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Installation Details for XFree86[tm] 4.3.0
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The XFree86 Project, Inc
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How to install XFree86.
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This document contains information about installing the XFree86 binaries as
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provided by The XFree86 Project.
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The XFree86 binaries that we provide for UNIX-like OS's (Linux, the BSDs,
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Solaris, etc) are packaged in a platform-independent gzipped tar format (aka
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"tarballs" identified by the .tgz suffix). Along with the binaries we pro-
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vide a customized version of the GNU tar utility called "extract" and an
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installation script. We recommend that these be used to install the bina-
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ries. (The source for this customized version of GNU tar can be found in the
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XFree86 CVS repository's "utils" module, and from our ftp site
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<URL:ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/misc/utils-1.1.0.tgz>.)
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2. Downloading the XFree86 4.3.0 binaries
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We provide XFree86 4.3.0 binaries for a range of operating systems at our ftp
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site <URL:ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/4.3.0/binaries/> and our web site
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<URL:http://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/4.3.0/binaries/>. Often during
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releases our site is heavily loaded. Instead of downloading directly from us
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we recommend that instead you use one of our mirror sites.
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Our binaries are organized by sub-directories which correspond to each of the
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OS/platforms for which we provide binaries. First go to the sub-directory
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that represents your OS platform. In some cases (e.g., Linux) there may be a
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number of choices depending on the architecture or libc version your platform
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uses. In all case we recommend that you first download the Xinstall.sh
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script, and run it as in the following example to find out which binary dis-
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tribution you should download.
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The output of this utility tells you which is the correct set of binaries for
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you to download. If you are careful with this step you will save yourself a
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lot time and trouble from NOT downloading an incompatible distribution.
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o The Xinstall.sh script must be downloaded in binary mode, otherwise it
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won't run correctly. If you get lots of "command not found" messages
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when you try to run it, then it is most likely because the script wasn't
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downloaded in binary mode. Some web browsers won't do this for files of
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that name, so we also have a copy of it called "Xinstall.bin", and most
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browsers should download that correctly. When downloading it under this
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name, select "save as" on your browser, and save the file under the name
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o The Xinstall.sh script requires some system commands and utilities to
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function correctly. While most systems will have these, some Linux
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installations may not. If you find that the script is failing because
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of some missing system command, you will need to install it before you
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can continue. If you don't know how to do this, then we recommend that
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you obtain this version of XFree86 from your Operating System distribu-
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o Always use the version of the Xinstall.sh script that's provided with
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the release you're installing. Older versions of the script may not
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install newer releases correctly.
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o If the binary distribution reported by the Xinstall.sh script isn't pre-
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sent on our site, then there are two possibilities. The first is that
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it hasn't been prepared and uploaded yet. This is likely if you are
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looking soon after the release date. The second possibility is that we
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won't have it available at all for this release. This is likely if it's
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still not there about two weeks after the release date. Check here
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<URL:http://www.xfree86.org/4.3.0/UPDATES.html> for information about
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updates to our binary distributions, and here
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<URL:http://www.xfree86.org/4.3.0/ERRATA.html> for errata related to
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Once you're run the Xinstall.sh script and found which binary distribution is
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suitable for your system, download the necessary files. The twelve (12)
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mandatory files for all installations are listed below. If you have not
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downloaded all of the files, the installer script will complain.
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1. Xinstall.sh The installer script
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2. extract The utility for extracting tarballs
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3. Xbin.tgz X clients/utilities and run-time libraries
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4. Xlib.tgz Some data files required at run-time
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5. Xman.tgz Manual pages
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6. Xdoc.tgz XFree86 documentation
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7. Xfnts.tgz Base set of fonts
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8. Xfenc.tgz Base set of font encoding data
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9. Xetc.tgz Run-time configuration files
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10. Xvar.tgz Run-time data
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11. Xxserv.tgz XFree86 X server
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12. Xmod.tgz XFree86 X server modules
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o Some web browsers have a problem downloading the extract utility cor-
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rectly. If you encounter this problem, download the version called
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extract.exe instead. This should fix the problem. (This is not a
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DOS/Windows executable.)
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o A few distributions don't have or require the Xvar.tgz tarball. If it
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is present in the binaries sub-directory for your platform, then it is
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o The Darwin/Mac OS X distribution doesn't have or require the Xmod.tgz
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o Some distributions may have additional mandatory tarballs. While rare,
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the installer script will tell you if any are missing.
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The following eleven (11) tarballs are optional. You should download the
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ones you want to install.
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1. Xfsrv.tgz Font server
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2. Xnest.tgz Nested X server
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3. Xprog.tgz X header files, config files and compile-time libs
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4. Xprt.tgz X Print server
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5. Xvfb.tgz Virtual framebuffer X server
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6. Xf100.tgz 100dpi fonts
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7. Xfcyr.tgz Cyrillic fonts
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8. Xfscl.tgz Scalable fonts (Speedo, Type1 and TrueType)
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9. Xhtml.tgz HTML version of the documentation
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10. Xps.tgz PostScript version of the documentation
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11. Xjdoc.tgz Documentation in Japanese
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o Some distributions may have some additional optional tarballs.
