.xinit vs. .xsession summary (was: Re: How to enable larger mouse pointers under X)

[Joel Roth <joelz@pobox.com>]

On Sat, Nov 08, 2014 at 04:17:21PM +0000, Brian wrote:
> On Sat 08 Nov 2014 at 06:02:00 -1000, Joel Roth wrote:
> 
> > Do you have a reference about .xinitrc vs. .xsession?
> 
> Lots. :). Fortunately, startx(1) has now been altered to read:
> 
>   Note that in the Debian system, what many people traditionally put in the .xini‐
>   trc file should go in .xsession instead; this permits the same X environment  to
>   be  presented  whether startx, xdm, or xinit is used to start the X session. All
>   discussion of the .xinitrc file in the xinit(1) manual page applies equally well
>   to  .xsession.   Keep  in  mind  that .xinitrc is used only by xinit(1) and com‐
>   pletely ignored by xdm(1).
 
Thanks, that is very helpful.  Now, for the first time, I'm
looking through the shell scripts in /etc/X11. A lot of
stuff related to input methods is here.

> Basically, the files in /etc/X11/Xsession.d are not used with .xinitrc.

Perhaps this applies to login managers such as xdm, gdm, not
startx?

According to the comment in /etc/X11/Xsession, which loads
the runs the scripts in /etc/X11/Xsession.d:

# global Xsession file -- used by display managers and xinit (startx)

And /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc:

# global xinitrc file, used by all X sessions started by xinit (startx)

# invoke global X session script
. /etc/X11/Xsession

It's not obvious to me what the initial dot '.'
accomplishes.

Kind regards,

Joel


-- 
Joel Roth