Xorg is the default X11 implementation for FreeBSD. Xorg is the X server of the open source X Window System implementation released by the X.Org Foundation. Xorg is based on the code of XFree86™ 4.4RC2 and X11R6.6. The version of Xorg currently available in the FreeBSD Ports Collection is 7.5.2.
To build and install Xorg from the Ports Collection:
# cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg # make install clean
Note: To build Xorg in its entirety, be sure to have at least 4 GB of free space available.
Alternatively, X11 can be installed directly from packages. Binary packages to use with pkg_add(1) tool are also available for X11. When the remote fetching feature of pkg_add(1) is used, the version number of the package must be removed. pkg_add(1) will automatically fetch the latest version of the application.
So to fetch and install the package of Xorg, simply type:
# pkg_add -r xorg
Note: The examples above will install the complete X11 distribution including the servers, clients, fonts etc. Separate packages and ports of X11 are also available.
To install a minimal X11 distribution you can alternatively install x11/xorg-minimal.
The rest of this chapter will explain how to configure X11, and how to set up a productive desktop environment.