Follow-Ups:
    • Re: Dang .xinitrc
      • From: Martin Costabel <email@hidden>
References: 
 >Re: Dang .xinitrc (From: "Joseph R. Kiniry" <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Dang .xinitrc (From: Martin Costabel <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Dang .xinitrc (From: "Joseph R. Kiniry" <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Dang .xinitrc (From: Martin Costabel <email@hidden>)

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