1 Building XFree86 From a Source Distribution

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NOTE: Refer to the appropriate OS-specific README file before attempting to build XFree86. These files contain additional information that you may need to successfully build under your OS.

We highly recommend using GCC-2 to build XFree86. Do not use version 2.6.0 or 2.4.x versions prior to 2.4.5 due to bugs that cause either build or execution failures. (gcc-2 is available from prep.ai.mit.edu and other sites archiving GNU source.)

1.1 How to get the XFree86 3.3 source

There are a few starting points for getting the XFree86 source. One option is to start directly with the XFree86 3.3 source distribution. In this case, the procedure is as follows:

Another option is to start with the X11R6.3 source distribution and patch it up to XFree86 3.3. In this case you need to do the following:

If you only want to build the XFree86 X servers, you can use a cut-down version of the XFree86 source tree called the ``servers only'' distribution. If you choose this option, do the following:

There is no patch to upgrade from the XFree86 3.2 source to 3.3. The reason for this is the large number of changes associated with the move from X11R6.1 to X11R6.3.

XFree86 supports a small subset of the X Consortium X11R6.1 contrib distribution. If you wish to build this, you will need at least the following files/directories from that distribution:

        contrib/Imakefile
        contrib/programs/Imakefile
        contrib/programs/ico
        contrib/programs/listres
        contrib/programs/showfont
        contrib/programs/viewres
        contrib/programs/xbiff
        contrib/programs/xcalc
        contrib/programs/xditview
        contrib/programs/xedit
        contrib/programs/xev
        contrib/programs/xeyes
        contrib/programs/xfontsel
        contrib/programs/xgc
        contrib/programs/xload
        contrib/programs/xman
        contrib/programs/xmessage
You will also need the XFree86 patch contrib-3.3.diff.gz. To apply the patch, run the following from the directory containing the contrib directory:
        gzip -d < contrib-3.3.diff.gz | patch -p0 -E

If you wish to build the xtest distribution, get the source distribution X33test.tgz from the XFree86 source directory, and extract it by running:

        gzip -d < X33test.tgz | tar vxf -
Note, xtest is no longer part of the core X11 distribution (since X11R6.3).

1.2 Configuring the source before building

It is recommended that you start the configuration process by going to the xc/config/cf directory, and copying the file xf86site.def to host.def. Then read through the host.def file (which is heavily commented), and set any parameters that you want for your configuration. You can usually find out what the default settings are by checking the .cf file(s) relevant to your OS.

Unlike previous versions, imake can now automatically detect and set the various OS*Version parameters, so you shouldn't need to enter those settings explicitly.

If you are using just the X33src-1.tgz part of the source dist, you will need to define BuildFonts to NO.

If you are using the ``servers only'' distribution, you will need to define BuildServersOnly to YES.

1.3 Building and installing the distribution

Before building the distribution, read through the OS-specific README file in xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc that is relevant to you. Once those OS-specific details have been taken care of, go the xc directory and run ``make World'' with the BOOTSTRAPCFLAGS set as described in the OS-specific README (if necessary). It is advisable to redirect stdout and stderr to World.Log so that you can track down problems that might occur during the build.

When the build is finished, you should check World.Log to see if there were any problems. If there weren't any then you can install the binaries. When using the full source distribution, the installation should be done from the xc directory. When using the ``servers only'' distribution, the install should be done from the xc/programs/Xserver directory. To do the install, run ``make install'' and ``make install.man''. Make sure you have enough space in /usr/X11R6 for the install to succeed. If you want to install on a filesystem other than /usr, make a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6 before installing.

To install the binary LinkKit (in /usr/X11R6/lib/Server), run ``make install.linkkit'' from the xc directory.

To build the subset of the contrib release supported by XFree86, make sure that you have first built and installed the core distribution. Then go to the contrib directory and run ``xmkmf -a; make''. When that is completed, run ``make install'' and ``make install.man'' to install it.

To build/run the xtest distribution, refer to the instructions in the file test/xsuite/NOTES.xf86.

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