This article is from the the Brief Linux FAQ (BLFAQ) Maintained by Neil Zanella nzanella@ganymede.cs.mun.ca
If you start X with "startx" or "xinit" then you need a "~/.xinitrc" file containing a command to execute your window manager and make the file executable with "chmod u+x .xsession". If you start your session with xdm though, your file will have to be named "~/.xsession" instead of "~/.xinitrc".
 
Continue to: