Xfce Forum

Skaperen

Member

From: right by Jesus, our Saviour

Registered: 2013-06-15

Posts: 862

how to start xfce?

i have the x server running.  xterm is running with an undecorated window.  bash is running and starts with the current directory in /.   i can type in commands and they work.  i can change to the user home directory.  now how do i start xfce?

ozjd

Member

From: Hawkesbury NSW Australia

Registered: 2012-02-05

Posts: 560

Website

Re: how to start xfce?

Look at https://wiki.xfce.org/faq and scroll down. There is a section on starting Xfce. Also see the next section which covers display managers as that is the usual way to do it.

Skaperen

Member

From: right by Jesus, our Saviour

Registered: 2013-06-15

Posts: 862

Re: how to start xfce?

it fails and i get these 3 message:

/usr/bin/startxfce4: X server already running on display :16
Xlib:  extension "RANDR" missing on display ":16".
xfce4-session: Another session manager is already running

the X server is already running as it is where /usr/bin/startxfce4 was executed.
i do not know what is this RANDR thing.
there is no other session manager running for THIS X server.  the x servers just started, one on  :16 an one on :17.  the one on :17 was configured the same and got like messages.
i didn't even make a VNC connection this time since nothing more was running.

versions:
ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS
libvncclient1:amd64 0.9.10+dfsg-3ubuntu0.16.04.1
libvncserver1:amd64 0.9.10+dfsg-3ubuntu0.16.04.1
linuxvnc 0.9.10-2
remmina-plugin-vnc 1.1.2-3ubuntu1
tightvncserver 1.3.10-0ubuntu3
gtk2-engines-xfce 3.2.0-2
libxfce4panel-2.0-4 4.12.0-3ubuntu2
libxfce4ui-1-0 4.12.1-2
libxfce4ui-2-0 4.12.1-2
libxfce4ui-common 4.12.1-2
libxfce4ui-utils 4.12.1-2
libxfce4util-bin 4.12.1-2
libxfce4util-common 4.12.1-2
libxfce4util7 4.12.1-2
xfce4 4.12.2
xfce4-appfinder 4.12.0-2ubuntu1
xfce4-notifyd 0.2.4-3ubuntu1
xfce4-panel 4.12.0-3ubuntu2
xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin:amd64 0.2.4-1
xfce4-session 4.12.1-3ubuntu1
xfce4-settings 4.12.0-2ubuntu1
xfce4-volumed 0.2.0-0ubuntu2
xfdesktop4 4.12.3-2ubuntu1
xfdesktop4-data 4.12.3-2ubuntu1

Last edited by Skaperen (2017-03-09 10:44:03)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,493

Re: how to start xfce?

I think we're missing some important information here.

- what exactly are you trying to accomplish?
- what are the contents of your start-up files?

And why is the Xserver already running? If you use startxfce4 to start your graphical interface, it will start the X server. Are you trying to get 2 instances of Xfce running on the same computer? If so, only one instance of xfce4-session can run on any given computer. There was a recent thread about this and some potential workarounds, if that's the case.

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Skaperen

Member

From: right by Jesus, our Saviour

Registered: 2013-06-15

Posts: 862

Re: how to start xfce?

> what exactly are you trying to accomplish?

i am trying to get a Desktop Environment running in many Xtightvnc environments.
Xfce is my first choice so i am applying more effort and resources to it.

i originally intended to set up 16 Xtightvnc instances on my laptop to get a sense of client switching before deploying a variable number in the cloud.
due to running into problems i have reduced this to just 2 for now.

