README for XFree86 3.1.1u1 on FreeBSD 2.0.5
Rich Murphey, David Dawes
20 January 1995
1. What and Where is XFree86?
XFree86 is a port of X11R6 that supports several versions of Intel-
based Unix. It is derived from X386 1.2, which was the X server
distributed with X11R5. This release consists of many new features
and performance improvements as well as many bug fixes. The release
is available as source patches against the X Consortium X11R6 code, as
well as binary distributions for many architectures.
See the Copyright Notice (COPYRIGHT.html).
The sources for XFree86 are available by anonymous ftp from:
ftp.XFree86.org:/pub/XFree86/current
(ftp://ftp.XFree86.org/pub/XFree86/current)
Binaries for XFree86 on FreeBSD are available from:
ftp.XFree86.org:/pub/XFree86/current/binaries/FreeBSD-2.0
(ftp://ftp.XFree86.org/pub/XFree86/current/binaries/FreeBSD-2.0)
XFree86.cdrom.com:/pub/XFree86/current/binaries/FreeBSD-2.0
(ftp://XFree86.cdrom.com/pub/XFree86/current/binaries/FreeBSD-2.0)
Send email to Rich-Murphey@Rice.edu or XFree86@XFree86.org if you have
comments or suggestions about this file and we'll revise it.
2. Installing the Binaries
If you want to save space, first select which archives you want to
unpack. If you can't decide what to pick and you have 52Mb of disk
space, it's safe to unpack everything.
At a minimum you need to unpack the 'required' X311*.tgz archives plus
at least one server that matches your vga card. You'll need 9Mb for
the minimum required run-time binaries only.
Required (6.7Mb):
X311bin.tgz
all the executable X client applications and shared libs
X311fnts.tgz
the misc and 75 dpi fonts
X311lib.tgz
data files needed at runtime
Required unless you have already customized your configuration
files:
X311xicf.tgz
customizable xinit runtime configuration file
X311xdcf.tgz
customizable xdm runtime configuration file
Choose at least one server ( 2.3Mb):
X3118514.tgz
8-bit color for IBM 8514 and true compatibles.
X311AGX.tgz
8-bit color for AGX boards.
X311Mch3.tgz
8 and 16-bit color for ATI Mach32 boards.
X311Mch8.tgz
8-bit color for ATI Mach8 boards.
X311Mono.tgz
1-bit monochrome for VGA, Super-VGA, Hercules, and others.
X311P9K.tgz
8, 16, and 24-bit color for Weitek P9000 boards (Diamond
Viper).
X311S3.tgz
8, 16 and 24-bit color for S3 boards (#9 GXE, Actix GE32,
SPEA Mercury, STB Pegasus)
X311SVGA.tgz
8-bit color for Super-VGA cards.
X311VG16.tgz
4-bit color for VGA and Super-VGA cards
X311W32.tgz
8-bit Color for ET4000/W32, /W32i and /W32p cards.
X311nest.tgz
A nested server running as a client window on another
display.
Optional:
X311doc.tgz
(.5Mb) READMEs and XFree86 specific man pages
X311man.tgz
(1.7Mb) man pages except XFree86 specific ones in etc archive
X311f100.tgz
(1.8Mb) 100dpi fonts
X311fscl.tgz
(1.6Mb) Speedo and Type1 fonts
X311fnon.tgz
(3.3Mb) Japanese, Chinese and other non-english fonts
X311fsrv.tgz
(.3Mb) the font server and it's man page
X311prog.tgz
(3.9Mb) config, lib*.a and *.h files needed only for
compiling
X311link.tgz
(7.8Mb) X server reconfiguration kit
X311pex.tgz
(.5Mb) PEX fonts and shared libs needed by PEX applications.
X311lbx.tgz
(.2Mb) low bandwidth X proxy server and libraries.
Note that there is no longer a separate xdm archive. FreeBSD 2.0
handles this in shared libraries now, so that the xdm binary does not
itself contain des and there is no more need for us to provide
separate tar balls.
