Table of Contents
XF86Config - Configuration File for XFree86
XFree86 uses
a configuration file called XF86Config for its initial setup. This configuration
file is searched for in the following places when the server is started
as a normal user:
/etc/X11/<cmdline>
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/<cmdline>
/etc/X11/$XF86CONFIG
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/$XF86CONFIG
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4
/etc/X11/XF86Config
/etc/XF86Config
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/XF86Config.<hostname>
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/XF86Config-4
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/XF86Config
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.<hostname>
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config-4
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config
where <cmdline> is a relative path (with no ".." components) specified with
the -xf86config command line option, $XF86CONFIG is the relative path (with
no ".." components) specified by that environment variable, and <hostname>
is the machines hostname as reported by gethostname(3)
.
When the X server
is started by the "root" user, the config file search locations are as
follows:
<cmdline>
/etc/X11/<cmdline>
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/<cmdline>
$XF86CONFIG
/etc/X11/$XF86CONFIG
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/$XF86CONFIG
$HOME/XF86Config
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4
/etc/X11/XF86Config
/etc/XF86Config
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/XF86Config.<hostname>
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/XF86Config-4
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/XF86Config
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.<hostname>
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config-4
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config
where <cmdline> is the path specified with the -xf86config command line option
(which may be absolute or relative), $XF86CONFIG is the path specified
by that environment variable (absolute or relative), $HOME is the path
specified by that environment variable (usually the home directory), and
<hostname> is the machines hostname as reported by gethostname(3)
.
The XF86Config
file is composed of a number of sections which may be present in any order.
Each section has the form:
Some man macros don't handle quotes in .BI, etc very well
\fBSection "\fP\fISectionName\fP\fB"\fP
Section "SectionName"
SectionEntry
...
EndSection
The section names are:
Files File pathnames
ServerFlags Server flags
Module Dynamic module loading
InputDevice Input device description
Device Graphics device description
VideoAdaptor Xv video adaptor description
Monitor Monitor description
Modes Video modes descriptions
Screen Screen configuration
ServerLayout Overall layout
DRI DRI-specific configuration
Vendor Vendor-specific configuration
The following obsolete section names are still recognised for compatibility
purposes. In new config files, the InputDevice section should be used instead.
Keyboard Keyboard configuration
Pointer Pointer/mouse configuration
The old XInput section is no longer recognised.
The ServerLayout sections
are at the highest level. They bind together the input and output devices
that will be used in a session. The input devices are described in the
InputDevice sections. Output devices usually consist of multiple independent
components (e.g., and graphics board and a monitor). These multiple components
are bound together in the Screen sections, and it is these that are referenced
by the ServerLayout section. Each Screen section binds together a graphics
board and a monitor. The graphics boards are described in the Device sections,
and the monitors are described in the Monitor sections.
Config file keywords
are case-insensitive, and "_" characters are ignored. Most strings (including
Option names) are also case-insensitive, and insensitive to white space
and "_" characters.
Each config file entry usually take up a single line
in the file. They consist of a keyword, which is possibly followed by one
or more arguments, with the number and types of the arguments depending
on the keyword. The argument types are:
Integer an integer number in decimal, hex or octal
Real a floating point number
String a string enclosed in double quote marks (")
Note: hex integer values must be prefixed with "0x", and octal values with
"0".
A special keyword called Option may be used to provide free-form data
to various components of the server. The Option keyword takes either one
or two string arguments. The first is the option name, and the optional
second argument is the option value. Some commonly used option value types
include:
Integer an integer number in decimal, hex or octal
Real a floating point number
String a sequence of characters
Boolean a boolean value (see below)
Frequency a frequency value (see below)
Note that all Option values, not just strings, must be enclosed in quotes.
Boolean options may optionally have a value specified. When no value is
specified, the option's value is TRUE. The following boolean option values
are recognised as TRUE:
1, on, true, yes
and the following boolean option
values are recognised as FALSE:
0, off, false, no
If an option name is
prefixed with "No", then the option value is negated.
Example: the following
option entries are equivalent:
Option "Accel" "Off"
Option "NoAccel"
Option "NoAccel" "On"
Option "Accel" "false"
Option "Accel" "no"
Frequency option values consist of a real number that is optionally followed
by one of the following frequency units:
Hz, k, kHz, M, MHz
When the unit
name is omitted, the correct units will be determined from the value and
the expectations of the appropriate range of the value. It is recommended
that the units always be specified when using frequency option values to
avoid any errors in determining the value.
