Autostart Xfce

[ninjatux]

I run Xfce 4.4.2, whatever the latest is. On Debian, I used GDM to start Xfce, which I didn't like. On Gentoo, I used my /etc/conf.d/local file (I think, been a while) to start Xfce by running a command with su as my normal user. Then, I eventually started using Slim. I liked the first method better, but I'd like to change it up a bit. Is there a way for me to login first in the text interface and then once I've done so automatically run startxfce4 to start Xfce?

[chill]

echo "/usr/local/bin/startxfce4" > ~/.xinitrc

or are you trying to avoid having to do startx?

[ninjatux]

I'm trying to avoid doing that. I know how to do that.

[TerryP]

That's what ~/.xinitrc is designed for, putting it in your shells RC file instead wouldn't make a great bit of sense would it?

[vermaden]

put that into your startup shell file ( ~/.profile / ~/.zshrc / ~/.bash+profile )

# start X11 after login on /dev/ttyv0 terminal
if [ $( tty ) = "/dev/ttyv0" ]; then
  nohup xinit -- -nolisten tcp -br -tst dpms nologo -xinerama -dpi 75 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
fi

With startxfce in ~/.xinitrc after you login on 1st virtual console XFCE will start automatically.

[Business_woman]

Thanks for the tip

[ninjatux]

Thanks, vermaden. That's similar to what I was using on Gentoo, but different nonetheless.

[Errinok]

Originally Posted by vermaden

put that into your startup shell file ( ~/.profile / ~/.zshrc / ~/.bash+profile )

# start X11 after login on /dev/ttyv0 terminal
if [ $( tty ) = "/dev/ttyv0" ]; then
  nohup xinit -- -nolisten tcp -br -tst dpms nologo -xinerama -dpi 75 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
fi

With startxfce in ~/.xinitrc after you login on 1st virtual console XFCE will start automatically.

why do you need that big long command. cant you just use startx in between the if statement? if your xorg.conf is correct then shouldnt most of that be set (ie. xinerama, nologo)?

[vermaden]

Originally Posted by Errinok

why do you need that big long command. cant you just use startx in between the if statement? if your xorg.conf is correct then shouldnt most of that be set (ie. xinerama, nologo)?

Some of these options work only from command line, like -dpi for example, you can specify DPI with nvidia driver but if you do the same with other then nvidia driver in xorg.conf it just do not work.

As I already had toadd CLI options I do not bothered in searching xorg.conf equivalents of these.

The nohup ${COMMAND} > /dev/null 2>&1 & is to start a process in background without nailing it ti this console (nohup) so you may CTRL-D safely on this terminal without killing X11.