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rayray

Member

Registered: 2025-07-11

Posts: 12

Accidentally ran sudo startx- which files were modified?

TL;DR What files are created/modified after running sudo startx when already in a session?

Hello everyone. I mindlessly ran sudo startx while in an X session, which broke my .Xauthority file permissions. I fixed that issue by simply deleting them from my home directory.

However, I have noticed that some of my settings have been changed, for example my AMDGPU TearFree is set to on when I previously had it off. Luckily, I keep a system backup in case of minor annoyances like this. But, I'd like to know which files need to be reverted after running sudo startx so I can properly revert my settings.

Lastly, I cannot remember if I ran startx or sudo startx; my bash history is missing the command. I assume it was sudo startx because my .Xauthourity* files were owned by root and not my user.

Due to the nature of this issue, I have decided to post it in this forum section.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 24,975

Re: Accidentally ran sudo startx- which files were modified?

Basically everything that you are normally starting within startx (and whatever tools those are starting and whatever you are actively starting while you don't realize and ...) and whatever files that will have touched have a chance to have wrong permissions now. So this highly depends on what it is you're starting. Maybe a

find $HOME -uid 0 -perm u+w,g+w,o+w

or similar can be a starting point (this should turn up empty...)

Also the way you are phrasing this makes it seem that you might envision this to be a potentially recurring  situation, in which case the best advice is to simply not do it: There's not a single reason you'd ever want to run sudo startx and if you think you do there's certainly a better option.

Last edited by V1del (Yesterday 18:48:33)

rayray

Member

Registered: 2025-07-11

Posts: 12

Re: Accidentally ran sudo startx- which files were modified?

That command does turn up empty. I'm wondering if config files for X11/XFCE were generated when I ran the command that are now overriding my /home configs. I'll poke around in the relevant directories

It was just a stupid accident. I keep backups just for general safety, this is the first time I've had to actually use it.

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 72,057

Re: Accidentally ran sudo startx- which files were modified?

I'm wondering if config files for X11/XFCE were generated when I ran the command that are now overriding my /home configs

They'd have shown up in the find - xfce4 probably already operated on /root

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