[SOLVED] Creating .xsession makes startx go black

Weapon S · 05-28-2011, 01:11 PM

I want to put:
xmodmap -e "pointer =3 2 1"
somewhere in the startup. It seems creating an .xsession is the solution.
But after I create a .xsession file in my home folder, the next time I run startx the screen just turns black. (And only for a short while can I switch to another virtual terminal, before that too becomes impossible). After deleting the file it runs OK again.
I'm not using any login/desktop manager. I use IceWM on Debian Squeeze.
Is there some script/import that has to be present in the .xsession file, or is something else going on?
Also I'd like to know what I should do when I get a black screen. Turning off the PC is such a crude method

Thanks for reading.

roygbiiv · 05-28-2011, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weapon S

I want to put:
xmodmap -e "pointer =3 2 1"
somewhere in the startup. It seems creating an .xsession is the solution.
But after I create a .xsession file in my home folder, the next time I run startx the screen just turns black. (And only for a short while can I switch to another virtual terminal, before that too becomes impossible). After deleting the file it runs OK again.
I'm not using any login/desktop manager. I use IceWM on Debian Squeeze.
Is there some script/import that has to be present in the .xsession file, or is something else going on?
Also I'd like to know what I should do when I get a black screen. Turning off the PC is such a crude method

Thanks for reading.

Are you using a .xinitrc to start icewm? In that case, you can use that file instead like this:

Code:

xmodmap -e "pointer =3 2 1"
exec icewm

Whenever you get a blank screen in X, switch to a virtual terminal with ctrl-alt-f1 -> f6 and either issue a shutdown command or restart/kill the X server.

Weapon S · 05-29-2011, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roygbiiv

Are you using a .xinitrc to start icewm? In that case,

I'm not sure how xinit knows to start icewm, so I'm reluctant to do what you suggested.
/etc/X11/Xsession and /etc/X11/xinitrc neither contain the word icewm. The files .xsession and .xinitrc don't exist yet either.
To me it's kind of magical icewm even started after I installed it. Thanks for the reply, I'll have to look up how to stop the Xserver from a console.

roygbiiv · 05-30-2011, 02:54 AM

But after boot, do you login to a virtual terminal and start X manually? If so, how do you start X?

colucix · 05-30-2011, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weapon S

I want to put:
xmodmap -e "pointer =3 2 1"
somewhere in the startup. It seems creating an .xsession is the solution.

I don't have a .xsession file in my HOME directory. I think the right place is a ~/.Xmodmap file whose content will be simply:

Code:

pointer = 3 2 1

This file is passed as argument to the xmodmap command from /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc-common file. Here is the relevant code from my CentOS machine:

Code:

usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap

[ -r "$usermodmap" ] && xmodmap "$usermodmap"

Hope this helps.

Weapon S · 05-30-2011, 09:08 AM

Thanks, this looks promising.
By the way I type "startx" to start up. Hope that is the right command.

Didn't work, colucix. I have the .Xmodmap file in my home folder. Doesn't work.

Code:

#!/bin/sh

# /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
#
# global xinitrc file, used by all X sessions started by xinit (startx)

# This is what I added
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
[ -r "$usermodmap" ] && xmodmap -e "$usermodmap"

# The following two lines were the only ones present, except for the header
# invoke global X session script
. /etc/X11/Xsession

# I also tried putting it after that line

colucix · 05-30-2011, 09:58 AM

This is not what I meant. In the $HOME/.Xmodmap file you have to put only the following line

Code:

pointer = 3 2 1

and remove the rest (the first line #!/bin/sh included, since this is not a shell script). The line I cited above were taken from /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc-common (just check if you have this file and if it contains the proper xmodmap command). Note that in this case the statement

Code:

[ -r "$usermodmap" ] && xmodmap "$usermodmap"

hasn't got the -e option, since it reads the expression from the specified file instead of the command line.

Weapon S · 05-31-2011, 04:52 PM

Ha, I missed that "-e". But I already had that pointer = line in .Xmodmap. At this point I don't have a xinitrc-common. Instead, I put it in xinitrc. It didn't work. I tried making a xinitrc-common: didn't work.
I suspect this method isn't going to work exactly like that for Debian, but thanks for trying.

segmentation_fault · 05-31-2011, 07:07 PM

I can't really help you with xinitrc, but if your keyboard is not responding after starting X, you can try the "Magic SysRq Key". Press Alt-SysRq-R and this might give your keyboard back, so you can either kill X server or switch to a VT.

Weapon S · 06-02-2011, 12:11 PM

That's a nice trick to know. Thanks. I think I'll try reposting this question under Debian.

roygbiiv · 06-02-2011, 01:21 PM

do you have an /etc/X11/config or an /etc/X11/Xsession.options file? you have to enable/uncomment

Code:

allow-user-xsession

in one of these files in order to get your ~/.xsession file to work correctly. please post your /etc/X11/Xsession and your /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc here.

read about it on this page.

