Mysteries of xinitrc - what can and cannot be there
Please,
can someone shed some light for me on .xinitrc file? I struggle to find a good manual to answer a couple of my practical questions:
- It declared itself as general Bash script but in fact it is not.
- Why some command require
execand some not? - What is this
execcommand anyway? - Is it a binary or a syntactic construct specific to
xinitrc? - What can be run by exec and what not?
- How to set environmental variables correctly?
Most users of mainstream distros does not have to even know about xinitrc, and same was true for me, until I had to setup Kodi "makeshift" shell; using super minimalist window manager TWM and launching Kodi full screen, because kodi-standalone shell does not work for me.
But back to the xinitrc:
Working example:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/twm &
sleep 1
exec xterm
Why twm and sleep do not need exec but xterm does?
Not working example:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/twm &
sleep 1
exec WINDOWING=x11 /usr/bin/kodi -geometry +0+0
Here exec executed only WINDOWING=x11 but ignored the rest of the line. I made it working only by wrapping WINDOWING=x11 /usr/bin/kodi -geometry +0+0 into another Bash script, this time an ordinary one, and that one put as the only argument to exec; then it finally worked.
xorg
asked 4 hours ago
EspinosaEspinosa
1213
migrated from serverfault.com 51 mins ago
This question came from our site for system and network administrators.
add a comment |
Please,
can someone shed some light for me on .xinitrc file? I struggle to find a good manual to answer a couple of my practical questions:
- It declared itself as general Bash script but in fact it is not.
- Why some command require
execand some not? - What is this
execcommand anyway? - Is it a binary or a syntactic construct specific to
xinitrc? - What can be run by exec and what not?
- How to set environmental variables correctly?
Most users of mainstream distros does not have to even know about xinitrc, and same was true for me, until I had to setup Kodi "makeshift" shell; using super minimalist window manager TWM and launching Kodi full screen, because kodi-standalone shell does not work for me.
But back to the xinitrc:
Working example:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/twm &
sleep 1
exec xterm
Why twm and sleep do not need exec but xterm does?
Not working example:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/twm &
sleep 1
exec WINDOWING=x11 /usr/bin/kodi -geometry +0+0
Here exec executed only WINDOWING=x11 but ignored the rest of the line. I made it working only by wrapping WINDOWING=x11 /usr/bin/kodi -geometry +0+0 into another Bash script, this time an ordinary one, and that one put as the only argument to exec; then it finally worked.
xorg
asked 4 hours ago
EspinosaEspinosa
1213
migrated from serverfault.com 51 mins ago
This question came from our site for system and network administrators.
stackoverflow.com/q/22869637/1068283
– Michael Hampton
51 mins ago
add a comment |
Please,
can someone shed some light for me on .xinitrc file? I struggle to find a good manual to answer a couple of my practical questions:
- It declared itself as general Bash script but in fact it is not.
- Why some command require
execand some not? - What is this
execcommand anyway? - Is it a binary or a syntactic construct specific to
xinitrc? - What can be run by exec and what not?
- How to set environmental variables correctly?
Most users of mainstream distros does not have to even know about xinitrc, and same was true for me, until I had to setup Kodi "makeshift" shell; using super minimalist window manager TWM and launching Kodi full screen, because kodi-standalone shell does not work for me.
But back to the xinitrc:
Working example:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/twm &
sleep 1
exec xterm
Why twm and sleep do not need exec but xterm does?
Not working example:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/twm &
sleep 1
exec WINDOWING=x11 /usr/bin/kodi -geometry +0+0
Here exec executed only WINDOWING=x11 but ignored the rest of the line. I made it working only by wrapping WINDOWING=x11 /usr/bin/kodi -geometry +0+0 into another Bash script, this time an ordinary one, and that one put as the only argument to exec; then it finally worked.
xorg
asked 4 hours ago
EspinosaEspinosa
1213
Please,
can someone shed some light for me on .xinitrc file? I struggle to find a good manual to answer a couple of my practical questions:
- It declared itself as general Bash script but in fact it is not.
- Why some command require
execand some not? - What is this
execcommand anyway? - Is it a binary or a syntactic construct specific to
xinitrc? - What can be run by exec and what not?
- How to set environmental variables correctly?
Most users of mainstream distros does not have to even know about xinitrc, and same was true for me, until I had to setup Kodi "makeshift" shell; using super minimalist window manager TWM and launching Kodi full screen, because kodi-standalone shell does not work for me.
But back to the xinitrc:
Working example:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/twm &
sleep 1
exec xterm
Why twm and sleep do not need exec but xterm does?
Not working example:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/twm &
sleep 1
exec WINDOWING=x11 /usr/bin/kodi -geometry +0+0
Here exec executed only WINDOWING=x11 but ignored the rest of the line. I made it working only by wrapping WINDOWING=x11 /usr/bin/kodi -geometry +0+0 into another Bash script, this time an ordinary one, and that one put as the only argument to exec; then it finally worked.
xorg
xorg
asked 4 hours ago
EspinosaEspinosa
1213
asked 4 hours ago
EspinosaEspinosa
1213
asked 4 hours ago
EspinosaEspinosa
1213
asked 4 hours ago
EspinosaEspinosa
1213
asked 4 hours ago
EspinosaEspinosa
1213
1213
migrated from serverfault.com 51 mins ago
This question came from our site for system and network administrators.
migrated from serverfault.com 51 mins ago
This question came from our site for system and network administrators.
stackoverflow.com/q/22869637/1068283
– Michael Hampton
51 mins ago
add a comment |
stackoverflow.com/q/22869637/1068283
– Michael Hampton
51 mins ago
stackoverflow.com/q/22869637/1068283
– Michael Hampton
51 mins ago
stackoverflow.com/q/22869637/1068283
– Michael Hampton
51 mins ago
add a comment |
0
active
oldest
votes
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "106"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2funix.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f504188%2fmysteries-of-xinitrc-what-can-and-cannot-be-there%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
0
active
oldest
votes
0
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Thanks for contributing an answer to Unix & Linux Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2funix.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f504188%2fmysteries-of-xinitrc-what-can-and-cannot-be-there%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
stackoverflow.com/q/22869637/1068283
– Michael Hampton
51 mins ago