xterm cannot execute xterm

[Roy John Little <rlittle@ciens.ula.ve>]

Dear list:
While upgrading my glib-gtk libraries, I tried to first uninstall the
originals using dselect.  When I realized that my whole x-windows system
was being uninstalled, I did a ^C.  What I notice now is that xterm, the
window I use for most of my work, will not execute x-type commands: xterm,
xvidtune, xlock, xdvi, etc.  If I call up a Bash window, using the Debian
menu, this has no trouble with respect to executing x-commands.  What
could have gone wrong?

Thank you,
Prof. Roy J. Little
Dept. Chem.
Universidad de los Andes
Merida, Venezuela