~/Desktop/Autostart

[Michael Herman]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2003 at 02:56:42PM -0500, Devin Whalen wrote:
>
>> Here is the script that I use in my ~/Desktop/Autostart:
>> 
>> startup.sh
>> 
>> #!/bin/sh
>> 
>> #
>> # Auto start script
>> #
>> 
>> KSTART=`which kstart`
>> GAIM=`which gaim`
>> SYLPH=`which sylpheed`
>> # ETERM=`which Eterm`
>> XTERM=`which xterm`
>> SCR_CMD=`which screen`
>> GALEON=`which galeon`
>> 
>> $KSTART --window '.*Sylpheed.*' --desktop 4 $SYLPH &
>> $KSTART --window 'Buddy List' --desktop 5 $GAIM &
>> $KSTART --window '*screen*' --desktop 1 --maximize $XTERM -e $SCR_CMD -R &
>> $GALEON --server &
>> 
>> I hope this helps.
>> 
>
>Hey could you describe your startup script?  Or point me to some
>documentation on start-up scripts for xfce4...or is it just standard
>bash code.
>
>
>I understand the GAIM=`which gaim`....basically you are setting a
>variable to the command to run your program.  

which is a command to show the location or path of an application.  The output
from `which gaim` on my machine is /opt/gnome2/bin/gaim but this will vary
depending on the distro.  He uses the command GAIM=`which gaim` to set an
explicit path instead of relying on the $PATH variable.  IMHO, seems
unnecessary.  

>So if I wanted to start
>Evolution, I would type EVO=`which evolution`??? Or whatever program I
>want.  

No.  All that does is set a variable called EVO that contains the explicit
path to evolution. 

>However, what does the SCR_CMD=`which screen` do?  What is
>screen? 

Screen is another application.  From the man page:

Screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal
between several processes (typically interactive shells)

> And why do you start all your programs with kstart?  What is
>kstart? (sorry for so many questions) Basically could you describe this
>line:
>$KSTART --window '*screen*' --desktop 1 --maximize $XTERM -e $SCR_CMD -R
>&
>

kstart is a kde application that allows you to assign windows names and
desktop locations.  Since xfce doesn't have a variable to start an application
on a specific desktop, people use kstart for this.

>If I can understand this, then I could write my own.  If I wanted to
>start evolution on desktop 1 then I would write:
>EVO=`which evolution`
>Just a guess.

Following the above script, you would do this...

EVO=`which evolution`
kstart --window 'evolution' --desktop 3 -e $EVO --whatever other options&

Again, IMHO, the need to specifically tell a script where to find the
executable seems redunant unless you are running something that is not in
$PATH.  

HTH.

--
Michael