Xorg recurring background

Michael Gmelin freebsd at grem.de
Sun May 3 20:34:00 UTC 2020 

Xorg isn’t a window manager. If you installed the default package, it most likely uses twm by default (see here for details, you might find the look familiar: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twm )

Xdm runs on xorg and presents a login manager to you.

Once you logged in successfully using xdm, it executes what is in .xsession. If you have no .xsession file in your home directory, it executes defaults (which might include starting twm, the window manager installed with the xorg package). By creating an .xsession file and making it executable, you tell xdm to run that instead of the default on start up.

The first line of the .xsession file tells the system that the following lines are to be interpreted by /bin/sh (see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourne_shell ). The “#!” construct is called a shebang (see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebang_(Unix) )

The next two lines set the background using feh and then start the window manager (which needs to be explicit, now that .xsession overrides the defaults).

So, please test

chmod 700 /home/youruser/.xsession

Then, make sure /home/youruser/.xsession contains at least:

#!/bin/sh
feh --bg-center $HOME/Downloads/wallpaper1.jpg
exec twm

and let me know if this worked for you or not.

If it doesn’t, please record the boot up process, your login process, and showing the content of the config files we talked about in a terminal using your smartphone and share that with us over a publicly accessible platform of your choice.

-m


> On 3. May 2020, at 22:08, Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> What is the #!/bin/sh for?
> If I'm using xdm and xorg why would it be exec xterm and not exec xdm or exec xorg?
> 
> Sent from Outlook Mobile
> 
> From: Michael Gmelin <freebsd at grem.de>
> Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2020 1:07:00 PM
> To: Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com>
> Cc: freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org <freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org>
> Subject: Re: Xorg recurring background
>  
> If you really only want to use xterm and no window manager, this would mean:
> 
> chmod 700 /home/youruser/.xsession
> 
> Then, make sure /home/youruser/.xsession contains at least:
> 
> #!/bin/sh
> feh --bg-center $HOME/Downloads/wallpaper1.jpg
> exec xterm
> 
> (I would assume that you would use something basic like twm though, in which case the last line would read: exec twm)
> 
>>> On 3. May 2020, at 19:53, Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>> 
>> Yes I changed it. I am only using xorg and xterms. No desktop environment.
>> 
>> Sent from Outlook Mobile
>> 
>> From: Michael Gmelin <freebsd at grem.de>
>> Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2020 11:36:06 AM
>> To: Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com>
>> Cc: freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org <freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org>
>> Subject: Re: Xorg recurring background
>>  
>> So .xsession is relevant to you.
>> 
>> Can you change the command to contain the absolute path to the wallpaper file?
>>  (/home/youruser/Downloads/wallpaper1.jpg).
>> 
>> Also, which window manager/desktop environment are you using?
>> 
>>>> On 3. May 2020, at 19:32, Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> I'm using xdm and xorg, and there is nothing in either but this command. 
>>> 
>>> Sent from Outlook Mobile
>>> 
>>> From: Michael Gmelin <freebsd at grem.de>
>>> Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2020 11:27:26 AM
>>> To: Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com>
>>> Cc: freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org <freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org>
>>> Subject: Re: Xorg recurring background
>>>  
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On 3. May 2020, at 19:12, Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Ok I did, "feh --bg-center Downloads/wallpaper1.jpg" in .xinitrc 
>>>> What does PATH and $HOME mean? 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> PATH is the environment variable where your shell finds programs (e.g. feh is in /usr/local/bin). You can show your environment by calling “env”.
>>> 
>>> $HOME is a variable containing your user’s home directory. So in your example I would suggest to put:
>>> 
>>> /usr/local/bin/feh --bg-center $HOME/Downloads/wallpaper1.jpg
>>> 
>>> in there.
>>> 
>>>> I copied my .xinitrc to .xsession. Can you tell me why I'm supposed to do this? 
>>> 
>>> You would do this if you use a graphical login session manager like xdm or gdm. If you start X using “startx”, ~/.xinitrc is enough (~ is an alias for your home directory)
>>> 
>>> If this doesn’t work, please share some details of your setup, especially:
>>> - how do you start X
>>> - which window manager are you using
>>> - content of your ~/.xinitrc (and or ~/.xsession) file
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Sent from Outlook Mobile
>>> 
>>> You probably can disable that somewhere in that app ;)
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> From: Michael Gmelin <freebsd at grem.de>
>>>> Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2020 11:05:14 AM
>>>> To: Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com>
>>>> Cc: freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org <freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: Xorg recurring background
>>>>  
>>>> Anything you run to set the background while X is running will also work from within those files (X is already started when they‘re executed). You have to make sure that the programs you call are found in PATH (and specify the correct path to any files you pass as parameters, like images - you can use $HOME in ~/.xinitrc)
>>>> 
>>>>> On 3. May 2020, at 18:50, Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> So would " feh --bg-center " in .xinitrc or .xsession work?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from Outlook Mobile
>>>>> 
>>>>> From: Michael Gmelin <freebsd at grem.de>
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2020 10:11:29 AM
>>>>> To: Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com>
>>>>> Cc: freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org <freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org>
>>>>> Subject: Re: Xorg recurring background
>>>>>  
>>>>> Oh, so that’s what you meant with “recurring”? Like it permanently?
>>>>> 
>>>>> You can set these kind of things in ~/.xinitrc
>>>>> (or if you use a session manager, ~/.xsession).
>>>>> 
>>>>> Just add the command in there before starting your window manager,
>>>>> 
>>>>> e.g.
>>>>> 
>>>>>     xmodmap ...
>>>>>     xsetroot ...
>>>>>     xterm&
>>>>>     twm
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 3. May 2020, at 17:58, Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> There are no options for setting background from file, or set permanently. I'm using feh, but it doesn't give option for permanent set. The wallpaper has to be set everytime the machine is turned off and on.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sent from Outlook Mobile
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> From: owner-freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org <owner-freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org> on behalf of Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com>
>>>>>> Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2020 9:50:21 AM
>>>>>> To: Michael Gmelin <freebsd at grem.de>
>>>>>> Cc: freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org <freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: Xorg recurring background
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> Got it, thanks.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sent from Outlook Mobile<https://aka.ms/blhgte>
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ________________________________
>>>>>> From: Michael Gmelin <freebsd at grem.de>
>>>>>> Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2020 9:49:38 AM
>>>>>> To: Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com>
>>>>>> Cc: freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org <freebsd-x11 at freebsd.org>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: Xorg recurring background
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 3. May 2020, at 17:42, Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hello, could I gain assistance in setting up a recurring background in xorg?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> See xsetroot(1)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> https://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.5/doc/man/man1/xsetroot.1.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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