2.1. Full Install:
1. You must be logged in as root to unpack the archives because
several executables are set-user-id. Otherwise the server may
abort if you unpack it as an ordinary user. You must also use a
``umask'' value of 022 because the X server requires special
permissions.
% su
# umask 022
2. If you have 52Mb free in the /usr partition ``cd /usr'' and skip
to no. 3. Otherwise, create a directory on another partition
and sym link it into /usr:
# cd /usr/local
# mkdir X11R6
# ln -s /usr/local/X11R6 /usr/X11R6
3. Unpack everything:
If you are using sh (as root usually does):
# for i in X311*.tgz; do
# tar -xzf $i
# done
Else, if you are using csh:
% foreach i (X311*.tgz)
% tar -xzf $i
% end
4. Create a symbolic link ``X'' that points to the server that
matches your video card. The XF86_* man pages list which vga
chip sets are supported by each server. For example, if you
have an ET4000 based card you will use the XF86_SVGA server:
# cd /usr/X11R6/bin; rm X; ln -s XF86_SVGA X
2.2. Minimal Install:
First do numbers 1 and 2 above. Then unpack the required archives:
# for i in bin fnts lib xicf; do
# tar -xzf X311$i.tgz
# done
Then unpack a server archive corresponding to your vga card. The
server man pages, X11R6/man/man1/XF86_*, list the vga chip sets
supported by each server. For example, if you have an ET4000 based
card you will use the XF86_SVGA server:
# tar -xzf X311SVGA.tgz
# cd /usr/X11R6/bin; rm X; ln -s XF86_SVGA X
2.3. After either Full or Minimal Install above:
Add /usr/X11R6/bin to the default path for sh in /etc/profile and for
csh in /etc/csh.login if they are not already there:
# echo 'set path = ($path /usr/X11R6/bin)' >>/etc/csh.login
# echo 'PATH=$PATH:/usr/X11R6/bin' >>/etc/profile
Or make sure all who use X put /usr/X11R6/bin in their shell's
``path'' variable.
Next either reboot or invoke ldconfig as root to put the shared
libraries in ld.so's cache:
# ldconfig /usr/lib /usr/local/lib /usr/X11R6/lib
If you had already configured X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc or
X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/* omit the xinit-config or xdm-config archive or
unpack it separately and merge in your customizations.
The fscl and f100 archives are optional and can be omitted if you are
short on space. The optional link archive allows you to reconfigure
and customize a X server binary. The optional prog archive is needed
only for writing or compiling X applications. The optional pex
archive contains pex clients and libraries for building 3D graphics
applications.
NOTE: You don't need to uncompress the font files, but if
you uncompress them anyway you must run mkfontdir in the
corresponding font directory; otherwise your server will
abort with the message ``could not open default font
'fixed'''.
If you are running a stock FreeBSD 1.1.5 system you can ignore the
rest of this section. If not, make sure you have a spare virtual
console which is running a login process (getty). First check how
many virtual consoles you have:
% dmesg|grep sc
sc0 at 0x60-0x6f irq 1 on motherboard
sc0: VGA color <8 virtual consoles>
Then check /etc/ttys to make sure there is at least one ttyv? devices
which doesn't have a getty enabled. FreeBSD 1.1.5 has the first three
``on'' and the last ``off'' so that getty runs on only three:
% grep ttyv /etc/ttys
ttyv0 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv1 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv2 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv3 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 off secure
If your kernel has least 4 VTs and only 3 gettys, this is fine. If
not, either disable a getty in /etc/ttys by changing ``on'' to ``off''
or build another kernel with more VTs as described below.
3. Installing The Display Manager (xdm)
The display manager makes your PC look like an X terminal. That is,
it presents you with a login screen that runs under X.
The easiest way to automatically start the display manager on boot is
to add a line in /etc/ttys to start it on one of the unoccupied
virtual terminals:
ttyv4 "/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm on secure
You should also make sure that /usr/X11R6/bin/X is a symbolic link to
the Xserver that matches your video card or edit the file Xservers in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm to specify the pathname of the X server.
