xinitrc not quite right

[philjor]

Installation: X.Org 7.5.2 on FreeBSD 9.1 with Fluxbox, FileRunner, Firefox and DarkTable - running on Asus P6X58D-E, i7 extreme 980 CPU and Nvidia Quadro 2000 with 24[ ]GB memory and two Acer 243H monitors. The installation seems to work but but was a bit of a hack job since hald and dbus did not quite set things up right. startx did not work as advertised: it still does not work by simply creating an xinitrc file with

xterm
exec fluxbox

This used to be the simple way on earlier distributions but does not work here. And the old xinitrc attached has a login window which crashes (kills) X-Windows when closed. And I'm rather confused by all the .XAuthority, .Xdefaults, .Xresources etc. files. Where do I get some clarification?

TIA

 

[Beastie]

Startx did not work as advertised: it still does not work by simply creating an xinitrc file with

xterm
exec fluxbox

You may want to add an ampersand after all the commands you run. This will "detach" the applications.

xterm &
command2 &
exec fluxbox

 

[philjor]

Thanks Beastie, but the real issue here is not the coding as I showed it but rather the fact that initrc does not work right if I follow the manual instructions: create an xinitrc and enter some code. I suffices to enter exec fluxbox. But even with the "&"s it does not work.

My example does bring up X windows but the screen is black for a moment and then there appears a white square in upper left hand corner; and that's it. Normally, in previous installations even with dual screens this worked fine. Afterwards I could muck about with Fluxbox and the applications would start from it.

I did upload xinitrc.txt to show the contents of the default xinitrc file; but I don't understand what it is trying to accomplish, especially with the login options for xterm. The login merely kills Xorg when I exit that particular xterm window. I don't understand the use of the login option. The rest seems non-relevant as I cannot find any clear explanations on the use of all the .X prefixed files like authority, default, etc.

 

[wblock@]

The white box is the xterm. If you don't want it, don't start it in .xinitrc. You seem to be following a recipe that is either outdated or meant for some other system.

.xinitrc (note the leading dot and the all lowercase)

exec fluxbox

That's it. Don't put anything else in that file.

 

[philjor]

Sorry, but I'm completely lost:

1. There is no default .xinitrc file anywhere in the installation.
2. There exists /usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/ within which there is xinitrc; the one I have attached in the original post above.
3. If I use xinitrc or .xinitrc, the result is the same: Xorg crashes and apparently remains open so any attempt to startx crashes and I am obliged to shutdown -r now.

So, I use the slightly modified file as shown in the above attachment xinitrc.txt and Xorg starts with a bit of delay and I get three xterm windows and a working fluxbox; the only problem is filerunner or is it FileRunner, which only creates a stillborn window with title wish8.6-threads

 

[wblock@]

There is no default .xinitrc file anywhere in the installation.

Correct, you must create it. Here is a command to create it.
echo "exec startfluxbox" > ~/.xinitrc

There exists /usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/ within which there is xinitrc; the one I have attached in the original post above.

That is the system default one. Do not use it, do not modify it.

So, I use the slightly modified file as shown in the above attachment xinitrc.txt

That file is confused. Please stop using it and use the simple form shown above.

and Xorg starts with a bit of delay

Almost certainly you are missing DNS, as I mentioned in the PM.

and I get three xterm windows and a working fluxbox.

The xterms are fine, but I suggest getting the simple start of the window manager working first, then adding additional features after it works.

the only problem is filerunner or is it FileRunner, which only creates a stillborn window with title wish8.6-threads

This is a different problem. As we've discussed, it should be asked in a separate thread.

 

[philjor]

Ok, I finally understand that the command in .xinitrc must be exec startfluxbox. As usual, the problem is so simple it's easy to miss. Thank you @wblock@!

 

[fonz]

Ok, I finally understand that the command in .xinitrc must be exec start fluxbox.

It's probably without the second space, or in other words with "start" and "fluxbox" written as one word/command startfluxbox. After having increased the font size of my browser I think that @wblock wrote it as one word too, so you probably either made a typo or slightly misread his post.

 

[DutchDaemon]

Sorry, my edit-bad. User inserted confusing COLOR codes, which I substituted with an unwanted space somewhere. Corrected.