Subject: Re: X-window keys

From: Max Hyre <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 96 11:01:13 EDT

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   Dear Debianites:

   Let me clarify my previous post... (I just thought to go back and
try it for accuracy---maybe next time I'll think to do so *before*
posting :-).)

> why ctl-alt-bs might not kill X?

   Rather, ``why X comes right back after dying''?  After ctl-alt-bs,
X does indeed appear to die---everything goes black, I see the virtual
terminal from which I started xdm momentarily, then I'm back in X
again.

> (non-root, I think)

   I thunk wrong---it was from a root command prompt, and I had to
start another root command prompt to kill it as outlined previously.

   Again, thanks for your help.

			    Sincerely,

				    Max Hyre

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From: Martin Alonso Soto Jacome <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 10:21:37 -0500 (EST)

> terminal from which I started xdm momentarily, then I'm back in X

Well, that's exactly what xdm is intended for.  xdm tries to keep an 
xserver running permanently, so that you can always login to the system 
using a nice graphical login prompt dialog box.  In general, the purpose 
of xdm is to keep the machine running X all the time, and that's what 
it is doing now in your machine.

If you want to run X only from time to time, just say startx from your
usual text shell.  That way, you'll get a normal X session, that you'll be
able to finish with ctrl+alt+backspace, or better, stopping your window 
manager (or whatever other program you have at the end of your .xinitrc 
file). 

Regards,

M. S.
------------
Martin A. Soto J.                           Profesor
Departamento de Ingenieria de Sistemas y Computacion
Universidad de los Andes      [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Luis Francisco Gonzalez)
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 16:21:15 +0100 (BST)

> terminal from which I started xdm momentarily, then I'm back in X
I think that the problem is that xdm re-launches the server when it is brought
down by ctrl-alt-bksp. It is xdm that is running the server. This means that X
is indeed being brought down only to be re-launched again.

AFAIK, to kill xdm you just need to run /etc/init.d/xdm stop as root. 

Hope this helps!
Luis.

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From: Max Hyre <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 96 12:00:19 EDT

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   Dear readers:

   Thanks for the info!

   Martin Alonso Soto Jacome's <[email-masked]> answer got to
me first:

> using a nice graphical login prompt dialog box.

  ``Oh'', he said in a quiet voice.  (I've just started using X under
Linux, and hadn't grasped the differences between startx and xdm.)

   At the time I was tweaking the ModeLines to get the display size
best suited to the screen, and thus was starting and killing X
constantly.  Next time, I'll just use startx, and save myself some
hassle.

   Thanks in arrears, too.

			    Sincerely,

				Max Hyre

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From: Stephen Early <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 01:41:00 +0100 (BST)

> constantly.  Next time, I'll just use startx, and save myself some

You can also leave xdm running in the background, and start the server 
manually whenever you want to use X. Remove the line
:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X
from the /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers file, and xdm won't start an X server 
automatically. You can then use a command like
X -query localhost
...to start an X server when you need one.

If it's present, it might also be an idea to remove the line
xdm-start-server
from /etc/X11/config, as if it's present then the X configuration scripts 
will add the line back to /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers next time you configure 
or update the X packages. Replace it with no-xdm-start-server, and you 
shouldn't ever be prompted about xdm starting a server again.

Steve Early
[email-masked]