The Files section
is used to specify some path names required by the server. Some of these
paths can also be set from the command line (see Xserver(1)
and XFree86(1)
).
The command line settings override the values specified in the config file.
The entries that can appear in this section are:
- FontPath "path"
- sets the
search path for fonts. This path is a comma separated list of font path
elements which the X server searches for font databases. Multiple FontPath
entries may be specified, and they will be concatenated to build up the
fontpath used by the server. Font path elements may be either absolute directory
paths, or a font server identifier. Font server identifiers have the form:
<trans>/<hostname>:<port-number>
where <trans> is the transport type to use to connect
to the font server (e.g., unix for UNIX-domain sockets or tcp for a TCP/IP
connection), <hostname> is the hostname of the machine running the font server,
and <port-number> is the port number that the font server is listening on
(usually 7100).
When this entry is not specified in the config file, the
server falls back to the compiled-in default font path, which contains the
following font path elements:
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/
The recommended font path contains the following font path elements:
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/
Font path elements that are found to be invalid are removed from the font
path when the server starts up.
- RGBPath "path"
- sets the path name for the
RGB color database. When this entry is not specified in the config file,
the server falls back to the compiled-in default RGB path, which is:
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb
- ModulePath "path"
- sets the search path for loadable X server modules. This
path is a comma separated list of directories which the X server searches
for loadable modules loading in the order specified. Multiple ModulePath
entries may be specified, and they will be concatenated to build the module
search path used by the server.
The ServerFlags section
is used to specify some global X server options. All of the entries in
this section are Options, although for compatibility purposes some of the
old style entries are still recognised. Those old style entries are not
documented here, and using them is discouraged.
Options specified in this
section may be overridden by Options specified in the active ServerLayout
section. Options with command line equivalents are overridden when their
command line equivalent is used. The options recognised by this section
are:
- Option "NoTrapSignals" "boolean"
- This prevents the X server from
trapping a range of unexpected fatal signals and exiting cleanly. Instead,
the X server will die and drop core where the fault occurred. The default
behaviour is for the X server exit cleanly, but still drop a core file.
In general you never want to use this option unless you are debugging
an X server problem and know how to deal with the consequences.
- Option "DontZap"
"boolean"
- This disallows the use of the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace sequence. That
sequence is normally used to terminate the X server. When this option is
enabled, that key sequence has no special meaning and is passed to clients.
Default: off.
- Option "DontZoom" "boolean"
- This disallows the use of the
Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Plus and Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Minus sequences. These sequences
allows you to switch between video modes. When this option is enabled, those
key sequences have no special meaning and are passed to clients. Default:
off.
- Option "DisableVidModeExtension" "boolean"
- This disables the parts
of the VidMode extension used by the xvidtune client that can be used to
change the video modes. Default: the VidMode extension is enabled.
- Option
"AllowNonLocalXvidtune" "boolean"
- This allows the xvidtune client (and
other clients that use the VidMode extension) to connect from another host.
Default: off.
- Option "DisableModInDev" "boolean"
- This disables the parts
of the XFree86-Misc extension that can be used to modify the input device
settings dynamically. Default: that functionality is enabled.
- Option "AllowNonLocalModInDev"
"boolean"
- This allows a client to connect from another host and change
keyboard and mouse settings in the running server. Default: off.
- Option
"AllowMouseOpenFail" "boolean"
- This allows the server to start up even
if the mouse device can't be opened/initialised. Default: false.
- Option "VTInit"
"command"
- Runs command after the VT used by the server has been opened.
The command string is passed to "/bin/sh -c", and is run with the real user's
id with stdin and stdout set to the VT. The purpose of this option is to
allow system dependent VT initialisation commands to be run. This option
should rarely be needed. Default: not set.
- Option "VTSysReq" "boolean"
- enables the SYSV-style VT switch sequence for non-SYSV systems which support
VT switching. This sequence is Alt-SysRq followed by a function key (Fn).
This prevents the X server trapping the keys used for the default VT switch
sequence, which means that clients can access them. Default: off.
- Option
"BlankTime" "time"
- sets the inactivity timeout for the blanking phase
of the screensaver. time is in minutes. This is equivalent to the Xserver's
`-s' flag, and the value can be changed at run-time with xset(1)
. Default:
10 minutes.