Weapon S · 06-06-2011, 11:19 AM

I don't think there is much to see. But here are the files anyway.

Code:

#!/bin/sh
#
# /etc/X11/Xsession
#
# global Xsession file -- used by display managers and xinit (startx)

# $Id: Xsession 967 2005-12-27 07:20:55Z dnusinow $

set -e

PROGNAME=Xsession

message () {
  # pretty-print messages of arbitrary length; use xmessage if it
  # is available and $DISPLAY is set
  MESSAGE="$PROGNAME: $*"
  echo "$MESSAGE" | fold -s -w ${COLUMNS:-80} >&2
  if [ -n "$DISPLAY" ] && which xmessage > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "$MESSAGE" | fold -s -w ${COLUMNS:-80} | xmessage -center -file -
  fi
}

message_nonl () {
  # pretty-print messages of arbitrary length (no trailing newline); use
  # xmessage if it is available and $DISPLAY is set
  MESSAGE="$PROGNAME: $*"
  echo -n "$MESSAGE" | fold -s -w ${COLUMNS:-80} >&2;
  if [ -n "$DISPLAY" ] && which xmessage > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo -n "$MESSAGE" | fold -s -w ${COLUMNS:-80} | xmessage -center -file -
  fi
}

errormsg () {
  # exit script with error
  message "$*"
  exit 1
}

internal_errormsg () {
  # exit script with error; essentially a "THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN" message
  # One big call to message() for the sake of xmessage; if we had two then
  # the user would have dismissed the error we want reported before seeing the
  # request to report it.
  errormsg "$*" \
           "Please report the installed version of the \"x11-common\"" \
           "package and the complete text of this error message to" \
           "<debian-x@lists.debian.org>."
}

# initialize variables for use by all session scripts

OPTIONFILE=/etc/X11/Xsession.options

SYSRESOURCES=/etc/X11/Xresources
USRRESOURCES=$HOME/.Xresources

SYSSESSIONDIR=/etc/X11/Xsession.d
USERXSESSION=$HOME/.xsession
USERXSESSIONRC=$HOME/.xsessionrc
ALTUSERXSESSION=$HOME/.Xsession
ERRFILE=$HOME/.xsession-errors

# attempt to create an error file; abort if we cannot
if (umask 077 && touch "$ERRFILE") 2> /dev/null && [ -w "$ERRFILE" ] &&
  [ ! -L "$ERRFILE" ]; then
  chmod 600 "$ERRFILE"
elif ERRFILE=$(tempfile 2> /dev/null); then
  if ! ln -sf "$ERRFILE" "${TMPDIR:=/tmp}/xsession-$USER"; then
    message "warning: unable to symlink \"$TMPDIR/xsession-$USER\" to" \
             "\"$ERRFILE\"; look for session log/errors in" \
             "\"$TMPDIR/xsession-$USER\"."
  fi
else
  errormsg "unable to create X session log/error file; aborting."
fi

exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&1

echo "$PROGNAME: X session started for $LOGNAME at $(date)"

# sanity check; is our session script directory present?
if [ ! -d "$SYSSESSIONDIR" ]; then
  errormsg "no \"$SYSSESSIONDIR\" directory found; aborting."
fi

# Attempt to create a file of non-zero length in /tmp; a full filesystem can
# cause mysterious X session failures.  We do not use touch, :, or test -w
# because they won't actually create a file with contents.  We also let standard
# error from tempfile and echo go to the error file to aid the user in
# determining what went wrong.
WRITE_TEST=$(tempfile)
if ! echo "*" >>"$WRITE_TEST"; then
  message "warning: unable to write to ${WRITE_TEST%/*}; X session may exit" \
          "with an error"
fi
rm -f "$WRITE_TEST"

# use run-parts to source every file in the session directory; we source
# instead of executing so that the variables and functions defined above
# are available to the scripts, and so that they can pass variables to each
# other
SESSIONFILES=$(run-parts --list $SYSSESSIONDIR)
if [ -n "$SESSIONFILES" ]; then
  set +e
  for SESSIONFILE in $SESSIONFILES; do
    . $SESSIONFILE
  done
  set -e
fi

exit 0

# vim:set ai et sts=2 sw=2 tw=80:</code>
<code>

Code:

#!/bin/sh
# /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
#
# global xinitrc file, used by all X sessions started by xinit (startx)

# invoke global X session script
. /etc/X11/Xsession

usermodmap = $HOME/.Xmodmap
[ -r "$usermodmap" ] && xmodmap "$usermodmap"

Note: that usermodmap line wasn't working.
Eventually I changed my ~/.xsession file to what roygbiiv said. It works.
...............
Now I discovered .xsessionrc : slightly different file name, but it gets called in addition to what is standard. That is usually exactly the behaviour you want.