FreeBSD Handbook
Prev | Chapter 5 The X Window System | Next

# 5.3 Installing X11

Xorg is the default 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 7.4.

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.

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

Prev | Home | Next
Understanding X | Up | X11 Configuration

This, and other documents, can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/doc/.

For questions about FreeBSD, read the documentation before contacting <questions@FreeBSD.org>.
For questions about this documentation, e-mail <doc@FreeBSD.org>.