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Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 11:02:36 +0930
From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To: Brian Somers <brian@awfulhak.org>
Cc: Michael Richards <026809r@dragon.acadiau.ca>,
        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: Making X go right away
References: <199709131312.KAA06001@dragon.acadiau.ca> <199709131955.UAA10225@awfulhak.demon.co.uk>
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In-Reply-To: <199709131955.UAA10225@awfulhak.demon.co.uk>; from Brian Somers on Sat, Sep 13, 1997 at 08:55:37PM +0100
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On Sat, Sep 13, 1997 at 08:55:37PM +0100, Brian Somers wrote:
>> Does anyone know how to make X fire up right away? I remember I just changed
>> something in inittab for linux, but FreeBSD seems to be a little different
>>> )
>
> I run it from /etc/ttys:
> ttyvb   "/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon"  unknown on insecure

This is the method that I recommended in the first edition of "The
Complete FreeBSD".  Jörg Wunsch subsequently showed me the error of my
ways: if you screw up your X config, you might find yourself unable to
access the system.

This is what I have in the (draft) second edition:

   If you don't want to even see a character mode display, you can run xdm, a
   display manager which makes your PC look like an X terminal: it presents
   you with a login screen that runs under X.  This requires some configuration,
   which we'll look at in the next section.

   Configuring xdm
   ---------------

   To enable xdm, 

   1. Add the following line (in bold face) to /etc/rc.local:

      # put your local stuff here
      echo " xdm"; /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm

      echo '.'

   2.  Add a line to the xdm configuration file
      /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers:

      :0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X :0 vt04 (more options)

   This will start an xdm login window on /dev/ttyv4 when you start
   the system.

   You can also test the display manager manually by logging in as root on
   the console and typing:

   $ xdm -nodaemon

   Yet another way to start the display manager automatically when the system boots
   is to add a line in /etc/ttys to start it on one of the unoccupied
   virtual terminals.  This is a very dangerous method: if you make a mess of your
   X configuration, you may no longer be able to access the system.

The idea with running xinit at system startup is bogus.  xinit is
designed to run after login.

Greg