# xinitrc not quite right



## philjor (Jun 29, 2013)

Installation: X_.O_rg 7.5.2 on FreeBSD 9.1 with Fluxbox, FileRunner, Firefox and DarkTable - running on Asus P6X58D-E, i7 extreme 980 CPU and Nvidia Quadro 2000 with 24[ ]GB memory and _two_ Acer 243H monitors. The installation seems to work but but was a bit of a hack job since hald and dbus did not quite set things up right. startx did not work as advertised: it still does not work by simply creating an xinitrc file with

```
xterm
exec fluxbox
```
*T*his used to be the simple way on earlier distributions but does not work here. And the old xinitrc attached has a login window which crashes (kills) X_-W_indow_s_ when closed. And I'm rather confused by all the .XAuthority, .Xdefaults, .Xresources etc. files. Where do I get some clarification?

TIA


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## Beastie (Jun 29, 2013)

philjor said:
			
		

> Startx did not work as advertised: it still does not work by simply creating an xinitrc file with
> 
> ```
> xterm
> ...


You may want to add an ampersand after all the commands you run. This will "detach" the applications.

```
xterm &
command2 &
exec fluxbox
```


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## philjor (Jun 30, 2013)

Thanks Beastie, but the real issue here is not the coding as I showed it but rather the fact that initrc does not work right if I follow the manual instructions: create an xinitrc and enter some code. I suffices to enter `exec fluxbox`. But even with the "&"s it does not work.

My example does bring up X windows but the screen is black for a moment and then there appears a white square in upper left hand corner; and that's it. Normally, in previous installations even with dual screens this worked fine. Afterwards I could muck about with Fluxbox and the applications would start from it.

I did upload xinitrc.txt to show the contents of the default xinitrc file; but I don't understand what it is trying to accomplish, especially with the login options for xterm. The login merely kills Xorg when I exit that particular xterm window. I don't understand the use of the login option. The rest seems non-relevant as I cannot find any clear explanations on the use of all the .X prefixed files like authority, default, etc.


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## wblock@ (Jun 30, 2013)

The white box is the xterm.  If you don't want it, don't start it in .xinitrc.  You seem to be following a recipe that is either outdated or meant for some other system.

.xinitrc (note the leading dot and the all lowercase)

```
exec fluxbox
```

That's it.  Don't put anything else in that file.


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## philjor (Jun 30, 2013)

Sorry, but I'm completely lost:

 There is no default .xinitrc file anywhere in the installation.
 There exists /usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/ within which there is xinitrc; the one I have attached in the original post above.
 If I use xinitrc or .xinitrc, the result is the same: Xorg crashes and apparently remains open so any attempt to startx crashes and I am obliged to `shutdown -r now`.
So, I use the slightly modified file as shown in the above attachment xinitrc.txt and Xorg starts with a bit of delay and I get three xterm windows and a working fluxbox; the only problem is filerunner or is it FileRunner, which only creates a stillborn window with title wish8.6-threads


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## wblock@ (Jun 30, 2013)

philjor said:
			
		

> There is no default .xinitrc file anywhere in the installation.



Correct, you must create it.  Here is a command to create it.
`echo "exec startfluxbox" > ~/.xinitrc`



> There exists /usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/ within which there is xinitrc; the one I have attached in the original post above.



That is the system default one.  Do not use it, do not modify it.



> So, I use the slightly modified file as shown in the above attachment xinitrc.txt



That file is confused.  Please stop using it and use the simple form shown above.



> and Xorg starts with a bit of delay



Almost certainly you are missing DNS, as I mentioned in the PM.



> and I get three xterm windows and a working fluxbox.



The xterms are fine, but I suggest getting the simple start of the window manager working first, then adding additional features after it works.



> the only problem is filerunner or is it FileRunner, which only creates a stillborn window with title wish8.6-threads



This is a different problem.  As we've discussed, it should be asked in a separate thread.


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## philjor (Jun 30, 2013)

Ok, I finally understand that the command in .xinitrc must be `exec startfluxbox`. As usual, the problem is so simple it's easy to miss. Thank you @wblock@!


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## fonz (Jul 1, 2013)

philjor said:
			
		

> Ok, I finally understand that the command in .xinitrc must be `exec start fluxbox`.


It's probably without the second space, or in other words with "start" and "fluxbox" written as one word/command `startfluxbox`. After having increased the font size of my browser I think that @wblock wrote it as one word too, so you probably either made a typo or slightly misread his post.


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## DutchDaemon (Jul 1, 2013)

Sorry, my edit-bad. User inserted confusing COLOR codes, which I substituted with an unwanted space somewhere. Corrected.


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