I'd really like a way to specify an arguement at the console when you type startx to load a certain desktop environment. For example, I type: startx gnome and it'll load gnome. startx kde will load kde, etc, etc.
This already exists more or less. The "switchdesk" package. For more info, make sure switchdesk is installed, and read the manpage for it: man switchdesk You could create a bash alias to do what you want something like (untested) alias startgnome='switchdesk gnome;startx' alias startkde='switchdesk kde;startx' Changing the way the arguments to startx works would break a lot of documentation, when there is already a way to do this. Hope this helps you figure out something useful.