on deprecating startx/xinit [was: spaces in pathnames]

[Omari Stephens]

Adam Jackson wrote:
::snip? SNIP!::
>> It's practically impossible to get this 100% right if you're limited
>> to the Bourne shell.
> 
> Then maybe it's time to stop caring about portability to useless shells.
> 
> More broadly, it's probably time to deprecate startx and xinit, strongly
> recommend the use of a display manager like gdm, and write a minimal
> replacement in some sensible subset of bash/ksh.

What would this actually mean?  I have at least one system that I use 
primarily in the console, but which has X on it for those occasions 
where I need it.  (For instance, if I need to look at an image, or visit 
a webpage that doesn't like links2).

How would this mode of use be affected?  Given that the machine is low 
on memory in the first place, forcing me to run a DM all the time 
wouldn't be reasonable.  Having to fire up a DM just to run a quick X 
session doesn't seem right either.

Keep in mind that I am not fundamentally for or against any particular 
architecture for starting X.  I only care about how some change might 
affect how I use X.

--xsdg