Linux startx command
On Unix-like operating systems, the startx command launches an X11 session.
Description
The startx script is a front end to xinit 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. The special argument "--" marks the end of client arguments and the beginning of server options. You may need to specify server options with startx to change the color depth, dots per inch, or a different server layout, as permitted by the Xorg server and xorg.conf.
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 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 behavior. Users rarely need to provide a .xserverrc file.
The system-wide xinitrc and xserverrc files are found in the /etc/X11/xinit directory.
Syntax
startx [ [ client ] options ... ] [ -- [ server ] [ display ] options ... ]
Environment variables
| DISPLAY | This variable gets set to the name of the connected clients display. Note that this gets set, not read. |
| XAUTHORITY | This variable, if not already defined, gets set to $(HOME)/.Xauthority. This variable prevents the X server, if not given the -auth argument, from automatically setting up insecure host-based authentication for the local host. |
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. |
Examples
startx -- -depth 16
Start an X session at 16 bits color depth.
startx -- -dpi 100
Start an X session at 100 dpi (dots per inch) resolution.
startx -- -layout Multihead
Start an X session with support for multiple displays.
Related commands
Xorg — The executable of the X Window System server.