- Option "StandbyTime" "time"
- sets the inactivity timeout for
the "standby" phase of DPMS mode. time is in minutes, and the value can
be changed at run-time with xset(1)
. Default: 20 minutes. This is only suitable
for VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and may not be supported by all video
drivers. It is only enabled for screens that have the "DPMS" option set
(see the MONITOR section below).
- Option "SuspendTime" "time"
- sets the
inactivity timeout for the "suspend" phase of DPMS mode. time is in minutes,
and the value can be changed at run-time with xset(1)
. Default: 30 minutes.
This is only suitable for VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and may not be
supported by all video drivers. It is only enabled for screens that have
the "DPMS" option set (see the MONITOR section below).
- Option "OffTime"
"time"
- sets the inactivity timeout for the "off" phase of DPMS mode. time
is in minutes, and the value can be changed at run-time with xset(1)
. Default:
40 minutes. This is only suitable for VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and
may not be supported by all video drivers. It is only enabled for screens
that have the "DPMS" option set (see the MONITOR section below).
- Option
"Pixmap" "bpp"
- This sets the pixmap format to use for depth 24. Allowed
values for bpp are 24 and 32. Default: 32 unless driver constraints don't
allow this (which is rare). Note: some clients don't behave well when this
value is set to 24.
- Option "PC98" "boolean"
- Specify that the machine is
a Japanese PC-98 machine. This should not be enabled for anything other
than the Japanese-specific PC-98 architecture. Default: auto-detected.
- Option
"NoPM" "boolean"
- Disables something to do with power management events.
Default: PM enabled on platforms that support it.
- Option "Xinerama" "boolean"
- enable or disable XINERAMA extension. Default is disabled.
The
Module section is used to specify which X server modules should be loaded.
This section is ignored when the X server is built in static form. The types
of modules normally loaded in this section are X server extension modules,
and font rasteriser modules. Most other module types are loaded automatically
when they are needed via other mechanisms.
Entries in this section may be
in two forms. The first and most commonly used form is an entry that uses
the Load keyword, as described here:
- Load "modulename"
- This instructs
the server to load the module called modulename. The module name given should
be the module's standard name, not the module file name. The standard name
is case-sensitive, and does not include the "lib" prefix, or the ".a", ".o",
or ".so" suffixes.
Example: the Type 1 font rasteriser can be loaded with
the following entry:
Load "type1"
The second form of entry is a SubSection,
with the subsection name being the module name, and the contents of the
SubSection being Options that are passed to the module when it is loaded.
Example: the extmod module (which contains a miscellaneous group of server
extensions) can be loaded, with the XFree86-DGA extension disabled by using
the following entry:
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit XFree86-DGA"
EndSubSection
Modules are searched for in each directory specified in the ModulePath
search path, and in the drivers, input, extensions, fonts, and internal
subdirectories of each of those directories. In addition to this, operating
system specific subdirectories of all the above are searched first if they
exist.
To see what font and extension modules are available, check the contents
of the following directories:
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/fonts
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions
The "bitmap" font modules is loaded automatically. It is recommended that
at very least the "extmod" extension module be loaded. If it isn't some
commonly used server extensions (like the SHAPE extension) will not be
available.
The config file may have multiple InputDevice
sections. There will normally be at least two: one for the core (primary)
keyboard, and one of the core pointer.
InputDevice sections have the following
format:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "name"
Driver "inputdriver"
options
...
EndSection
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this input device. The
Driver entry specifies the name of the driver to use for this input device.
When using the loadable server, the input driver module "inputdriver" will
be loaded for each active InputDevice section. An InputDevice section is
considered active if it is referenced by an active ServerLayout section,
or if it is referenced by the -keyboard or -pointer command line options.
The most commonly used input drivers are "keyboard" and "mouse".
InputDevice
sections recognise some driver-independent Options, which are described
here. See the individual input driver manual pages for a description of
the device-specific options.
- Option "CorePointer"
- When this is set, the input
device is installed as the core (primary) pointer device. There must be
exactly one core pointer. If this option is not set here, or in the ServerLayout
section, or from the -pointer command line option, then the first input
device that is capable of being used as a core pointer will be selected
as the core pointer. This option is implicitly set when the obsolete Pointer
section is used.