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If you miss some and want to install them later, go to the Manual Installa-
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tion (section 4., page 1) section.
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3. Installing XFree86 4.3.0 using the Xinstall.sh script
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We strongly recommend that our XFree86 4.3.0 binaries be installed using the
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Xinstall.sh script that we provide. There are a lot of steps in the manual
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installation process, and those steps can vary according to the platform and
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hardware setup. There is a description of the manual installation process
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for the most common cases below (section 4., page 1).
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You must login as the super user (root) to run the installer script. Place
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all of the downloaded files into a single directory (choose a temporary loca-
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tion with enough space). Use the cd command to change to that directory and
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then run the installer script as follows:
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Answer the prompts as they come up. If you are missing something that is
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required, the installer may tell you to install it before trying again. If
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the problem is that you did not download all of mandatory files aforemen-
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tioned, then the installer will tell you which ones are missing and ask you
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to download them before proceeding.
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3.1 Questions the installer may ask
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The installer asks some questions that may not have obvious answers. The
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information here should help you answer them. In most cases, apart from the
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first question, the default answers should be OK.
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If you run the installer from within an X session (the installer checks if
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$DISPLAY is set), you will be warned that doing so is not a good idea.
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Unless you have a good reason for knowing that this won't be a problem, you
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should exit your X session, including stopping xdm or equivalent if it is
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running, before continuing. If you ignore this warning and run into prob-
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lems, well, you were warned!
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If you have an existing X installation, you will be warned that proceeding
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with this installation will overwrite it. Only those things that are part of
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our standard distribution will be overwritten. Other X applications that you
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may have installed will not be removed. Some configuration files may be
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overwritten though, but the installer should prompt you before doing so. As
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the opening greeting says, it is strongly recommended that you backup any
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existing installation before proceeding. If you want your old applications
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to still be there after you've installed, don't do the "backup" by simply
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renaming your old /usr/X11R6 directory. It is better to make a copy of it,
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and then install over the top of the original one. If you run into problems
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and want to revert to the old installation, you can then delete the overwrit-
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ten one and copy the saved version back.
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During the first part of the installation over an existing version, the
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script may remove some old files or directories that would get in the way of
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the new installation. It will list which files/directories have been
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removed. If none are listed, then none were removed.
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The next step when installing over an existing version is to check for exist-
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ing configuration files. As of XFree86 version 3.9.18, the run-time configu-
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ration files are installed by default under /etc/X11 instead of under
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/usr/X11R6/lib/X11. The installer will move the existing ones for you and
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create the necessary symbolic links. If you don't want to have these config-
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uration files under /etc/X11, then you should answer "no" when asked about
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it. Answering "no" here also means that the new configuration files will be
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installed in the old /usr/X11R6/lib/X11 location.
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Note: for the rare systems that don't have symbolic links, this question will
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not be asked. The default answer is "yes" because that is best for most sit-
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uations. It is our new default. It makes it easier to share the /usr/X11R6
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directory between multiple hosts, and allows it to be mounted read-only. If
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you don't need these features, then you can safely answer "no" if you don't
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When installing over an existing version, you will be prompted before each
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set of configuration files is installed. If you haven't made any Customisa-
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tions to your existing configuration files, then you can safely answer "yes"
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for each of these. If you have made customisations, you can try answering
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"no". If you run into problems later, you may need to manually merge your
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customisations into the the new version of the configuration files. The con-
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figuration files can all be found in the Xetc.tgz tarball. See the section
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below (section 4., page 1) about manual installation for information about
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extracting them separately.
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After the configuration files have been dealt with, the other mandatory com-
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ponents of the binary distribution will be installed. This should proceed
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without any user intervention.
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If you downloaded any of the optional components, the installer will ask you
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about each one before it is installed. The default answer is "yes". If
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there are any that you've since decided that you don't want to install,
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answer "no" when prompted.
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After that is done, the main part of the installation is complete. The next
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steps are to tidy up some aspects of the installation. The first of these is
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to run "ldconfig" on systems that require it, so that the newly installed
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shared libraries are accessible. Then the fonts.dir files in some directo-
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ries are updated so that the fonts can be accessed correctly. Next, the
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installer checks to see if your system has a termcap file or terminfo files.
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If it finds the former, it tells you how you may update the entries in that
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file. If it finds the latter, it asks you if you want it to update them for
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You may be asked if you want to create links for the GL libraries and header
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files. The OpenGL standard on some platforms (Linux in particular) says that
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these should be installed in the standard system locations (/usr/lib and
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/usr/include), so the installer offers to create the appropriate links. If
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you're running Linux, you should probably answer yes. For other platforms it
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is your choice. If you already have another version of libGL in /usr/lib,
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answering "yes" will remove it and replace it with a link to the version we
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supply. The installer will show you a listing of any existing versions
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before asking if they should be replaced.
