[Xmonad] initialization when running xmonad using xnest

[Stefan O'Rear]

On Fri, Aug 03, 2007 at 02:09:00PM -0700, Michael Vanier wrote:
> Huh, I think I was asking the wrong question then.  I don't really want to 
> do all the things that are done in my .xinitrc file.  I noticed, though, 
> that (for instance) my .Xresources are ignored inside the xnested xmonad, 
> so I have to do
>
> xrdb ~/.Xresources
>
> again to get them to work right (presumably because xnest is running X on 
> display 1, not 0). Similarly, I have to do "xsetroot -solid black" again to 
> get a black background.  So I put these commands in my startup script like 
> this:
>
>
> #!/bin/sh
>
> Xnest :1 -name "xmonad" +kb -ac -geometry 1152x768 2> /dev/null &
> XNEST_PROC=$!
> DISPLAY=:1
>
> xsetroot -display :1 -solid black
> xrdb -display :1 $HOME/.Xresources
>
> /usr/local/bin/xmonad&
> XMONAD_PROC=$!
>
> wait $XMONAD_PROC
> kill $XNEST_PROC
>
>
> but the xrdb and xsetroot commands did nothing.  However, if I did it like 
> this:
>
>
> #!/bin/sh
>
> Xnest :1 -name "xmonad" +kb -ac -geometry 1152x768 2> /dev/null &
> XNEST_PROC=$!
> DISPLAY=:1
>
> /usr/local/bin/xmonad&
> XMONAD_PROC=$!
>
> xsetroot -display :1 -solid black
> xrdb -display :1 $HOME/.Xresources
>
> wait $XMONAD_PROC
> kill $XNEST_PROC
>
>
> it works fine.  I don't know why this is -- does xmonad have to be running 
> in order for the xsetroot and xrdb commands to take effect?  Why should 
> that be?

X11 Protocol Specification, chapter 10, paragraph 3:

A server goes through a cycle of having no connections and having some connections. At every
transition to the state of having no connections as a result of a connection closing with a Destroy
close-down mode, the server resets its state as if it had just been started. This starts by destroying
all lingering resources from clients that have terminated in RetainPermanent or RetainTempo-
rary mode. It additionally includes deleting all but the predefined atom identifiers, deleting all
properties on all root windows, resetting all device maps and attributes (key click, bell volume,
acceleration), resetting the access control list, restoring the standard root tiles and cursors, restor-
ing the default font path, and restoring the input focus to state PointerRoot.

So after xsetroot exits, the server resets.  After xrdb exits, the
server resets.  xmonad starts with a clean setup.

This (mis)feature is not an issue if you use xinit/startx because xinit
itself counts as a connected client.

Stefan
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