Can't login after editing xinitrc

Question

I wanted to install dwm according to this tutorial. I've skipped the part about Xorg, bc I knew it have been already installed at the time. I started with step about installing dwm. The desktop stopped booting after editing xinitrc, as described in the tutorial above I've commented special lines and added exec dwm line in xinitrc. I didn't manage to login because it freezes when I type my password, but I can log in "terminal mode", I mean via pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2. I've edited the xinitrc back using nano, i.e. uncommented lines and removed exec dwm line. My PC still freezes at logging stage.

My xinitrc is looking like this right now:

#!/bin/sh

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps

if [ -f $sysresources ]; then



xrdb -merge $sysresources

fi

if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi

if [ -f "$userresources" ]; then



xrdb -merge "$userresources"

fi

if [ -f "$usermodmap" ]; then
    xmodmap "$usermodmap"
fi

# start some nice programs

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
 for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/?*.sh ; do
  [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
 done
 unset f
fi

twm &
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login

Answer 1

Nothing is immediately obvious to me in this file. But here's a generic debugging tip which should lead you to the problem.

Just below the #!/bin/sh shebang line, add the following lines:

exec >~/"xinitrc-$DISPLAY.log" 2>&1
set -x

set -x turns on the shell's trace mode, so every command will be printed just before it's executed. The exec line redirects the log to a file in your home directory (adjust as desired).

Either you'll see the file grow very fast if there's an infinite loop somewhere, or it'll stop logging at the problematic command.