Re: startx + ~/.xsession and no ~/.xinitrc, results in reduced functionality (xfce4, sid)

[Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk>]

May we look a little closer at one or two of the things you say?

On Wed 11 Dec 2013 at 23:36:51 -0700, Bob Proulx wrote:

> Because startx does not use .xsession.  You have things criss-crossed.

1. Running startx basically runs xinit.

2. startx first looks for ~/.xinitrc which, unless there is a very good
   reason, should not be on a Debian system.

3. startx now searches for the system xinitrc in /etc/X11/xinit/. This
   contains the line

      . /etc/X11/Xsession

   and Xsession will use ~/.xsession if it exists.

So startx on Debian uses .xsession :). However, it does not consult it
directly.

>   $ grep xsession /usr/bin/startx
>   ... nothing shown ...

   grep xinit /usr/bin/startx

> The xsession script is only used by the xdm, gdm, gdm3, kdm, lightdm X
> Display Manager graphical login manager programs because they all call
> the /etc/X11/Xsession script.

Please see above.

> Yes, because startx does use xinitrc. 

Indeed it does. It goes on to use /etc/X11/Xsession. :)

> If you are using startx then yes you should use xinitrc.  Only use the
> xsession or xsessionrc file (either one) if you are using one of the
> graphical login managers such as xdm, gdm, gdm3, kdm, lightdm.

Should some of the xs have a '.' in front of them? startx and .xsession
should (except in exceptional circunstances) be found together. A good
way to foul a system up is to use .xinitrc or .xsessionrc by itself with
startx because the files in /etc/X11/Xsession.d then do not get used.