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# 6.3 Installing X11

Xorg is the X11 implementation for FreeBSD. Xorg is the X server of the open source X Window System implementation released by the X.Org Foundation. Xorg is based on the code of XFree86™ 4.4RC2 and X11R6.6. The version of Xorg currently available in the FreeBSD Ports Collection is 7.5.2.

To build and install Xorg from the Ports Collection:

    # cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg
    # make install clean

> Note: To build Xorg in its entirety, be sure to have at least 4 GB of free space available.

Alternatively, X11 can be installed directly from packages. Binary packages to use with pkg_add(1) tool are also available for X11. When the remote fetching feature of pkg_add(1) is used, the version number of the package must be removed. pkg_add(1) will automatically fetch the latest version of the application.

So to fetch and install the package of Xorg, simply type:

    # pkg_add -r xorg

> Note: The examples above will install the complete X11 distribution including the servers, clients, fonts etc. Separate packages and ports of X11 are also available.

> To install a minimal X11 distribution you can alternatively install `x11/xorg-minimal`.

The rest of this chapter will explain how to configure X11, and how to set up a productive desktop environment.

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