Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 December 24

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December 24

If I have a local .xsession file in OpenBSD, my machine boots me back to the login screen

I have an OpenBSD virtual machine, and I would like to have the background be a given color when I log in. I tried having an .xinitrc file with a line like xsetroot -solid steelblue, but nothing at all happens; I don't get the root window to have a color. But when I add a .xsession file to my home directory with that line or not--if .xsession exists at all, then when I log in I immediately get booted back to the login screen. I have to log in as root and get rid of the .xsession file for my user account to be able to use the user account again. What's going on? How can I just have my own .xsession that sets the root window color and doesn't boot me back to the login screen? 75.75.42.89 (talk) 03:15, 24 December 2013 (UTC)

By having an xsession file of your own, you're overriding the system default one. xsession is a script, and when it ends your xsession is over. So the last item in your xsession script needs to block; when you interactively close it, the X server exits. Most commonly people run the window manager itself as this final process, or a launcher program. Or it can be a terminal, which you close in the window manager or by running exit in it. 5.64.41.156 (talk) 09:25, 24 December 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. It works now. 75.75.42.89 (talk) 12:30, 24 December 2013 (UTC)