- Option "CoreKeyboard"
- When this is set, the input device
is to be installed as the core (primary) keyboard device. There must be
exactly one core keyboard. If this option is not set here, in the ServerLayout
section, or from the -keyboard command line option, then the first input
device that is capable of being used as a core keyboard will be selected
as the core keyboard. This option is implicitly set when the obsolete Keyboard
section is used.
- Option "AlwaysCore" "boolean"
- Option "SendCoreEvents"
"boolean"
- Both of these options are equivalent, and when enabled cause
the input device to always report core events. This can be used, for example,
to allow an additional pointer device to generate core pointer events (like
moving the cursor, etc).
- Option "HistorySize" "number"
- Sets the motion
history size. Default: 0.
- Option "SendDragEvents" "boolean"
- ???
The config file may have multiple Device sections. There must be
at least one, for the video card being used.
Device sections have the following
format:
Section "Device"
Identifier "name"
Driver "driver"
entries
...
EndSection
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this graphics device.
The Driver entry specifies the name of the driver to use for this graphics
device. When using the loadable server, the driver module "driver" will
be loaded for each active Device section. A Device section is considered
active if it is referenced by an active Screen section.
Device sections
recognise some driver-independent entries and Options, which are described
here. Not all drivers make use of these driver-independent entries, and
many of those that do don't require them to be specified because the information
is auto-detected. See the individual graphics driver manual pages for further
information about this, and for a description of the device-specific options.
Note that most of the Options listed here (but not the other entries) may
be specified in the Screen section instead of here in the Device section.
- BusID "bus-id"
- This specifies the bus location of the graphics card. For
PCI/AGP cards, the bus-id string has the form PCI:bus:device:function (e.g.,
"PCI:1:0:0" might be appropriate for an AGP card). This field is usually
optional in single-head configurations when using the primary graphics card.
In multi-head configurations, or when using a secondary graphics card in
a single-head configuration, this entry is mandatory. Its main purpose is
to make an unambiguous connection between the device section and the hardware
it is representing. This information can usually be found by running the
X server with the -scanpci command line option.
- Screen number
- This option
is mandatory for cards where a single PCI entity can drive more than one
display (i.e., multiple CRTCs sharing a single graphics accelerator and video
memory). One Device section is required for each head, and this parameter
determines which head each of the Device sections applies to. The legal
values of number range from 0 to one less than the total number of heads
per entity. Most drivers require that the primary screen (0) be present.
- Chipset "chipset"
- This usually optional entry specifies the chipset used
on the graphics board. In most cases this entry is not required because
the drivers will probe the hardware to determine the chipset type. Don't
specify it unless the driver-specific documentation recommends that you
do.
- Ramdac "ramdac-type"
- This optional entry specifies the type of RAMDAC
used on the graphics board. This is only used by a few of the drivers,
and in most cases it is not required because the drivers will probe the
hardware to determine the RAMDAC type where possible. Don't specify it unless
the driver-specific documentation recommends that you do.
- DacSpeed speed
- DacSpeed speed-8 speed-16 speed-24 speed-32
- This optional entry specifies
the RAMDAC speed rating (which is usually printed on the RAMDAC chip).
The speed is in MHz. When one value is given, it applies to all framebuffer
pixel sizes. When multiple values are give, they apply to the framebuffer
pixel sizes 8, 16, 24 and 32 respectively. This is not used by many drivers,
and only needs to be specified when the speed rating of the RAMDAC is different
from the defaults built in to driver, or when the driver can't auto-detect
the correct defaults. Don't specify it unless the driver-specific documentation
recommends that you do.
- Clocks clock ...
- specifies the pixel that are on your
graphics board. The clocks are in MHz, and may be specified as a floating
point number. The value is stored internally to the nearest kHz. The ordering
of the clocks is important. It must match the order in which they are selected
on the graphics board. Multiple Clocks lines may be specified, and each
is concatenated to form the list. Most drivers do not use this entry, and
it is only required for some older boards with non-programmable clocks.
Don't specify this entry unless the driver-specific documentation explicitly
recommends that you do.
- ClockChip "clockchip-type"
- This optional entry is
used to specify the clock chip type on graphics boards which have a programmable
clock generator. Only a few X servers support programmable clock chips.
For details, see the appropriate X server manual page.
- VideoRam mem
- This
optional entry specifies the amount of video ram that is installed on the
graphics board. This is measured in kBytes. In most cases this is not required
because the X server probes the graphics board to determine this quantity.