The change to /etc/ttys won't take effect until you either reboot or
``kill -HUP 1'' to force initd to reread /etc/ttys. You can also test
the display manager manually by loging in as root on the console and
typing ``xdm -nodaemon''.
4. Configuring X for Your Hardware
The XF86Config file tells the X server what kind of monitor, video
card and mouse you have. You must create it to tell the server what
specific hardware you have.
XFree86 3.1 uses a new configuration file format. Consult the
XF86Config man page and the general INSTALL (INSTALL.html) file for
instructions.
If you have a Xconfig file for XFree86 2.x, use reconfig to translate
part of it into the new format:
# reconfig <Xconfig >XF86Config
and complete the rest according to the XF86Config man page and the
XF86Config.sample file as a template.
In order to protect your hardware from damage, the server no longer
will read XF86Config files from a user's home directory, but requires
that it be in /etc/XF86Config, /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.hostname
or /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.
You'll need info on your hardware:
o Your mouse type, baud rate and it's /dev entry.
o The video card's chipset (e.g. ET4000, S3, etc).
o Your monitor's sync frequencies.
The easiest way to find which device your mouse is plugged into is to
use ``cat'' or ``kermit'' to look at the output of the mouse. Connect
to it and just make sure that it generates output when the mouse is
moved or clicked:
% cat < /dev/tty00
If you can't find the right mouse device then use ``dmesg|grep sio''
to get a list of devices that were detected upon booting:
% dmesg|grep sio
sio0 at 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 on isa
Then double check the /dev entries corresponding to these devices.
Use the script /dev/MAKEDEV to create entries if they don't already
exist:
% cd /dev
% sh MAKEDEV tty00
If you plan to fine tune the screen size or position on your monitor
you'll need the specs for sync frequencies from your monitor's manual.
5. Running X
8mb of memory is a recommended minimum for running X. The server,
window manager, display manager and an xterm take about 8Mb of virtual
memory themselves. Even if their resident set size is smaller, on a
8Mb system that leaves very space for other applications such as gcc
that expect a few meg free. The R6 X servers may work with 4Mb of
memory, but in practice compilation while running X can take 5 or 10
times as long due to constant paging.
The easiest way for new users to start X windows is to type ``startx
>& startx.log''. Error messages are lost unless you redirect them
because the server takes over the screen.
To get out of X windows, type: ``exit'' in the console xterm. You can
customize your X by creating .xinitrc, .xserverrc, and .twmrc files in
your home directory as described in the xinit and startx man pages.
6. Rebuilding Kernels for X
The GENERIC FreeBSD 2.0 kernel supports XFree86 without any
modifications required. You do not need to make any changes to the
GENERIC kernel or any kernel configuration which is a superset.
For a general description of BSD kernel configuration get
smm.02.config.ps.Z
(ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/BSD/manuals/smm.02.config.ps.Z). It is
a ready-to-print postscript copy of the kernel configuration chapter
from the system maintainers manual.
If you do decide to reduce your kernel configuration file, do not
remove the two lines below (in /sys/arch/i386/conf). They are both
required for X support:
options XSERVER #Xserver
options UCONSOLE #X Console support
The generic FreeBSD 2.0 kernel is configured by default with the
syscons driver. To configure your kernel similarly it should have a
line like this in /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC:
device sc0 at isa? port "IO_KBD" tty irq 1 vector scintr
The number of virtual consoles can be set using the NCONS option:
options "NCONS=4" #4 virtual consoles
Otherwise, the default without a line like this is 12. You must have
more VTs than gettys as described in the end of section 3, and 4 is a
reasonable minimum.
The server supports several console drivers: pccons, syscons and pcvt.
The syscons driver is the default in FreeBSD 1.1.5 and higher. They
are detected at runtime and no configuration of the server itself is
required.
The pcvt console driver is bundled in /usr/ports/util/pcvt in FreeBSD
versions 1.0.2 and above. It can also be ftp-ed from:
FreeBSD.cdrom.com:/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-1.1/ports/util/pcvt
(ftp://FreeBSD.cdrom.com/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-1.1/ports/util/pcvt)
Refer to the README.FreeBSD
(ftp://FreeBSD.cdrom.com/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-1.1/ports/util/pcvt/README.FreeBSD)
file there for complete installation instructions.
