# Minimal install of Xorg - howto?



## cpcnw (Feb 18, 2009)

Hi All,

Are there any good step by step tutorials on how to do a minimal install of xorg on FreeBSD?

I just need the server, nv driver and some small apps like xterm and xcalc.

I have done the full build and am certain there is a ton of stuff I will never need as it takes ages and lots of space!

TIA!


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## SirDice (Feb 18, 2009)

Not really a step by step but start with a full Xorg then one by one turn things off until it breaks.


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## kamikaze (Feb 18, 2009)

Run make config-recursive on the xorg meta-port and turn everything off you do not need.


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## richardpl (Feb 18, 2009)

x11/xorg-minimal


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## tangram (Feb 18, 2009)

> x11/xorg-minimal



Yep, very minimal indeed: vesa driver, keyboard, mouse, fonts, xinit and xauth aside from the server of course.


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## DemoDoG (Feb 18, 2009)

What else would one need from X except this?


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## tangram (Feb 18, 2009)

I haven't installed by X using xorg-minimal, but I suppose nothing else would be needed.

Maybe you'd want to install some of the xapps like xcal, xterm, etc.

It's just a matter of installing it and run X -configure, etc.


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## SR_Ind (Feb 19, 2009)

tangram said:
			
		

> Yep very minimal indeed: vesa driver, keyboard, mouse, fonts, xinit and xauth aside from the server of course.


"xkbcomp" is missing from xorg-minimal. It is a required package.


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## nu2fbsd (Apr 1, 2010)

*Turning things off*



			
				SirDice said:
			
		

> Not really a step by step but start with a full Xorg then one by one turn things off until it breaks.



How to turn things off?


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## SirDice (Apr 1, 2010)

nu2fbsd said:
			
		

> How to turn things off?


Pkg_delete them.


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## MG (Apr 2, 2010)

x11-servers/xorg-server
x11-drivers/xf86-input-keyboard
x11-drivers/xf86-input-mouse
x11-drivers/xf86-video-????
x11-fonts/font-alias
x11-fonts/font-cursor-misc
x11-fonts/font-misc-misc

x11/xinit to use startx.



			
				SR_Ind said:
			
		

> "xkbcomp" is missing from xorg-minimal. It is a required package.



Only if you use Gnome, I think:

```
pkg_info -R xkbcomp*
```

Information for xkbcomp-1.0.5:

Required by:
gnome-settings-daemon-2.26.0
libgnomekbd-2.26.0
libxklavier-3.9,1
totem-2.26.1


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## PhenomII (Jun 8, 2010)

Greetings,
 I just performed an x11/xorg-minimal, because I just got some new hardware, and wanted to
test the new Nvidia driver (a custom build/install of the Nvidia blob). I didn't need/want
everything. So after a:
[CMD=""]# cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg-minimal
# make install clean
[/CMD]
I checked to see if there was anything required to use X, or anything missing that I thought
I would want/need.
Turns out that most - if not _all_ of the fonts Xorg(1) requires, in order to run are not installed. Easily fixed:
[CMD=""]# cd /usr/ports/x11-fonts/
# make install clean
[/CMD]
You will almost certainly want some of the common X applications. In the following, will be given the opportunity to pick-and-choose _which_ apps get installed:
[CMD=""]# cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg-apps/
# make[/CMD]
You'll be presented with a dialog that allows you to choose _which_ X applications will get installed. When MAKE(1)
completes, simply perform:
[CMD=""]# make install clean[/CMD]
That's it! You should have everything you want/need - without all the things you don't. 

HTH
Best wishes.


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## Beastie (Jun 8, 2010)

@*PhenomII*: so in other words, you installed the full Xorg, minus ~30 tiny ports (< 2MB), a few extra video card drivers (< 900KB) and the documentation.


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## john_doe (Jun 9, 2010)

MG said:
			
		

> x11-fonts/font-alias
> x11-fonts/font-cursor-misc
> x11-fonts/font-misc-misc


They're not really needed, built-ins are always included.
	
	



```
ls $LOCALBASE/lib/X11/fonts/**/*(#i).pcf*
zsh: no matches found: /usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/**/*(#i).pcf*
```
I'm writing you from a machine that only has x11-fonts/dejavu installed.