The driver-specific documentation should indicate when it might be needed.
- BiosBase baseaddress
- This optional entry specifies the base address of
the video BIOS for the VGA board. This address is normally auto-detected,
and should only be specified if the driver-specific documentation recommends
it.
- MemBase baseaddress
- This optional entry specifies the memory base address
of a graphics board's linear frame buffer. This entry is not used by many
drivers, and it should only be specified if the driver-specific documentation
recommends it.
- IOBase baseaddress
- This optional entry specifies the IO
base address. This entry is not used by many drivers, and it should only
be specified if the driver-specific documentation recommends it.
- ChipID
id
- This optional entry specifies a numerical ID representing the chip type.
For PCI cards, it is usually the device ID. This can be used to override
the auto-detection, but that should only be done when the driver-specific
documentation recommends it.
- ChipRev rev
- This optional entry specifies
the chip revision number. This can be used to override the auto-detection,
but that should only be done when the driver-specific documentation recommends
it.
- TextClockFreq freq
- This optional entry specifies the pixel clock frequency
that is used for the regular text mode. The frequency is specified in MHz.
This is rarely used.
- Options
- Option flags may be specified in the Device
sections. These include driver-specific options and driver-independent options.
The former are described in the driver-specific documentation. Some of the
latter are described below in the section about the Screen section, and
they may also be included here.
Nobody wants to say
how this works. Maybe nobody knows ...
The config file may
have multiple Monitor sections. There must be at least one, for the monitor
being used.
Monitor sections have the following format:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "name"
entries
...
EndSection
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this monitor. The Monitor
section provides information about the specifications of the monitor, monitor-specific
Options, and information about the video modes to use with the monitor.
Specifying video modes is optional because the server now has a built-in
list of VESA standard modes. When modes are specified explicitly in the
Monitor section (with the Modes, ModeLine, or UseModes keywords), built-in
modes with the same names are not included. Built-in modes with different
names are, however, still implicitly included.
The entries that may be used
in Monitor sections are described below.
- VendorName "vendor"
- This optional
entry specifies the monitor's manufacturer.
- ModelName "model"
- This optional
entry specifies the monitor's model.
- HorizSync horizsync-range
- gives the
range(s) of horizontal sync frequencies supported by the monitor. horizsync-range
may be a comma separated list of either discrete values or ranges of values.
A range of values is two values separated by a dash. By default the values
are in units of kHz. They may be specified in MHz or Hz if MHz or Hz is
added to the end of the line. The data given here is used by the X server
to determine if video modes are within the specifications of the monitor.
This information should be available in the monitor's handbook. If this
entry is omitted, a default range of 28-33kHz is used.
- VertRefresh vertrefresh-range
- gives the range(s) of vertical refresh frequencies supported by the monitor.
vertrefresh-range may be a comma separated list of either discrete values
or ranges of values. A range of values is two values separated by a dash.
By default the values are in units of Hz. They may be specified in MHz
or kHz if MHz or kHz is added to the end of the line. The data given here
is used by the X server to determine if video modes are within the specifications
of the monitor. This information should be available in the monitor's handbook.
If this entry is omitted, a default range of 43-72Hz is used.
- DisplaySize
width height
- This optional entry gives the width and height, in millimetres,
of the picture area of the monitor. If given this is used to calculate the
horizontal and vertical pitch (DPI) of the screen.
- Gamma gamma-value
- Gamma
red-gamma green-gamma blue-gamma
- This is an optional entry that can be used
to specify the gamma correction for the monitor. It may be specified as
either a single value or as three separate RGB values. The values should
be in the range 0.1 to 10.0, and the default is 1.0. Not all drivers are capable
of using this information.
- UseModes "modesection-id"
- Include the set of
modes listed in the Modes section called modesection-id. This make all of
the modes defined in that section available for use by this monitor.
- Mode
"name"
- This is an optional multi-line entry that can be used to provide
definitions for video modes for the monitor. In most cases this isn't necessary
because the built-in set of VESA standard modes will be sufficient. The
Mode keyword indicates the start of a multi-line video mode description.
The mode description is terminated with the EndMode keyword. The mode description
consists of the following entries:
- DotClock clock
- is the dot (pixel) clock
rate to be used for the mode.
- HTimings hdisp hsyncstart hsyncend htotal
- specifies the horizontal timings for the mode.
