NAME

       startx - initialize an X session

SYNOPSIS

       startx [ [ client ] options ... ] [ -- [ server ] [ display ] options ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       The startx script is a front end to xinit(1) that provides a somewhat nicer user interface
       for running a single session of the X Window System.  It is often run with no arguments.

       Arguments immediately following the startx command are used to start a client in the  same
       manner  as  xinit(1).  The special argument '--' marks the end of client arguments and the
       beginning of server options.  It may be convenient to specify server options  with  startx
       to  change  on  a  per-session  basis  the default color depth, the server's notion of the
       number of dots-per-inch the display device presents, or  take  advantage  of  a  different
       server  layout,  as  permitted  by  the  Xorg(1)  server and specified in the xorg.conf(5)
       configuration.  Some examples of specifying server arguments follow;  consult  the  manual
       page for your X server to determine which arguments are legal.

              startx -- -depth 16

              startx -- -dpi 100

              startx -- -layout Multihead

       Note  that  in  the Debian system, what many people traditionally put in the .xinitrc file
       should go in .xsession instead; this permits  the  same  X  environment  to  be  presented
       whether  startx,  xdm,  or  xinit  is  used  to start the X session. All discussion of the
       .xinitrc file in the xinit(1) manual page applies equally well to .xsession.  Keep in mind
       that .xinitrc is used only by xinit(1) and completely ignored by xdm(1).

       To  determine  the  client  to  run,  startx first looks for a file called .xinitrc in the
       user's home directory.  If that is not found, it  uses  the  file  xinitrc  in  the  xinit
       library  directory.  If command line client options are given, they override this behavior
       and revert to the xinit(1) behavior.  To determine the server to run, startx  first  looks
       for  a file called .xserverrc in the user's home directory.  If that is not found, it uses
       the file xserverrc in the xinit library directory.  If command  line  server  options  are
       given, they override this behavior and revert to the xinit(1) behavior.  Users rarely need
       to provide a .xserverrc file.  See the xinit(1)  manual  page  for  more  details  on  the
       arguments.

       The system-wide xinitrc and xserverrc files are found in the /etc/X11/xinit directory.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       DISPLAY                  This  variable  gets  set  to  the  name  of the display to which
                                clients should connect.  Note that this gets set, not read.

       XAUTHORITY               This  variable,   if   not   already   defined,   gets   set   to
                                $(HOME)/.Xauthority.   This  is  to  prevent the X server, if not
                                given the -auth argument, from automatically setting up  insecure
                                host-based authentication for the local host.  See the Xserver(1)
                                and  Xsecurity(7)  manual  pages  for  more  information   on   X
                                client/server authentication.

FILES

       $(HOME)/.xinitrc         Client to run.  Typically a shell script which runs many programs
                                in the background.

       $(HOME)/.xserverrc       Server to run.  The default is X.

       /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc   Client to run if the user has no .xinitrc file.

       /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc Server to run if the user has no .xserverrc file.

SEE ALSO

       xinit(1), X(7), Xserver(1), Xorg(1), xorg.conf(5)