Besides, for TTF fonts you don't have to set *FontPath* in xorg.conf or via xset(1). It just automagically works with default fontconfig files in conf.d directory.


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## ronnylov (Nov 26, 2010)

If I only need to use an external X-server (using X forwarding with ssh -X) I have been told that there is no need to install the X server on the remote machine. But I need X11 on the remote machine? What does this mean, is none of these packages necessary then on the remote machine?

Let's say I install a GUI software and all of it's dependecies I can then just connect the X-server on my local machine and no need to install xorg on the remote machine?


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## SirDice (Nov 26, 2010)

You don't need a full xorg installation or have it running on the remote machine. You do need several xorg libraries so it's usually just simpler to install xorg.


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## phoenix (Nov 26, 2010)

Just install the X application on the remote server.  It will only pull in the dependencies for the X client libraries.

On the local machine, you need to have a full X server running, in order to display the graphics from the remote app.


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## DemoDoG (Mar 9, 2012)

Can I install xorg-minimal and then install the Intel video driver after that and when I run *startx* it will still find and use the Intel driver?

if I do a normal install of xorg, can I leave out all the docbook stuff?


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## SirDice (Mar 9, 2012)

DemoDoG said:
			
		

> Can I install xorg/minimal and then install intel videodriver after that and when I run startx it will still find and use the intel driver?


Yes. Not sure if it'll pick it up automatically (without a xorg.conf) but it works if you set the correct driver in xorg.conf.

I always use x11/xorg-minimal as I have no need for TWM, xterm and a few other bits that get installed with the 'full' x11/xorg.


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## DemoDoG (Mar 17, 2012)

After installing xorg-minimal I can*'*t run X as root, it complains of missing modules ati and fbdev? But I can run it as normal user, why is that?

Also, I installed xfree86-video-radeonhd since my graphics card is Radeon, how do I pick it up when I start X with startx?


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## fonz (Mar 17, 2012)

DemoDoG said:
			
		

> Also, I installed xfree86-video-radeonhd since my graphic card is Radeon, how do I pick it up when I start X with startx?


Once you get X to run as root, the following should pick it up automagically:
`# X.org -configure`

Otherwise, you'll have to manually add it to /etc/X11/xorg.conf like so:

```
Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "radeonhd"
        VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
        BoardName   "RV630 [Radeon HD 2600XT]"
        BusID       "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection
```

Hope this helps,

Fonz


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## adamk (Mar 17, 2012)

Bear in mind that the radeonhd driver is no longer developed or supported in any way.  The only advantage it has over the radeon driver on FreeBSD is that it supposedly supports HDMI audio.


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## DemoDoG (Mar 17, 2012)

Oh*,* it*'*s just me being stupid - I forgot that radeon = ati and that*'*s prob*ably* why it was asking for it lol


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## Hawk (Mar 17, 2012)

DemoDoG said:
			
		

> After installing xorg/minimal I cant run X as root, it complains of missing modules ati and fbdev?
> But I can run it as normal user, why is that?



I know I'm new... okay, maybe not new but slow... but why would you need to run X as root? I thought that was frowned upon.


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## fonz (Mar 17, 2012)

Hawk said:
			
		

> why would you need to run X as root? I thought that was frowned upon.


For testing/configuration purposes. For example, the command
`# X -configure`
can only be run as root. And the command
`% X -config [FILE]/path/to/configfile[/FILE]`
accepts any file as root but only config files in one's home directory when run as non-root.

But otherwise you're right and there's normally no reason to be running X as root.

Fonz


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## DemoDoG (Mar 18, 2012)

Yes it was for configuration purposes only, and it worked with the ati driver so now I am writing from dwm-6.0 on a fresh install of FreeBSD 9.0 using Firefox 10. Life is good! ï¿½e


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## vall (Apr 22, 2012)

*H*mmm, can I say about packages without which on my system X11 don't start =)
there are:
xorg-server
xf86-input-mouse - module for mouse
xf86-input-keyboard - module for keyboard
xf86-video-ati - driver for videocard =) I have ati
xinit - for starting with startx
xkbcomp - for keyboard (compiler of xorg-server's commands)

*T*here is it.

I use dwm as my window manager and I don't like compiling ports on my machine. I install packages.


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