- VTimings vdisp vsyncstart
vsyncend vtotal
- specifies the vertical timings for the mode.
- Flags "flag"
...
- specifies an optional set of mode flags, each of which is a separate string
in double quotes. "Interlace" indicates that the mode is interlaced. "DoubleScan"
indicates a mode where each scanline is doubled. "+HSync" and "-HSync" can
be used to select the polarity of the HSync signal. "+VSync" and "-VSync"
can be used to select the polarity of the VSync signal. "Composite" can
be used to specify composite sync on hardware where this is supported. Additionally,
on some hardware, "+CSync" and "-CSync" may be used to select the composite
sync polarity.
- HSkew hskew
- specifies the number of pixels (towards the
right edge of the screen) by which the display enable signal is to be skewed.
Not all drivers use this information. This option might become necessary
to override the default value supplied by the server (if any). "Roving"
horizontal lines indicate this value needs to be increased. If the last
few pixels on a scan line appear on the left of the screen, this value
should be decreased.
- VScan vscan
- specifies the number of times each scanline
is painted on the screen. Not all drivers use this information. Values less
than 1 are treated as 1, which is the default. Generally, the "DoubleScan"
Flag mentioned above doubles this value.
- ModeLine "name" mode-description
- This entry is a more compact version of the Mode entry, and it also can
be used to specify video modes for the monitor. is a single line format
for specifying video modes. In most cases this isn't necessary because the
built-in set of VESA standard modes will be sufficient.
The mode-description
is in four sections, the first three of which are mandatory. The first
is the dot (pixel) clock. This is a single number specifying the pixel
clock rate for the mode in MHz. The second section is a list of four numbers
specifying the horizontal timings. These numbers are the hdisp, hsyncstart,
hsyncend, and htotal values. The third section is a list of four numbers
specifying the vertical timings. These numbers are the vdisp, vsyncstart,
vsyncend, and vtotal values. The final section is a list of flags specifying
other characteristics of the mode. Interlace indicates that the mode is
interlaced. DoubleScan indicates a mode where each scanline is doubled. +HSync
and -HSync can be used to select the polarity of the HSync signal. +VSync
and -VSync can be used to select the polarity of the VSync signal. Composite
can be used to specify composite sync on hardware where this is supported.
Additionally, on some hardware, +CSync and -CSync may be used to select
the composite sync polarity. The HSkew and VScan options mentioned above
in the Modes entry description can also be used here.
- Options
- Some Option
flags that may be useful to include in Monitor sections (when needed) include
"DPMS", and "SyncOnGreen".
The config file may have multiple
Modes sections, or none. These sections provide a way of defining sets
of video modes independently of the Monitor sections. Monitor sections may
include the definitions provided in these sections by using the UseModes
keyword. In most cases the Modes sections are not necessary because the
built-in set of VESA standard modes will be sufficient.
Modes sections have
the following format:
Section "Modes"
Identifier "name"
entries
...
EndSection
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this set of mode descriptions.
The other entries permitted in Modes sections are the Mode and ModeLine
entries that are described above in the Monitor section.
The
config file may have multiple Screen sections. There must be at least one,
for the "screen" being used. A "screen" represents the binding of a graphics
device (Device section) and a monitor (Monitor section). A Screen section
is considered "active" if it is referenced by an active ServerLayout section
or by the -screen command line option. If neither of those is present, the
first Screen section found in the config file is considered the active
one.
Screen sections have the following format:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "name"
Device "devid"
Monitor "monid"
entries
...
SubSection "Display"
entries
...
EndSubSection
...
EndSection
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this screen. The Screen
section provides information specific to the whole screen, including screen-specific
Options. In multi-head configurations, there will be multiple active Screen
sections, one for each head. The entries available for this section are:
- Device "device-id"
- This specifies the Device section to be used for this
screen. This is what ties a specific graphics card to a screen. The device-id
must match the Identifier of a Device section in the config file.
- Monitor
"monitor-id"
- specifies which monitor description is to be used for this
screen.
- VideoAdaptor "xv-id"
- specifies an optional Xv video adaptor description
to be used with this screen.
- DefaultDepth depth
- specifies which color depth
the server should use by default. The -depth command line option can be
used to override this. If neither is specified, the default depth is driver-specific,
but in most cases is 8.
