sysresources=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xresources
 sysmodmap=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap
 
+# backup logfile
+if [ -f "$logfile" ]; then
+    mv -f "$logfile" ${logfile}.old
+fi
 # redirect all further output
-exec 2>&1 >>"$logfile"
+exec 2>&1 >"$logfile"
 
 printf "\n%s  Reading '~/.xinitrc'\n" $(date --iso-8601=minutes)