To do this, just add the following line to the end of your ~/.bash_profile:

ps ax|grep -q "[ ]`which X`" || startx

OR you can add this line instead:

ps ax|grep -q "[ ]`which X`" || xinit >/dev/null 2>&1

The last one is faster, because it starts xinit right away. Startx calls on xinit anyway, so this one saves a process. There are differences though. Startx uses .xsession and .Xresources; xinit uses .xinitrc and .Xdefaults. The files have exactly the same function.

You can even save some more by adding exec before xinit:

ps ax|grep -q "[ ]`which X`" || exec xinit >/dev/null 2>&1

The use of exec prevents the shell from running after X starts.

gunnix 01-26-2005