- DefaultFbBpp bpp
- specifies which framebuffer layout
to use by default. The -fbbpp command line option can be used to override
this. In most cases the driver will chose the best default value for this.
The only case where there is even a choice in this value is for depth
24, where some hardware supports both a packed 24 bit framebuffer layout
and a sparse 32 bit framebuffer layout.
- Options
- Various Option flags may
be specified in the Screen section. Some are driver-specific and are described
in the driver documentation. Others are driver-independent, and will eventually
be described here.
- Option "Accel"
- Enables XAA (X Acceleration Architecture),
a mechanism that makes video cards' 2D hardware acceleration available to
the X server. This option is on by default, but it may be necessary to
turn it off if there are bugs in the driver. There are many options to
disable specific acclerated operations, listed below. Note that disabling
an operation will have no effect if the operation is not accelerated (whether
due to lack of support in the hardware or in the driver).
- Option "XaaNoCPUToScreenColorExpandFill"
- Disables accelerated rectangular expansion blits from source patterns stored
in system memory (using a memory-mapped aperture).
- Option "XaaNoColor8x8PatternFillRect"
- Disables accelerated fills of a rectangular region with a full-color pattern.
- Option "XaaNoColor8x8PatternFillTrap"
- Disables accelerated fills of a trapezoidal
region with a full-color pattern.
- Option "XaaNoDashedBresenhamLine"
- Disables
accelerated dashed Bresenham line draws.
- Option "XaaNoDashedTwoPointLine"
- Disables accelerated dashed line draws between two arbitrary points.
- Option
"XaaNoImageWriteRect"
- Disables acclerated transfers of full-color rectangular
patterns from system memory to video memory (using a memory-mapped aperture).
- Option "XaaNoMono8x8PatternFillRect"
- Disables accelerated fills of a rectangular
region with a monochrome pattern.
- Option "XaaNoMono8x8PatternFillTrap"
- Disables
accelerated fills of a trapezoidal region with a monochrome pattern.
- Option
"XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps"
- Disables accelerated draws into pixmaps stored
in offscreen video memory.
- Option "XaaNoPixmapCache"
- Disables caching of
patterns in offscreen video memory.
- Option "XaaNoScanlineCPUToScreenColorExpandFill"
- Disables accelerated rectangular expansion blits from source patterns stored
in system memory (one scan line at a time).
- Option "XaaNoScanlineImageWriteRect"
- Disables acclerated transfers of full-color rectangular patterns from system
memory to video memory (one scan line at a time).
- Option "XaaNoScreenToScreenColorExpandFill"
- Disables accelerated rectangular expansion blits from source patterns stored
in offscreen video memory.
- Option "XaaNoScreenToScreenCopy"
- Disables accelerated
copies of rectangular regions from one part of video memory to another
part of video memory.
- Option "XaaNoSolidBresenhamLine"
- Disables accelerated
solid Bresenham line draws.
- Option "XaaNoSolidFillRect"
- Disables accelerated
solid-color fills of rectangles.
- Option "XaaNoSolidFillTrap"
- Disables accelerated
solid-color fills of Bresenham trapezoids.
- Option "XaaNoSolidHorVertLine"
- Disables accelerated solid horizontal and vertical line draws.
- Option "XaaNoSolidTwoPointLine"
- Disables accelerated solid line draws between two arbitrary points.
Each
Screen section must contain one or more Display subsections. Those subsections
provide depth/fbbpp specific configuration information, and the one chosen
depends on the depth and/or fbbpp that is being used for the screen. The
Display subsection format is described in the section below.
Each
Screen section may have multiple Display subsections. There must be at
least one, which matches the depth and/or fbbpp values that are being used
for the screen. The "active" Display subsection is the first that matches
the depth and/or fbbpp values being used.
Display subsections have the following
format:
SubSection "Display"
Depth depth
entries
...
EndSubSection
- Depth depth
- This entry specifies what colour depth the Display subsection
is to be used for. This entry is usually mandatory, but it may be omitted
in some cases providing an FbBpp entry is present. The range of depth values
that are allowed depends on the driver. Most driver support 8, 15, 16 and
24. Some also support 1 and/or 4, and some may support other values (like
30). Note: depth means the number of bits in a pixel that are actually
used to determine the pixel colour. 32 is not a valid depth value. Most
hardware that uses 32 bits per pixel only uses 24 of them to hold the colour
information, which means that the colour depth is 24, not 32.
