Autologin and startx without a display manager.

Engineer · 2024-11-20 21:47:20

Hi, this thread about the X11 startup process is exactly the area of information that I'm seeking. I have a Debian system and am setting up OpenBox (today, I discovered BunsenLabs which seems to be a perfect system for my kind of DE). Initially, I plan to skip the DM, and instead login at the shell, but then start OpenBox. I have some general understanding about startx and .xinitrc because I set up a system with OpenBox a few years ago but I am refreshing,

From information here, I can glean much, but does anyone know of a good source for documentation on the X startup process as pertains to X as an OS service and X as client API? For example, does X start as an OS service and if so, what of X, if anything needs to be started for a user session? I will certainly use information here, but could anyone point me to good general and thorough documentation on the X11 "mystery" and startup process and how user commands and window managers can control/interact with the start process?

Also, I seek documentation/information about background screen control. E.g. Is the screen background based on the Gui kit used e.g. GTK / Qt? Can a color be used instead of an image?

Thanks kindly.

Last edited by Engineer (2024-11-20 22:09:23)

PackRat · 2024-11-20 23:57:38

Engineer wrote:

Can a color be used instead of an image?

Yes. You can use xsetroot to set a background color; standard tool with X so it should be installed.

xsetroot -solid darkblue

will set a darkblue background color. You can also use the hex code:

xsetroot -solid "#3544AA"

Substitute the xsetroot command for the image setting command in the openbox autostart file.

Xorg website with their documentation - https://x.org/wiki/

Engineer · 2024-11-21 01:05:09

OK thank you! (And now I also know about jgmenu :-) )

johnraff · 2024-11-21 06:08:40

Engineer wrote:

...does anyone know of a good source for documentation on the X startup process as pertains to X as an OS service and X as client API? For example, does X start as an OS service and if so, what of X, if anything needs to be started for a user session?

A basic intro to what startx does on Debian, and what files users can use to configure it is right here on this forum: https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=3774
It's pretty old, and only scratches the surface though.

Engineer · 2024-11-21 14:43:04

johnraff wrote:

intro to ... startx...

Thank you kindly. And if I understand correctly, once X is started, Wayland can't be used.

Last edited by Engineer (2024-11-21 16:41:45)

johnraff · 2024-11-22 01:22:29

^that's correct.

#41 2024-11-20 21:47:20

Re: Autologin and startx without a display manager.

#42 2024-11-20 23:57:38

Re: Autologin and startx without a display manager.

#43 2024-11-21 01:05:09

Re: Autologin and startx without a display manager.

#44 2024-11-21 06:08:40

Re: Autologin and startx without a display manager.

#45 2024-11-21 14:43:04

Re: Autologin and startx without a display manager.

#46 2024-11-22 01:22:29

Re: Autologin and startx without a display manager.

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