Fedora Woes

[Tim Writer]

Elliott Chapin <echapin-rieW9WUcm8FFJ04o6PK0Fg at public.gmane.org> writes:

> Sorry about *my* earlier answer, Noah. I think I should have said "startx"
> (wherever it is) rather than "profile".

No, both are incorrect.  /etc/profile is the global confiration file for
bash.  It's where you set environment variables and the like for all bash
users.  You shouldn't put anything interactive (i.e. anything that requires a
terminal) in this file and you certainly should't put anything that pertains
to X here.

startx is usally in /usr/X11R6/bin/startx and is a wrapper script for
starting the X Window System.  It's normally only used on systems that aren't
running a display manager (sometimes called a login manager or graphical
login) such as xdm, kdm, or gdm.  Even if you were using startx to start X,
you shouldn't modify it.  It generally calls xinit which has its own hooks
for modification, specifically ~/.xinitrc.  If, for some reason, startx
didn't do the right thing for you (and you weren't running a display
manager), you simply call xinit yourself and/or write your own wrapper.  No
need to modify startx as shipped by the distribution.

Paul Mora had the right answer with the GNOME session manager.  See below for
more.

> At 11:42 PM 4/14/04, you wrote:
> >On Wed, 2004-04-14 at 20:23, Noah John Gellner wrote:
> > > I have been so unhappy with my experience with Fedora so far. I am really
> > looking
> 
> > > forward to switching after my exams are finished.
> > >
> > > My latest problem is that I want to autostart programs when I log in to an
> > > X session. You would think it is easy. However, Redhat's hacked scripts
> > don't
> 
> > > let you add your own entries to .xinitrc. However, Redhat has also
> > appeared to have
> 
> > > removed the Startup section from the gnome menu.
> >
> >I don't have a Fedora system to verify this on, but don't you use the
> >"Session Manager" to autostart programs in GNOME?
> >
> >Red Hat Menu -> Preferences -> More Preferences -> Session Manager
> >
> >Sure you can hack .xinitrc and .Xclients if you wish, but there is a
> >nicer way to do it.

<rant>
Nicer?  I've been programming with Unix since 1983, using X since 1988, and
providing professional services for Unix (and later Linux) since 1993.  Since
1993, Unix/Linux has served as my primary desktop and I haven't spent more
than a few consecutive hours in front of Windows.  I've used twm, olwm, 4dwm,
mwm, fvwm, WindowMaker, xfce, KDE, and some early releases of GNOME.  Some
months ago, I tried GNOME 2.4 on my Debian system (happily running KDE 3.1.x
at the time).  Not only did it take me hours to get GNOME up and running, I
don't remember how long it took me to find the above Session Manager menu,
and even then it didn't work reliably.  Sometimes a program would start,
sometimes it wouldn't.  Eventually, I gave up and hacked ~/.xsession.

I have nothing against desktop environments.  In fact I like KDE and use it
daily, although I spend most of my time at the command line in an xterm or in
Xemacs.  While I think the GNOME project has produced a lot of good software,
I don't consider the GNOME desktop a success.
</rant>

-- 
tim writer <tim-s/rLXaiAEBtBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org>                                  starnix inc.
905.771.0017 ext. 225                           thornhill, ontario, canada
http://www.starnix.com              professional linux services & products
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