[solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

trusktr · 2011-03-22 06:22:23

What do the following lines in .xinitrc do? I noticed they were included in one of the last updates this month:

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
  for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
    [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
  done
  unset f
fi

Last edited by trusktr (2011-03-22 23:17:34)

ngoonee · 2011-03-22 06:46:17

You're asking for help in reading a bash script? I don't even use bash very often and I know what that does.....

karol · 2011-03-22 06:59:01

I've seen it in the wiki too and I don't get it: why does the file have to be executable to source it?

[karol@black test]$ ls -l 1 2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 karol users 29 03-22 07:52 1
-rw-r--r-- 1 karol users  4 03-22 07:52 2
[karol@black test]$ cat 1
#!/bin/bash

a=1
. 2
echo $a
[karol@black test]$ cat 2
a=2
[karol@black test]$ ./1
2

'2' gets sourced by '1' even though '2' is not executable.

I'm not a bash guru, so feel free to correct me.

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 07:56:08

Basically it source files from /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/
nothing special, I notice it there's a file named "30-dbus" in there.
It's contain some dbus session-related mention in wiki which usually need to be done manually by the user.
Guess you don't have to do it manually any more
and as for why it's have to be executable: If I say your system will run ANY FILE in a certain folder without care what it is, do you still think it's OK?

karol · 2011-03-22 08:05:58

lives2evil wrote:

If I say your system will run ANY FILE in a certain folder without care what it is, do you still think it's OK?

That's basically what I figured out, but is it OK to say that files have to be executable, is it a convention of sorts?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?ti … oldid=prev

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 08:30:24

Oh, I think it's just a secured method. It's not necessary to be executable. But it SHOULD BE executable.
For a fun example:
A file/a driver must be executable/have a licence to be execute/drive. Without this, unexpected problem/traffice accident may occur.

Last edited by lives2evil (2011-03-22 08:35:26)

litemotiv · 2011-03-22 09:08:27

lives2evil wrote:

Oh, I think it's just a secured method. It's not necessary to be executable. But it SHOULD BE executable.
For a fun example:
A file/a driver must be executable/have a licence to be execute/drive. Without this, unexpected problem/traffice accident may occur.

Yeah but when you haul (source) a car onto a tow truck, it can still move without driving.

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 09:12:31

litemotiv wrote:

Yeah but when you haul (source) a car onto a tow truck, it can still move without driving.

Oh yeah, never thought of that

stqn · 2011-03-22 10:53:18

... But this file (/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc) is never executed, right? Once there is a ~/.xinitrc that launches our WM/DE of choice...

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 10:57:26

True enough. It won't be executed if you do not wish it to do.
Perhaps we should update the /etc/skel/.xinitrc file to included this template?

jakobm · 2011-03-22 11:34:43

lives2evil wrote:

Perhaps we should update the /etc/skel/.xinitrc file to included this template?

The skel xinitrc file already includes them, see xorg-xinit/trunk/xinitrc.

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 12:51:41

It's true. Guess I haven't updated recently.

trusktr · 2011-03-22 19:09:21

That's exactly why I was asking, lives2evil. hehe.

@ngoonee Not everyone that uses Linux uses Bash yet (I'm still learning, that is).

I haven't noticed any lack of performance with those lines omitted. What is the best reason to add those lines?

Last edited by trusktr (2013-08-31 18:52:17)

karol · 2011-03-22 19:14:23

trusktr wrote:

I haven't noticed any lack of performance with those lines omitted. What is the best reason to add those lines?

You omit those lines, executable files in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/ won't get sourced. If you don't have any - nothing should change.

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 19:25:30

It should help on newly installation rather than already existed one. Note that dbus I mentioned. Nothing will change if everything is already working for you. And performance is nothing you can boost so easily my friend
So to sum it up, its purpose is to make life easier in the future

Last edited by lives2evil (2011-03-22 19:29:52)

trusktr · 2011-03-22 20:48:47

Thanks for the tidbit Karol!

How is it exactly that that would help on a new system vs an already existent one, lives2evil?

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 21:24:49

OK, I found it's quite interesting.
So as you know if you're using a standalone wm (openbox for example) you'll have to add this to your .xinitrc

exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch openbox-session

which is so........ long and many people usually make mistake in this step. (at least I did https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=115488)
So I tried and use the new method to see if anything different. Edited /etc/slim.conf

login_cmd           exec ck-launch-session /bin/bash -login ~/.xinitrc %session

Add those lines to .xinitrc and change my exec line to "exec openbox-session".
Guess what, no error or whatsoever when I tried to automount a cd or usb.
so except for the line in slim.conf (which I think will be fixed in the future) just a "exec openbox-session" worked like a charm.
But why must we source files instead of added code directly to ~/.xinitrc? The answer is "for future convenient".

trusktr · 2011-03-22 22:01:45

aha, i see! So i'm guessing in the future they'll actually replace

exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch openbox-session

with

exec openbox-session

and the user won't ever have to see

login_cmd           exec ck-launch-session /bin/bash -login ~/.xinitrc %session

right?

Last edited by trusktr (2011-03-22 22:01:58)

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 22:37:20

Oops, sorry, I jumped to conclusion. I have found out that slim some out get dbus running without me knowing (I disable these lines and it worked fine).
Since then I have been trying to figure it out what exactly this dbus is all about.
According to the wiki it's needed:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Db … nvironment
After a while I found out.
this time I use startx to run X instead of slim. changed my "exec openbox-session" to "exec pcmanfm".
1st: with those lines commented out.
When I tried accessing Trash folder, it say: not supported.
2nd: uncommented.
Accessing trash is no problemo.
Obviously pcmanfm is using dbus to communicating with gvfs.

So you still have to uses "exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch openbox-session"
The only people who get benefit from this is those who run only one application.

However I'm still think this is an improvement and probably it's gonna be useful in the future (I'm not talking about this DBUS case).
PS:
There's also a file about libcanberra.
http://0pointer.de/lennart/projects/lib … /#overview

Last edited by lives2evil (2011-03-22 22:43:09)

trusktr · 2011-03-22 22:43:07

oh, ok, gotcha! hehe. I'll just leave the lines there and see what happens in the future.

lives2evil · 2011-03-22 22:59:53

If you have nothing else to ask, then please mark this as [Solve]

trusktr · 2011-03-22 23:17:49

Thank you lives2evil.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-22 06:22:23

[solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#2 2011-03-22 06:46:17

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#3 2011-03-22 06:59:01

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#4 2011-03-22 07:56:08

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#5 2011-03-22 08:05:58

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#6 2011-03-22 08:30:24

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#7 2011-03-22 09:08:27

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#8 2011-03-22 09:12:31

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#9 2011-03-22 10:53:18

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#10 2011-03-22 10:57:26

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#11 2011-03-22 11:34:43

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#12 2011-03-22 12:51:41

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#13 2011-03-22 19:09:21

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#14 2011-03-22 19:14:23

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#15 2011-03-22 19:25:30

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#16 2011-03-22 20:48:47

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#17 2011-03-22 21:24:49

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#18 2011-03-22 22:01:45

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#19 2011-03-22 22:37:20

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#20 2011-03-22 22:43:07

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#21 2011-03-22 22:59:53

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

#22 2011-03-22 23:17:49

Re: [solved] What do these new lines in .xinitrc do?

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