The XFree86 servers include support for the MIT-SHM extension. The
GENERIC kernel does not support this, so if you want to make use of
this, you will need a kernel configured with SYSV shared memory
support. To do this, add the following line to your kernel config
file:
options SYSVSHM # System V shared memory
options SYSVSEM # System V semaphores
options SYSVMSG # System V message queues
If you are using a SoundBlaster 16 on IRQ 2 (9), then you need a patch
for sb16_dsp.c. Otherwise a kernel configured with the SoundBlaster
driver will claim interrupt 9 doesn't exist and X server will lock up.
S3 cards and serial port COM 4 cannot be installed together on a
system because the I/O port addresses overlap.
7. Rebuilding XFree86
The server link kit allows you to build an X server using a minimum
amount of disk space. Just unpack it, make the appropriate changes to
site.def, type ``./mkmf' and ``make'' to link the server. See
README.LinkKit (LinkKit.html) for more info.
The source tree takes about 114Mb before compiling and an additional
100Mb after ``make World''. You should configure the distribution by
editing xf86site.def and site.def in xc/config/cf before compiling.
By default, the config files are set up to build shared libraries. If
you are running a version of FreeBSD that doesn't include shared
library support, add the following line to site.def:
#define BuildBsdSharedLibs NO
If your system doesn't have support or SYSV shared memory (for
example, if you don't have the <sys/shm.h> header), you should disable
the MIT-SHM extension by adding the following line to site.def:
#define HasShm NO
To compile the sources on FreeBSD 1.1 and later, type:
make World
If you are running an old version of FreeBSD (before 1.1), then type:
make World BOOTSTRAPCFLAGS=-D__FreeBSD__
8. Building Other X Clients
The easiest way to build a new client (X application) is to use xmkmf
if an Imakefile is included with it. Type ``xmkmf -a'' to create the
Makefiles, then type ``make''. Whenever you install additional man
pages you should update whatis.db by running ``makewhatis
/usr/X11R6/man''.
On FreeBSD 1.0 and earlier systems, to avoid the ``Virtual memory
exhausted'' message from cc while compiling, increase the data and
stack size limits (in csh type ``limit datasize 32M'' and ``limit
stacksize 16M''). This is not needed on FreeBSD 2.0 and later since
the defaults are ample.
Note: Starting with XFree86 2.1 and FreeBSD 1.1, the symbol __386BSD__
no longer gets defined either by the compiler or via the X config
files for FreeBSD systems. When porting clients to BSD systems, make
use of the symbol BSD for code which is truly BSD-specific. The value
of the symbol can be used to distinguish different BSD releases. For
example, code specific to the Net-2 and later releases can use:
#if (BSD >= 199103)
To ensure that this symbol is correctly defined, include <sys/param.h>
in the source that requires it. Note that the symbol CSRG_BASED is
defined for *BSD systems in XFree86 3.1.1 and later. This should be
used to protect the inclusion of <sys/param.h>.
For code that really is specific to a particular i386 BSD port, use
__FreeBSD__ for FreeBSD, __NetBSD__ for NetBSD, __386BSD__ for 386BSD,
and __bsdi__ for BSD/386.
9. Thanks
Many thanks to:
o Pace Willison for providing initial *BSD support.
o Amancio Hasty for 386BSD kernel and S3 chipset support.
o David Greenman, Nate Williams, Jordan Hubbard for FreeBSD kernel
support.
o Rod Grimes, Jordan Hubbard and Jack Velte for the use of Walnut
Creek Cdrom's hardware.
o Orest Zborowski, Simon Cooper and Dirk Hohndel for ideas from
the Linux distribution.
$XConsortium: FreeBSD.sgml,v 1.3 95/01/23 15:34:41 kaleb Exp $
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$XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/READ.FreeBSD,v 3.12 1995/01/28 16:19:37 dawes Exp $