The xinit program allows a user to manually start an X
display server
In computing, a windowing system (or window system) is software that manages separately different parts of display screens. It is a type of graphical user interface (GUI) which implements the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer) paradigm for ...
. 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 signal the ...
that is enumerated as
: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
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 spec ...
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 pagestartx manual page
{{XWinSys
X Window System