Re: X

["Karsten M. Self" <kmself@ix.netcom.com>]

on Sun, Mar 23, 2003 at 05:43:42PM -0700, Glenn English (ghe@slsware.com) wrote:
> On Sun, 2003-03-23 at 14:54, Leo Spalteholz wrote:
> 
> > Sorry this won't help you but I've always wondered why debian does
> > this.  You install xdm and the defualt is to boot straight into a
> > graphical login.  Why??  At the very least it should ask you when
> > installing if you want to start up into  X.  

Debian assumes you wouldn't have installed X if you didn't want it
starting automatically.  And that you'd know how to disable it from
doing so via update-rc.d.

For more:

    http://kmself.home.netcom.com/Linux/FAQs/xdm-disable.html


> > A friend of mine recently installed debian and whenever he rebooted
> > it started x and then hung his machine.  He doesn't have enough
> > experience to know how to circumvent this and therefore had to do a
> > complete reinstall.  

Silly boy.  Debian doesn't require reinstalls.  Hell, a friend trashed
his /var partition and recovered (well, rebuilt) without a reinstall.
Not recommended.  But possible.

> > I would think that especially debian would adopt a policy of having
> > automatic boot to X disabled by default. Every other distro will at
> > least ask you.

It is.

Debian doesn't install X by default.  Ergo:  X doesn't start by default.

X is only installed if you request it.  And as with other services, when
installed, SysV init is updated so that the service is automatically
started.

> After spending the afternoon in the Debian /etc directory, I'm
> inclined to agree with Evi Nemeth et al who claim Debian's init
> process leaves a little something to be desired, readability-wise.
> It's such a mess that I'd volunteer to fix it if I thought I knew
> enough.

What are her complaints?  Debian has the *sanest* init sequence I've
seen.  It blows doors on BSD-style init (though, of course, being
Debian, you've got the option of switching to BSD init if you choose),
is more consistent than Red Hat (which sticks X display manager startup
into /etc/inittab for some strange reason), and provides generaly
readable init scripts (again, far better than RH and most RPM-based
systems).

What are Nemeth's complaints?

> An explicit kill of the wmaker process seems to get me out of X. 

How to kill X:

  - <ctrl><alt><backspace>
  - The logout, exit, or kill option of your window manager or desktop
    environment.
  - Find and kill the X process.
  - /etc/init.d/[xgkw]dm stop


> Window Maker with the big debian jpg sure is cool, though :-)

I prefer a solid indigo background.  Or 'strange -root &'.

Peace.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>        http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
   Comic tragedy:  MobiliX sued by comix publisher over iX trademark
     http://mobilix.org/mobilix_asterix.html