# Where should I set the Display variable



## doc1623 (Feb 27, 2013)

I'm really confused. So please bear with me. I am running FreeBSD 9.1 with Slim and Enlightenment with zsh. I noticed when I ran Terminator (this one http://www.tenshu.net/p/terminator.html) from the e17 menu. It was not able to launch a GUI program (like mupdf). Contrarily, the xterm was. I found that Terminator did not have the DISPLAY variable set but the xterm did. I was able to fix this by entering *export DISPLAY=':0.0'* in the ~/.zshenv file. I think, xterm got the Display variable from *xdpyinfo -display :0.0* in the ~/.xinitrc file. If not I don't have a clue where it did. 

Where should the DISPLAY variable be set (properly that is)? Does the 0.0 refer to the Screen in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf? If so, shouldn't that be passed to the session through some means? Dbus? Thanks for any clarification you can provide. I know this is just a lack of basic understandings on my part.


```
Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
```


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## wblock@ (Feb 27, 2013)

DISPLAY is set by xinit(1).


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## SirDice (Feb 27, 2013)

doc1623 said:
			
		

> Does the 0.0 refer to the Screen in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf?


Yes. If I remember correctly it's something like <IP address>*:*<server#>*.*<screen#>. So :0.0 refers to the _local_ machine (there's no IP address), the first server (you can have multiple X servers running) and the first screen.


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## jwele (Feb 27, 2013)

doc1623 said:
			
		

> ...I noticed when I ran Terminator (this one http://www.tenshu.net/p/terminator.html) from the e17 menu. It was not able to launch a GUI program (like mupdf)....
> 
> ```
> Section "ServerLayout"
> ...



I think you have to send the location of the pdf you want to open to mupdf for it to open up.


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## doc1623 (Feb 27, 2013)

Thank You all for the responses. I removed ~/.zshenv and changed the *console_cmd* in my  /usr/local/etc/slim.conf  

from

```
console_cmd         /usr/local/bin/xterm -C -fg white -bg black +sb -T "Console login" -e /bin/sh -c "/bin/cat /etc/motd; exec /bin/login"
```

to 

```
console_cmd         /usr/local/bin/terminator -T "Console login" -e /bin/sh -c "/bin/cat /etc/motd; exec /bin/login"
```

I also added *enlightenment* to the *sessions*. Both terminal emulators start with the *Display* variable set now.  Given time, I hope to better understand the interrelationships better of the various programs. I've learned at least a little today. Thanks again to everyone.


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