View source for Xinit

{{redirect-distinguish|startx|StartX}}
{{lowercase|title=xinit}}
{{No footnotes|date=October 2018}}

{{Infobox software
| name                   = xinit
| logo                   = 
| screenshot             =
| caption                =
| developer              = 
| released               = 
| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|P348|P548=Q2804309}}
| latest release date    = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}|df=yes}}
| operating system       = 
| language               = 
| genre                  = 
| license                = 
| website                = [http://www.x.org/archive/X11R6.8.2/doc/xinit.1.html xinit manual page]
}}

The '''xinit''' program allows a user to manually start an X [[display server]]. The '''startx''' script is a [[front and back ends|front-end]] for <code>xinit</code>.

By default, xinit and startx start an X display server pointing to a [[display device]] that is enumerated as <code>:0</code> and then start an [[xterm]] on it. When the xterm terminates, xinit and startx kill the X display server. In general, xinit and startx can start an arbitrary server and run an arbitrary script. Typically, this script runs a number of programs and a [[X window manager|window manager]].

Two alternative methods for starting an X display server are by using a [[X_display_manager_(program_type)|display manager]] and by starting the X server and then manually starting one or more clients. On [[desktop Linux]] systems, a display manager is the most commonly used method.

== References ==
* Valerie Quercia + Tim O'Reilly, X Window System User's Guide, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., USA, 1993
* Linda Mui + Eric Pearce, X Window System Administrator's Guide, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., USA, 1993

== External links ==
* [http://linux.die.net/man/1/xinit xinit manual page]
* [http://linux.die.net/man/1/startx startx manual page]

{{XWinSys}}

[[Category:X Window System]]