> what are the contents of your start-up files?

line numbers added by "cat -n":
file ~/.vnc/xstartup:

     1    cd || exit 1
     2    if [[ -z "${LOGFILE}" ]]; then
     3        ymdhms=$( exec date  '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S%N' )
     4        n=$( echo "${DISPLAY}" | cut -d : -f 2 )
     5        [[ -d .vnc/log ]] || mkdir -m 0700 .vnc/log || exit 1
     6        LOGFILE=".vnc/log/${ymdhms}-x${n}.log"
     7        exec 1>"${LOGFILE}"
     8        exec 2>&1
     9    fi
    10    if [[ -r "${HOME}/.Xresources" ]]; then
    11        echo it is readable
    12        xrdb "${HOME}/.Xresources"
    13    fi
    14    export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
    15    /usr/bin/startxfce4
    16    exit

file ~/.Xresources does not exist.

>  And why is the Xserver already running?.

because that is how to start the right X server with the right display number, geometry, depth, VNC port number, and tnterface IP address where this choice is needed.

> Are you trying to get 2 instances of Xfce running on the same computer?

yes.
or just 1, or 16, or as many as my memory can handle.
even the first instance ran into problems ... xfce4-session: Another session manager is already running
the laptop console is running Unity, not Xfce.  it looks like Xfce and Unity are sharing something.

so how does Xfce operate on remote X terminals where a common Unix/Linux/POSIX server (e.g. the "shell box") is set up for everyone?  by limiting each user to just one logged in terminal?  and in this case how does it deal with the X server (X terminal) already running?

> ... some potential workarounds ...

i was going to try setting $HOME to a subdirectory based on DISPLAY number (a pretend different user).  maybe that linked thread's info can help.

Skaperen

Member

From: right by Jesus, our Saviour

Registered: 2013-06-15

Posts: 862

Re: how to start xfce?

got Xfce running under Xtightvnc (xvnc) now.

here is my .vnc/xstartup script with line number prefixing by "cat -n":

     1    #!/bin/bash
     2    cd || exit $?
     3    if test -z "$DISPLAY"; then
     4        echo 'DISPLAY not set or DISPLAY is empty' 1>&2
     5        exit 2
     6    fi
     7    exe="/usr/bin/xfce4-session"
     8    ohome="$HOME"
     9    dispnum=$(echo "$DISPLAY"|cut -d : -f 2)
    10    test -e "$exe"||exit 2
    11    test -f "$exe"||exit 3
    12    test -x "$exe"||exit 4
    13    test -n "$newhome"||newhome="$HOME/xhome-$dispnum"
    14    test -d "$newhome"||mkdir -p "$newhome"||exit $?
    15    export HOME="$newhome"
    16    cd "$HOME" || exit $?
    17    ymdhms=$(exec date  '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S%N')
    18    test -n "$vncdir"||vncdir=".vnc"
    19    test -d "$vncdir"||mkdir -m 0700 -p "$vncdir"||exit 1
    20    test -n "$vnclog"||vnclog="$vncdir/log"
    21    test -d "$vnclog"||mkdir -m 0700 -p "$vnclog"||exit 1
    22    test -n "$logfile"||logfile="$vnclog/$ymdhms-x$dispnum.log"
    23    exec 1>"$logfile"
    24    exec 2>&1
    25    env
    26    pwd
    27    test -r "$HOME/.Xresources" && xrdb "$HOME/.Xresources"
    28    env=(DISPLAY="$DISPLAY" HOME="$HOME" LOGNAME="$LOGNAME" ORIGINAL_HOME="$ohome" PATH="$PATH" USER="$USER" XAUTHORITY="$XAUTHORITY" XVNC='True')
    29    cmd=(env -i "${env[@]}" "$exe")
    30    echo EXECUTING: "${cmd[@]}"
    31    exec "${cmd[@]}"

cleaning the environment seems to have done the job working as described in bug 7502.  there are a lot of error messages that got written to the log file.  maybe that is normal for an Xvnc server without expected extensions and features.  remmina (rdp/vnc/nx client) seems to switch vnc connections ok but handles disconnects poorly.  i will play around with what i got working for a while before posting further questions.  and i'll be rewriting my scripts in python 3.  it's nice to have a small DE.  i got 16 instances running on my laptop.