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Installing XFree86

The Linux binary distribution of XFree86 can be found on a number of Linux FTP sites. On sunsite.unc.edu, it is found in the directory /pub/Linux/X11/XFree86-2.0. (As of the time of this writing, the current version is 2.0; newer versions are released periodically). The binary distribution consists of a number of gzipped tar files, all of which unpack from /. Installation is very simple; just unpack these tar files and everything should go into the right place.

You will need to get at least one of the servers (filenames beginning with ``XF86'' in all caps) as well as the client programs and support files. Those files which are optional are labelled as such.

Installation is covered in the XFree86-HOWTO; essentially you need to unpack the tar files (as root) from /.

After installing the software, you may need to link the shared libraries from /usr/X386/lib to /lib. One way to do this is with the command:

#ln -s /usr/X386/lib/lib*.so.? /lib
You may wish to physically copy the files instead. This step may be unnecessary with the newer XFree86 distributions; see the documentation provided in the release for more information.

If you installed XFree86 from a standard Linux distribution such as SLS or Slackware, then all of the files should already be in the right place.

If you wish to use the SVGA color server, the file /usr/bin/X11/X should be linked to /usr/bin/X11/XF86_SVGA. If you wish to use the monochrome server instead, relink this file to XF86_MONO with the command

#ln -sf /usr/bin/X11/XF86_MONO /usr/bin/X11/X
The same holds true if you are using one of the other servers.


abraham@iesd.auc.dk