Completely empty X11 (no window manager, no nothing) - possible?

Question

for an embedded video player I need X11 to start with nothing on it, I'll start xine via script later in the process.

A "naked" X11 install will always start xterm, killing xterm will also kill X11.

Any idea on how to start X11 "naked"?

Your answer(s) are as always highly appreciated, thank you,

PS. Also, for bonus, any good (ie. no .bashrc, no mingetty --autologin) ways of starting X11 on boot?

Answer 1

You can run X by just running 'X' or 'Xorg' from the command line. To start X on boot, it depends on your system. Linux systems with an inittab can add X as another tty, the way it's done in inittab for other ttys. FreeBSD users can put it in /etc/ttys.

An alternative is to use a custom .xinitrc for root, that runs the script that you want. You will need to authenticate against the X server somehow, so the .xinitrc route is probably the easiest way to go.

Answer 2

If you use just call X directly instead of gdm or similar you can get a plain (ie empty) display eg:

/usr/bin/X :0

If you want to make this happen automatically you could put it in /etc/rc.local (if you have one), or write an init script of your own.