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<div class="SECT1">
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="X-WINDOW-SYSTEM-XINITRC" name="X-WINDOW-SYSTEM-XINITRC">6.3
xinitrc</a></h1>

<p><tt class="COMMAND">xinit</tt>(1) is the program that actually starts X; it is called
by <tt class="COMMAND">startx</tt>(1), so you may not have noticed it (and probably don't
really need to). Its configuration file, however, determines which programs (including
and especially the window manager) are run when X starts up. <tt
class="COMMAND">xinit</tt> first checks your home directory for a <tt
class="FILENAME">.xinitrc</tt> file. If the file is found, it gets run; otherwise, <tt
class="FILENAME">/var/X11R6/lib/xinit/xinitrc</tt> (the systemwide default) is used.
Here's a simple <tt class="FILENAME">xinitrc</tt> file:</p>

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<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
#!/bin/sh
# $XConsortium: xinitrc.cpp,v 1.4 91/08/22 11:41:34 rws Exp $

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps

if [ -f $sysresources ]; then
    xrdb -merge $sysresources
fi

if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
    xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi

if [ -f $userresources ]; then
    xrdb -merge $userresources
fi

if [ -f $usermodmap ]; then
    xmodmap $usermodmap
fi

# start some nice programs

twm &#38;
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &#38;
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &#38;
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &#38;
exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login
</pre>
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<p>All of those &#8220;if&#8221; blocks are there to merge in various configuration
settings from other files. The interesting part of the file is toward the end, where
various programs are run. This X session will begin with the <tt
class="COMMAND">twm</tt>(1) window manager, a clock, and three terminals. Note the <tt
class="COMMAND">exec</tt> before the last <tt class="COMMAND">xterm</tt>. What that does
is replace the currently running shell (the one that's executing this <tt
class="FILENAME">xinitrc</tt> script) with that <tt class="COMMAND">xterm</tt>(1)
command. When the user quits that <tt class="COMMAND">xterm</tt>, the X session will
end.</p>

<p>To customize your X startup, copy the default <tt
class="FILENAME">/var/X11R6/lib/xinit/xinitrc</tt> to <tt
class="FILENAME">~/.xinitrc</tt> and edit it, replacing those program lines with whatever
you like. The end of mine is simply:</p>

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<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
# Start the window manager:
exec startkde
</pre>
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<p>Note that there are several <tt class="FILENAME">xinitrc.*</tt> files in <tt
class="FILENAME">/var/X11R6/lib/xinit</tt> that correspond to various window managers and
GUIs. You can use any of those, if you like.</p>
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