XFree86® on Darwin and Mac OS X : Getting Started
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Next: Run the X Window System

3. Getting Started

Following are instructions for building and running your own copy of XFree86. The procedure for getting your X server up and running on Darwin and Mac OS X are very similar. Where there are differences I have noted them below. Note that to build XFree86 for yourself on Mac OS X, you need to install the Developers' Tools.

If you don't feel the need to live on the cutting edge, you can save some time and effort by using the precompiled binaries available on the XFree86 FTP server at ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/4.8.0/binaries/. Follow the instructions in the Install document to install it. This will create three new directory trees, /usr/X11R6, /etc/X11 and /etc/fonts. On Mac OS X the Xquartz.tgz tarball is required in addition to the other tarballs required on other platforms. With Mac OS X Quartz support, the XDarwin application will be installed in /Applications.

If you get the precompiled binaries you can skip ahead to the section on running the X Window System On the other hand, if you want to build things yourself from scratch, follow the directions below.

3.1. Get the Code

The first thing you need to do is to get the source code from the XFree86 project.

3.2. Build XFree86

Once you have everything ready it is easy to build and install XFree86. From the command line:

cd sandbox/xc
make World >& world.log

(wait for several hours)

sudo make install >& install.log
sudo make install.man >& man.log


XFree86® on Darwin and Mac OS X : Getting Started
Previous: Hardware Support and Configuration
Next: Run the X Window System