Re: what goes into .xinitrc and what into .xsession
Micha Feigin <kamikaza_mic@yahoo.com> writes:
> i tried to figure out while setting up the system whats supposed to go
> under the .xinitrc file and what into .xsession. Because I tried to
> use .xinitrc first to initialise stuff (like chosing window manager)
> but it won't work, so i put the things in .xsession and the most did,
> exept that every time that people tell me where to change
> configuration they tell me to put stuff in .xinitrc so i wondered.
> Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
> Thanx
It is a bit confusing, isn't it.
Here's the situation under Debian:
If you start X with startx, then:
first it tries to do the stuff in your .xinitrc; if you don't have
one, it goes and invokes the system xinitrc, which on Debian goes
and does what happens when you use xdm to start X.
If you start X with xdm (the graphical login screen):
It does the stuff in the system-wide Xsession. On Debian, this
does nice things like suck in your ~/.Xresources file if you have
one and then if you have your own ~/.xsession, goes and does that -
if you don't have your own ~/.xsession, it tries to start an xterm
and whatever you have set up as the default window manager for your
system.
The combined moral of this on Debian is: A ~/.xinitrc is pointless -
if you put all your customizations into ~/.xsession and delete your
~/.xinitrc then you'll get the same environment no matter how you
start X, and when using startx you'll get all the nice standard
startup things from the system-wide Xsession. It's really the better
way to go.
> Also how do i load the modules for fvwm2? they won't load for me with
> an error message saying that they should be called from inside fvwm (i
> tried t load them from inside fvwm2 but it didn't work)
> And how do i set a back groung pix under fvwm2 and afterstep (can it
> be jpeg?)
The error message means to say that the modules should be called
directly by fvwm2, (e.g. through a menu item or in a startup file).
The easiest way is to install the menu package and then use the menus
that appear when you click on the left button in the root window.
(the root window is what is known to the rest of the world as the
background - also note that you'll have to exit fvwm2 after installing
menu) If you want to invoke a certain module with command line
arguments, then you might try using the FvwmTalk module - this lets
you send commands to fvwm2 as though it were reading them from a
startup file.
Also, if you've been getting non-Debian advice on configuring your
system, someone may have told you to create a ~/.fvwm2rc file.
Resist the temptation. Debian has a much better way to configure
fvwm2 - read the /usr/doc/fvwm2/README.sysrc.gz for details.
(Basically, create a directory ~/.fvwm2 and then put anything you want
to add to the default setup into ~/.fvwm2/post.hook and all will be
well)
Finally, a background picture is easy with the Debian fvwm2 setup (I
don't know about afterstep myself) - just put your background image
into ~/.fvwm2/background.jpg. Or, to automatically size your picture
to fit your screen, you can abuse the program that chooses background
images and put the single line:
-fullscreen /path/to/my/background.jpg
into the file ~/.fvwm2/background.list - note that a
~/.fvwm2/background.jpg file takes precedence over a background.list
file. You can add more lines to the background.list file to have it
choose a random one each time you start X.
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