From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Mon Aug 31 23:35:11 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 21D4B9C6C65 for ; Mon, 31 Aug 2015 23:35:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id DC00418BE for ; Mon, 31 Aug 2015 23:35:10 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-125-111.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.125.111]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 024CB27847; Tue, 1 Sep 2015 01:35:08 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id t7VNZ8ef002258; Tue, 1 Sep 2015 01:35:08 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 01:35:08 +0200 From: Polytropon To: doug@safeport.com Cc: Warren Block , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: generating xorg.conf does not work Message-Id: <20150901013508.39c7f458.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <55E0A5E5.1040803@gmx.de> Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2015 23:35:11 -0000 On Mon, 31 Aug 2015 18:24:46 -0400 (EDT), doug@safeport.com wrote: > On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, Warren Block wrote: > > > On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, doug@safeport.com wrote: > >> > >> Maybe I should have taken the questions one at a time. My highest priority > >> question is that the handbook is in error on how to generate xorg.conf. > >> startx is just not correct. > > > > I don't understand what you are saying there. > > This part got cut from my first post. The handbook says: > > To generate the configuration file and start the X system, issue > this command: > > % startx > > This is clearly wrong. In some way, yes. X will generate configuration data dynamically (auto-detect), but will not write an xorg.conf file to be used later on. "X -configure" will do that. > 5.4 also says autoconfiguration is the preferred method. Works for most things. > I found a post to forums.freebsd.org on 8/4/15 from wblock@ saying: > "Auto-generating xorg.conf is not recommended any more." Only for the few things where auto-detection magic does not work, or where you intendedly want to "hard wire" things and summarize X settings in a central location. To do this, the auto-generated file is a good starting point, but in many cases, can be stripped off of many lines. > > Otherwise, try this for xorg.conf. Do not add this to an existing file, this > > is the *entire* file: > > > > Section "Device" > > Identifier "Card0" > > Driver "radeon" > > EndSection > > I assume I can then also add the font commands as needed. Yes. It should work the same for keyboard language definitions. > I could find no > documentation in the FreeBSD wiki or on Xorg that indicated X would just piece > all this together. I assume this would now go in /usr/local/etc/X11. That's a valid location, but X will also use /etc/X11/xorg.conf (even with partial content) if it is present. In fact, there are other locations; you can find them in "man 5 xorg.conf". -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...