Building the X Window System from the X.Org Monolithic Source Distribution

Jim Gettys and Keith Packard (for X11R6.9)

and

David Dawes and Matthieu Herrb (for XFree86 4.4 RC2)

21 December 2005


This document describes how to build the X Window System from the X.Org monolithic source distribution and is designed to be used in conjunction with the operating system (OS) specific README files.

NOTE: Refer to the appropriate OS-specific README file in xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc before attempting to build the X distribution. These files often contain additional information that you need to successfully build for your OS.

We highly recommend using gcc to build the X distribution, but X also generally builds with the native compiler for each OS platform; The build tools known to be required include: gcc, make, C library development package, bison, flex, ncurses (development package), and Perl.

The monolithic tree also includes copies of some packages maintained outside the X.Org project for convenience in building on machines that do not already have them installed. These include FreeType 2, fontconfig, expat, xterm, and zlib. For most uses however, it is recommended that you install the latest version directly from the main distribution site, or use the packages provided in your operating system, as they are more likely to be up to date with the latest bug fixes and security patches. Depending on your platform, use of the bundled versions may be enabled or disabled by default, check the Imake configuration files for your platform in xc/config/cf to find out. To override the defaults for your platform or to set the path to the installation location, see the instructions below on configuring the source via xorgsite.def and host.def.

X11R6.9 depends on the following external packages:


Package NameVersionIncluded?
expat1.95.8Yes
fontconfig2.2 or newerYes
FreeType2.1.8 or 2.1.9Yes
libdrm2.0Yes
libpng1.2.8No
Mesa6.4.1Yes
xtermPatch 207Yes
zlib1.1.4 or 1.2.3Yes

You can find more information and/or the original sources for these packages at their project websites at these URL's:


Package NameWebsite
expathttp://expat.sourceforge.net/
fontconfighttp://www.fontconfig.org/
FreeTypehttp://www.freetype.org/
libdrmhttp://dri.freedesktop.org/libdrm/
libpnghttp://www.libpng.com/pub/png/libpng.htmlNo
Mesahttp://www.mesa3d.org/
xtermhttp://dickey.his.com/xterm/xterm.html
zlibhttp://www.zlib.net/

1. How to get the X11R6.9 distribution source

2. Configuring the source before building

3. Using a shadow directory of symbolic links for the build

4. Building and installing the distribution

5. Reconfiguring the server (source distribution)

6. Other useful make targets


$Id: BUILD.sgml,v 1.10 2005/12/21 00:45:27 alanc Exp $