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Finally, the installer asks you if you want a link created for the rstart
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utility. On most modern systems the link isn't essential, so the default
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answer is "no". Answer "yes" if you know that you need it. If you find
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later that you need it, you can create it easily by running:
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rm -f /usr/bin/rstartd
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ln -s /usr/X11R6/bin/rstartd /usr/bin/rstartd
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3.2 After the installation is complete
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The next step is to configure the X server. That is covered in detail in an
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as-yet unwritten document :-(. In the meantime, there are three ways to cre-
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ate a basic X server configuration file for XFree86 4.3.0. One is to run the
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xf86config utility. Another is to run the xf86cfg utility. The third option
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is to use the new -configure X server option:
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Note that if you are running Darwin/Mac OS X, there is no step 3 :-). You
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should skip this step, as configuration is not required or possible. The X
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server configuration file is not used on Darwin/Mac OS X.
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The X server config file (XF86Config) format has changed compared to 3.3.x.
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Also, its default location is now /etc/X11. Finally, there is now only one X
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server for driving video hardware, and it is called "XFree86". Once you're
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satisfied with the operation of the new X server, you can safely remove the
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old XF86_* and/or XF98_* X server binaries from /usr/X11R6/bin.
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After the X server configuration is done, it may be advisable to reboot,
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especially if you run xdm (or equivalent) or the font server (xfs).
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4. Installing XFree86 4.3.0 manually
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This section contains information about manually installing the XFree86 4.3.0
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binary distributions. You should only use this method if you know what
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you're doing. The information here covers some common cases, but not every
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possible case. It also may not be complete or up to date. Use at your own
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Put all of the downloaded files into a single directory (choose some tempo-
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rary location with enough space). Become the super user (root). All of the
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following commands should be run as root, and they should be run from the
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directory that has all of the downloaded files. The "extract" utility should
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be used to unpack the tarballs. This is a customised version of GNU tar that
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has the gzip code built-in, and which has a different usage when run under
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the name "extract". One important thing that extract does that most versions
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of tar do not do by default is that it unlinks existing files before writing
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new ones. This is important when installing over an existing version of X.
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If you choose to use some other utility to extract the tarballs, you're on
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4.1 A new installation
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The simplest case is when there is no existing X installation. The installa-
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tion procedure for this case is as follows:
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./extract -C /usr/X11R6 X[a-df-uw-z]*.tgz
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./extract -C /usr/X11R6 Xvfb.tgz # If you are installing Xvfb
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./extract -C /etc/X11 Xetc.tgz
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./extract -C /var Xvar.tgz
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ln -s /etc/X11/app-defaults /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/fs /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/lbxproxy /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/proxymngr /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/rstart /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/twm /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/xdm /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/xinit /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/xsm /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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ln -s /etc/X11/xserver /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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chmod ug-w /usr/X11R6/lib # Make sure the permissions are OK
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/sbin/ldconfig /usr/X11R6/lib # For Linux
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/sbin/ldconfig -m /usr/X11R6/lib # For FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD
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/usr/X11R6/bin/mkfontdir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc
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4.2 Installing over an old installation
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If you have an existing installation of X, you should make a backup copy of
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it before installing the new version over the top of it.
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Before doing anything else, make sure the extract command is executable, and
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also link it to the name "gnu-tar" so that it can be used as a regular tar
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The first part of the procedure is to move the old run-time config files from
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/usr/X11R6/lib/X11 to /etc/X11. Create /etc/X11 if it doesn't already exist.
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For each of the following sub-directories (app-defaults, fs, lbxproxy, prox-
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ymngr, rstart, twm, xdm, xinit, xsm, xserver) that you want to move, check
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that there is a sub-directory of this name in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11. Create a
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sub-directory of the same name under /etc/X11, then copy the files over by
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./gnu-tar -C /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/subdir -c -f - . | \
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./gnu-tar -C /etc/X11/subdir -v -x -p -U -f -
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For each subdirectory that is moved, remove the one under /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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and create a symbolic link to the new location:
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rm -fr /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/subdir
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ln -s /etc/X11/subdir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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For those subdirectories that didn't already exist under /usr/X11R6/lib/X11,
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create one under /etc/X11 and create the symbolic link to it:
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mkdir /etc/X11/subdir
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ln -s /etc/X11/subdir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
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Once that is done, extract the config files from the Xetc.tgz tarball into a
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./extract -C tmpdir Xetc.tgz
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and then copy each sub-directory over to the installed location:
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./gnu-tar -C tmpdir/subdir -c -f - . | \
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./gnu-tar -C /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/subdir -v -x -p -U -f -
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If you have customised any config files in your old installation, you may
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want to omit those sub-directories, or copy selected files over by hand.
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Once that's done, the main part of the installation can be done:
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./extract -C /usr/X11R6 `pwd`/X[a-df-uw-z]*.tgz
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./extract -C /usr/X11R6 Xvfb.tgz # If you are installing Xvfb
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./extract -C /var Xvar.tgz
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chmod ug-w /usr/X11R6/lib # Make sure the permissions are OK
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/sbin/ldconfig /usr/X11R6/lib # For Linux
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/sbin/ldconfig -m /usr/X11R6/lib # For FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD
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/usr/X11R6/bin/mkfontdir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc
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