Running a script with X

[Glynn Clements]

Andrew Conkling wrote:

> I know there has been a lot of talk about how to get the Num Lock
> working once a user logs in (adding numlockx to a DE's startup
> settings or appending a line to xinitrc and the like).  But how would
> one do that user-independently, e.g. with X?  I had found only a bit
> of documentation about scripts going in /etc/X11/Xsession.d, but I was
> unable to get anything (i.e. "/usr/bin/numlockx on") to work.  Any
> suggestions?

The X startup is highly configurable. Whether or not it involves
/etc/X11/Xsession.d depends upon whether your system has been
configured to use that. Also, if the user provides their own
~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc, it will typically completely override any
system scripts.

The only thing which is hardcoded into xdm is the path to the
xdm-config file (e.g. /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config). Everything else
depends upon what is in that file, and what is in the scripts to which
it refers. Other display managers (e.g. gdm, kdm) are similar, in that
startup is delegated out to one or more scripts which could do just
about anything.

Every distribution vendor customises the X startup according to how
they think it should work. If you want to know the details of X
startup for your specific distribution, either read the config files
and scripts which are actually being used, or ask in a forum which
deals with your specific distribution.

There's no point asking about this stuff on a generic X list. You
don't say what distribution you're using, and even if you did, most of
us wouldn't be familiar with that distribution's X startup scripts.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>