[vox-tech] starting xwindows

[Richard Harke]

I am one of those who do not like to have xwindow start on boot up. What I
usually do is make sure the default run level is 2 and then make sure
xwindow is not started at run level 2 At one time, it was normal to have
xwindow start at run level 3 and changing the default run level was enough
but more recently it seems that all the run levels above 1 default
to starting X. In /etc are a series of directories named rc0.d to rc6.d
These contain links to start-up and shut down scripts. The scripts themselves
typically live in /etc/init.d For example, if there is a link in rc2.d named 
S99xdm -> ../init.d/xdm, the script xdm will be called with the command to 
start -- because of the S as the first letter of the name. the 99 means
this script will be among the last to be called for the run level. If the
name of the link is changed to K01xdm -> ../init.d/xdm, the the script
is called with stop as the command. So I change the name of the link in
/etc/rc2.d and change the default run level to 2 I can then login as myself
and do startx or login as root and do init 3 which forces a change to run 
level 3 which will bring up X in the same manner as if booting into it.
Be sure to check for scripts not only for xdm but also for kdm and gdm

Richard harke
 
On Mon March 26 2007 22:06, Gandalf Parker wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Mar 2007, Nick Schmalenberger wrote:
> > In my experience the neatest way to stop a Debian machine from starting
> > X on boot is to remove the package of the display manager. Otherwise,
>
> I didnt want to remove it since I needed to have some of the graphic
> libraries loaded for some text-mode things I do.
>
> > you could do "update-rc.d -f xdm remove" or whatever your display
> > manager is. That is what would happen if you remove the package, except
> > it is still there and you could still do "/etc/init.d/xdm start" if you
> > felt like it.
>
> OK I tried that:
>   /etc/init.d/xdm start
>
> Not starting X display manager (xdm); it is not the default display
> manager
>
> > When you do startx or log in through the display manager, it should try
> > to start your window manager, and (I think, correct me if I am wrong) if
> > you don't have one it gives you a fixed size xterm, which you can really
> > do a decent amount with.
>
> I did manage to get that on one of the things I tried. But running the
> command I wanted within that window just seemed to give me the text mode
> results instead of the gui version.
>
>   I seem to remember having problems a few times
>
> > getting icewm to start when I start X and I think adding it to .xinitrc
> > was one way to get it to work. The correct debian might have something
> > to do with /etc/alternatives.
>
> Im giving up for tonite. Maybe in the morning I will google a few of these
> things and get some more items to try.
>
> > You could also try purging everything X
> > related then reinstalling xbase-clients which will depend on all the
> > rest and you might get twm or something too.
>
> Its not that important. I dont want to mess with the whole system just to
> try out this one thing. If I cant find the starter on the system as it is
> then I will just toss the project.
>
> Gandalf  Parker
> _______________________________________________
> vox-tech mailing list
> vox-tech at lists.lugod.org
> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech