XSERVER

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: Release 5
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NAME

Xserver - X Window System server

SYNOPSIS

X [:displaynumber] [-option ...] [ttyname]

DESCRIPTION

X is the generic name for the X Window System server. It is frequently a link or a copy of the appropriate server binary for driving the most frequently used server on a given machine.

STARTING THE SERVER

The server is usually started from the X Display Manager program xdm. This utility is run from the system boot files and takes care of keeping the server running, prompting for usernames and passwords, and starting up the user sessions. It is easily configured for sites that wish to provide nice, consistent interfaces for novice users (loading convenient sets of resources, starting up a window manager, clock, and nice selection of terminal emulator windows).

Installations that run more than one window system will still need to use the xinit utility. However, xinit is to be considered a tool for building startup scripts and is not intended for use by end users. Site administrators are strongly urged to use xdm, or build other interfaces for novice users.

When the X server starts up, it takes over the display. If you are running on a workstation whose console is the display, you cannot log into the console while the server is running.

NETWORK CONNECTIONS

The X server supports connections made using the following reliable byte-streams:

TCP/IP: The server listens on port 6000+n, where n is the display number.
Unix Domain: The X server uses /tmp/.X11-unix/Xn as the filename for the socket, where n is the display number.
DECnet: The server responds to connections to object X$Xn, where n is the display number. This is not supported in all environments.

OPTIONS

All of the X servers accept the following command line options:

-a number: sets pointer acceleration (i.e. the ratio of how much is reported to how much the user actually moved the pointer).
-ac: disables host-based access control mechanisms. Enables access by any host, and permits any host to modify the access control list. Use with extreme caution. This option exists primarily for running test suites remotely.
-auth authorization-file: Specifies a file which contains a collection of authorization records used to authenticate access. See also the xdm and Xsecurity manual pages.
bc: disables certain kinds of error checking, for bug compatibility with previous releases (e.g., to work around bugs in R2 and R3 xterms and toolkits). Deprecated.
-bs: disables backing store support on all screens.
-c: turns off key-click.
c volume: sets key-click volume (allowable range: 0-100).
-cc class: sets the visual class for the root window of color screens. The class numbers are as specified in the X protocol. Not obeyed by all servers.
-co filename: sets name of RGB color database.
-dpi resolution: sets the resolution of the screen, in dots per inch. To be used when the server cannot determine the screen size from the hardware.
-f volume: sets feep (bell) volume (allowable range: 0-100).
-fc cursorFont: sets default cursor font.
-fn font: sets the default font.
-fp fontPath: sets the search path for fonts. This path is a comma separated list of directories which the X server searches for font databases.
-help: prints a usage message.
-I: causes all remaining command line arguments to be ignored.
-ld kilobytes: sets the data space limit of the server to the specified number of kilobytes. A value of zero makes the data size as large as possible. The default value of -1 leaves the data space limit unchanged. This option is not available in all operating systems.
-lf files: sets the number-of-open-files limit of the server to the specified number. A value is zero makes the limit as large as possible. The default value of -1 leaves the limit unchanged. This option is not available in all operating systems.
-ls kilobytes: sets the stack space limit of the server to the specified number of kilobytes. A value of zero makes the stack size as large as possible. The default value of -1 leaves the stack space limit unchanged. This option is not available in all operating systems.
-logo: turns on the X Window System logo display in the screen-saver. There is currently no way to change this from a client.
nologo: turns off the X Window System logo display in the screen-saver. There is currently no way to change this from a client.
-p minutes: sets screen-saver pattern cycle time in minutes.
-r: turns off auto-repeat.
r: turns on auto-repeat.
-s minutes: sets screen-saver timeout time in minutes.
-su: disables save under support on all screens.
-t number: sets pointer acceleration threshold in pixels (i.e. after how many pixels pointer acceleration should take effect).
-to seconds: sets default connection timeout in seconds.
ttyxx: ignored, for servers started the ancient way (from init).
v: sets video-off screen-saver preference.
-v: sets video-on screen-saver preference.
-wm: forces the default backing-store of all windows to be WhenMapped; a cheap trick way of getting backing-store to apply to all windows.
-x extension: loads the specified extension at init. Not supported in most implementations.

You can also have the X server connect to xdm using XDMCP. Although this is not typically useful as it does not allow xdm to manage the server process, it can be used to debug XDMCP implementations, and serves as a sample implementation of the server side of XDMCP. For more information on this protocol, see the X Display Manager Control Protocol specification. The following options control the behavior of XDMCP.

-query host-name: Enable XDMCP and send Query packets to the specified host.
-broadcast: Enable XDMCP and broadcast BroadcastQuery packets to the network. The first responding display manager will be chosen for the session.
-indirect host-name: Enable XDMCP and send IndirectQuery packets to the specified host.
-port port-num: Use an alternate port number for XDMCP packets. Must be specified before any -query, -broadcast or -indirect options.
-once: Normally, the server keeps starting sessions, one after the other. This option makes the server exit after the first session is over.
-class display-class: XDMCP has an additional display qualifier used in resource lookup for display-specific options. This option sets that value, by default it is "MIT-Unspecified" (not a very useful value).
-cookie xdm-auth-bits: When testing XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1, a private key is shared between the server and the manager. This option sets the value of that private data (not that it is very private, being on the command line!).
-displayID display-id: Yet another XDMCP specific value, this one allows the display manager to identify each display so that it can locate the shared key.

Many servers also have device-specific command line options. See the manual pages for the individual servers for more details.

SECURITY

The X server implements a simplistic authorization protocol, MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 which uses data private to authorized clients and the server. This is a rather trivial scheme; if the client passes authorization data which is the same as the server has, it is allowed access. This scheme is worse than the host-based access control mechanisms in environments with unsecure networks as it allows any host to connect, given that it has discovered the private key. But in many environments, this level of security is better than the host-based scheme as it allows access control per-user instead of per-host.

In addition, the server provides support for a DES-based authorization scheme, XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1, which is more secure (given a secure key distribution mechanism). This authorization scheme can be used in conjunction with XDMCP's authentication scheme (XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1) or in isolation.

The authorization data is passed to the server in a private file named with the -auth command line option. Each time the server is about to accept the first connection after a reset (or when the server is starting), it reads this file. If this file contains any authorization records, the local host is not automatically allowed access to the server, and only clients which send one of the authorization records contained in the file in the connection setup information will be allowed access. See the Xau manual page for a description of the binary format of this file. Maintenance of this file, and distribution of its contents to remote sites for use there is left as an exercise for the reader.

The server also provides support for SUN-DES-1, using Sun's Secure RPC. It involves encrypting data with the X server's public key. See the Xsecurity manual page for more information.

The X server also uses a host-based access control list for deciding whether or not to accept connections from clients on a particular machine. If no other authorization mechanism is being used, this list initially consists of the host on which the server is running as well as any machines listed in the file /etc/Xn.hosts, where n is the display number of the server. Each line of the file should contain either an Internet hostname (e.g. expo.lcs.mit.edu) or a DECnet hostname in double colon format (e.g. hydra::). There should be no leading or trailing spaces on any lines. For example:

joesworkstation
corporate.company.com
star::
bigcpu::

Users can add or remove hosts from this list and enable or disable access control using the xhost command from the same machine as the server.

The X protocol intrinsically does not have any notion of window operation permissions or place any restrictions on what a client can do; if a program can connect to a display, it has full run of the screen. Sites that have better authentication and authorization systems (such as Kerberos) might wish to make use of the hooks in the libraries and the server to provide additional security models.

SIGNALS

The X server attaches special meaning to the following signals:

SIGHUP: This signal causes the server to close all existing connections, free all resources, and restore all defaults. It is sent by the display manager whenever the main user's main application (usually an xterm or window manager) exits to force the server to clean up and prepare for the next user.
SIGTERM: This signal causes the server to exit cleanly.
SIGUSR1: This signal is used quite differently from either of the above. When the server starts, it checks to see if it has inherited SIGUSR1 as SIG_IGN instead of the usual SIG_DFL. In this case, the server sends a SIGUSR1 to its parent process after it has set up the various connection schemes. Xdm uses this feature to recognize when connecting to the server is possible.

FONTS

Fonts are usually stored as individual files in directories. The X server can obtain fonts from directories and/or from font servers. The list of directories and font servers the X server uses when trying to open a font is controlled by the font path. Although most sites will choose to have the X server start up with the appropriate font path (using the -fp option mentioned above), it can be overridden using the xset program.

The default font path for the X server contains four directories:

/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc: This directory contains many miscellaneous bitmap fonts that are useful on all systems. It contains a family of fixed-width fonts, a family of fixed-width fonts from Dale Schumacher, several Kana fonts from Sony Corporation, two JIS Kanji fonts, two Hangul fonts from Daewoo Electronics, two Hebrew fonts from Joseph Friedman, the standard cursor font, two cursor fonts from Digital Equipment Corporation, and cursor and glyph fonts from Sun Microsystems. It also has various font name aliases for the fonts, including fixed and variable.
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo: This directory contains outline fonts for Bitstream's Speedo rasterizer. A single font face, in normal, bold, italic, and bold italic, is provided, contributed by Bitstream, Inc.
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi: This directory contains bitmap fonts contributed by Adobe Systems, Inc., Digital Equipment Corporation, Bitstream, Inc., Bigelow and Holmes, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. for 75 dots per inch displays. An integrated selection of sizes, styles, and weights are provided for each family.
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi: This directory contains 100 dots per inch versions of some of the fonts in the 75dpi directory.

Font databases are created by running the mkfontdir program in the directory containing the compiled versions of the fonts (the .pcf files). Whenever fonts are added to a directory, mkfontdir should be rerun so that the server can find the new fonts. If mkfontdir is not run, the server will not be able to find any fonts in the directory.

DIAGNOSTICS

Too numerous to list them all. If run from init(8), errors are typically logged in the file /usr/adm/X*msgs,

FILES

/etc/X*.hosts: Initial access control list
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc, /usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi, /usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi: Bitmap font directories
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo: Outline font directories
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/PEX: PEX font directories
/usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt: Color database
/tmp/.X11-unix/X*: Unix domain socket
/usr/adm/X*msgs: Error log file

BUGS

The option syntax is inconsistent with itself and xset(1).

The acceleration option should take a numerator and a denominator like the protocol.

If X dies before its clients, new clients won't be able to connect until all existing connections have their TCP TIME_WAIT timers expire.

The color database is missing a large number of colors.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.

AUTHORS

The sample server was originally written by Susan Angebranndt, Raymond Drewry, Philip Karlton, and Todd Newman, from Digital Equipment Corporation, with support from a large cast. It has since been extensively rewritten by Keith Packard and Bob Scheifler, from MIT.

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 07:00:58 GMT, May 19, 2025