Installation of the software packages requires root login, which can be obtained
easily via the superuser/setuser command: su -
(see, man su).
The following explains the installation of XFree86 from source in only the
most basic terms. Make sure to read all the XFree86 documentation to
learn about special options.
If you have a version of XFree86 installed already, you may want to move it
or delete it. However, installing over an existing X is generally OK and
preserves any programs or libraries you might have installed into the X
directories (not that you should really do that):
cd /usr
mv X11R6 X11R6-old
cd /etc
mv X11 X11-old
# you may have an X directory in /var also
cd /var
mv X11R6 X11R6-old
|
If these locations are not correct for your distribution of Linux, you will
have to look around your filesystem a bit - try looking in
/var
cd /usr/src
mkdir release
cd release
tar -xvzf X420src-1.tgz
tar -xvzf X420src-2.tgz
tar -xvzf X420src-3.tgz
tar -xvzf doctools-1.3.tar.gz
|
If you are using an old version of XFree86 for some reason, you may
want to use the man page packages. XFree 4.2.0 and later has all these
man pages already. Skip using the man page packages if you don't
need them. Check in /usr/src/release/xc/doc/man to see what all
is included with your XFree86.
# unpack the man pages if they are missing.
cd /usr/src
tar -xvzf mangl.tar.Z
tar -xvzf manglu.tar.Z
|
A file has to be edited to allow these man pages to compile/install with
the rest of the distribution:
cd /usr/src/release/xc/doc/man/GL
# Edit the file: Imakefile
# SUBDIRS = glx gl glu
|
When you unpacked the man*.tar.Z files above,
two new directories where added:
gl
glu
cd /usr/src/release
cd doctools
# Having this variable set confuses the sgml docs build.
# With it unset, the build uses the proper defaults.
unset $SGML_CATALOG_FILES
make
make install
# Note: doctools installs the perl program sgmlfmt to
# /usr/local/bin. It looks for the perl executable
# at /usr/local/bin/perl. If perl is installed
# on your system at /usr/bin/perl, then it will not
# find perl and the sgml docs build will fail!
# Make a symlink if needed (or edit the script):
cd /usr/local/bin
ln -s /usr/bin/perl perl
cd /usr/src/release
cd xc/config/cf
vi host.def
# add the following three lines to host.def:
# #define HasSgmlFmt YES
# #define BuildAllDocs YES
# #define HasZlib YES
# See the README file in doctools and xc/config/cf.
# HasZlib YES instructs XFree86 not to build and install
# it's own old zlib. If you do not have zlib installed
# (check /usr/lib/libz*), then omit the HasZlib line or
# go download it and install it first:
# http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/zlib/
# A common zlib conflict occurs when a system already
# has zlib installed and XFree86 installs it's also.
# In this case, deleting /usr/X11R6/lib/libz.a fixes
# the problem.
cd /usr/src/release/xc
make World
# before installing, make sure you have moved
# or deleted prior installation of X
# unless you are sure you want to just overwrite
make install
make install.man
# make symlinks
cd /usr/include
ln -s ../X11R6/include/DPS DPS
ln -s ../X11R6/include/GL GL
ln -s ../X11R6/include/X11 X11
ln -s ../X11R6/include/bitmaps bitmaps
cd ..
ln -s X11R6 X11
|
Add /usr/X11R6/lib
to your
/etc/ld.so.conf file,
then run the command ldconfig to update
/etc/ld.so.cache so the libraries will be visible.
The GL/GLX/GLU HTML documentation is located at
/usr/src/release/xc/doc/hardcopy/GL.
This directory can be copied as follows:
cd /usr/src/release/xc/doc/hardcopy
cp -r GL /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/html
|
The
index.html file in the docs might point to
manindex5x.html, but the filename may
actually be
manindex5.html. Just make a symlink to fix it if needed:
cd /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/html
ln -s manindex5.html manindex5x.html
|
When X is up and running (later), try using the
xman program to see that the gl,glx,glu
and glut man pages are in section 3. If you have KDE2,
khelpcenter allows man-page browsing.
Free eBook: 
