[techtalk] XDM and xinitrc

[Malcolm Tredinnick]

On Sun, Aug 06, 2000 at 07:47:14PM +0000, Subba Rao wrote:
> On  0, Malcolm Tredinnick <malcolm at commsecure.com.au> wrote:
> > On Sat, Aug 05, 2000 at 08:44:47PM -0400, Subba Rao wrote:
> > > 
> > > I use XDM to start my X-Window sessions. My window manager is FVWM2.
> > > I have $HOME/.fvwm2rc which is being read when FVWM starts. I have my
> > > .xinitrc in $HOME, which is not being read. I have some customizations
> > > which are not being executed. When I try to modify the global xinitrc,
> > > then after login I get one xclock, the wallpaper and nothing else.
> > > 
> > > What should I do or check to get $HOME/.xinitrc to be executed?
> > 
> > On most xdm installations I have seen, the system 'xinitrc' files are
> > run and then the Xsession script checks for $HOME/.xinitrc and
> > $HOME/.Xclients (in that order). If either of these exist _and_ are
> > exectuable, then they are run as shell scripts.
> > 
> > Consequently, you could set up a link from $HOME/.xsession to
> > $HOME/.xinitrc and make sure that .xinitrc is executable. Alternatively,
> > just copy .xinitrc over to .xsession -- this approach being preferable
> > if there are things you do when starting from xdm that you don't when
> > starting from a prompt with startx.
> > 
> 
> Thank you for replying! I tried to edit the /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession file with no
> results.  I tried to copy the file as ~/.xsession and even tried to link
> .xinitrc to .xsession.  None of these changes are executing my local
> customizations.
> 
> I prefer to have customizations to the local file rather than the global file.

Sorry ... I made at least one outright blunder above and may not have
been clear in about the rest: 

In the first paragraph, I should have said "... and then the Xsession
script checks for $HOME/.xsession and $HOME/.Xclients (in that order)
..."                    ^^^^^^^^^^
                             |-------< (oops .. wrong in the above)

I was definitely not proposing that you edit the global files. Let me
summarise what I was trying to say (leaving out all the "whys"):

	See if copying ~/.xinitrc to ~/.xsession and then chmod u+x
	.xsession works (I gather from what you are saying above that this
	didn't work -- but did you make it executable?).

If, as you seem to indicate, that doesn't work, I will need more
information to help you. If you like, email me (not the entire list)
your ~/.xinitrc file and any ~/.xsession file you may have that are
"almost working". Also, let me know the distribution you are using.

Sorry for misleading you initially,
Malcolm

-- 
Malcolm Tredinnick            email: malcolm at commsecure.com.au
CommSecure Pty Ltd
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