- FbBpp bpp
- This entry specifies the framebuffer format this Display subsection is
to be used for. This entry is only needed when providing depth 24 configurations
that allow a choice between a 24 bpp packed framebuffer format and a 32bpp
sparse framebuffer format. In most cases this entry should not be used.
- Weight red-weight green-weight blue-weight
- This optional entry specifies
the relative RGB weighting to be used for a screen is being used at depth
16 for drivers that allow multiple formats. This may also be specified
from the command line with the -weight option (see XFree86(1)
).
- Virtual
xdim ydim
- This optional entry specifies the virtual screen resolution to
be used. xdim must be a multiple of either 8 or 16 for most drivers, and
a multiple of 32 when running in monochrome mode. The given value will
be rounded down if this is not the case. Video modes which are too large
for the specified virtual size will be rejected. If this entry is not present,
the virtual screen resolution will be set to accommodate all the valid
video modes given in the Modes entry. Some drivers/hardware combinations
do not support virtual screens. Refer to the appropriate driver-specific
documentation for details.
- ViewPort x0 y0
- This optional entry sets the
upper left corner of the initial display. This is only relevant when the
virtual screen resolution is different from the resolution of the initial
video mode. If this entry is not given, then the initial display will be
centered in the virtual display area.
- Modes "mode-name" ...
- This entry is highly
desirable for most drivers, and it specifies the list of video modes to
use. Each mode-name specified must be in double quotes. They must correspond
to those specified or referenced in the appropriate Monitor section (including
implicitly referenced built-in VESA standard modes). The server will delete
modes from this list which don't satisfy various requirements. The first
valid mode in this list will be the default display mode for startup. The
list of valid modes is converted internally into a circular list. It is
possible to switch to the next mode with Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Plus and to the
previous mode with Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Minus. When this entry is omitted, the
largest valid mode referenced by the appropriate Monitor section will be
used.
- Visual "visual-name"
- This optional entry sets the default root visual
type. This may also be specified from the command line (see the Xserver(1)
man page). The visual types available for depth 8 are (default is PseudoColor):
StaticGray
GrayScale
StaticColor
PseudoColor
TrueColor
DirectColor
The visual type available for the depths 15, 16 and 24 are (default is
TrueColor):
TrueColor
DirectColor
Not all drivers support DirectColor at these depths.
The visual types available
for the depth 4 are (default is StaticColor):
StaticGray
GrayScale
StaticColor
PseudoColor
The visual type available for the depth 1 (monochrome) is StaticGray.
- Black
red green blue
- This optional entry allows the "black" colour to be specified.
This
- White red green blue
- This optional entry allows the "white" colour
to be specified. This is only supported at depth 1. The default is white.
- Options
- Option flags may be specified in the Display subsections. These
may include driver-specific options and driver-independent options. The former
are described in the driver-specific documentation. Some of the latter are
described above in the section about the Screen section, and they may also
be included here.
The config file may have multiple
ServerLayout sections. A "server layout" represents the binding of one
or more screens (Screen sections) and one or more input devices (InputDevice
sections) to form a complete configuration. In multi-head configurations,
it also specifies the relative layout of the heads. A ServerLayout section
is considered "active" if it is referenced by the -layout command line option.
If that option is not used, the first ServerLayout section found in the
config file is considered the active one. If no ServerLayout sections are
present, the single active screen and two active (core) input devices are
selected as described in the relevant sections above.
ServerLayout sections
have the following format:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "name"
Screen "screen-id"
...
InputDevice "idev-id"
...
options
...
EndSection
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this server layout.
The ServerLayout section provides information specific to the whole session,
including session-specific Options. The ServerFlags options (described above)
may be specified here, and ones given here override those given in the
ServerFlags section.
The entries that may be used in this section are described
here.
- Screen screen-num "screen-id" position-information
- One of these entries
must be given for each screen being used in a session. The screen-id field
is mandatory, and specifies the Screen section being referenced. The screen-num
field is optional, and may be used to specify the screen number in multi-head
configurations. When this field is omitted, the screens will be numbered
in the order that they are listed in. The numbering starts from 0, and must
be consecutive. The position-information field describes the way multiple
screens are positioned. There are a number of different ways that this
information can be provided:
- Absolute x y
- This says that the upper left
corner's coordinates are (x,y). If the coordinates are omitted or if no positioning
information is given, (0,0) is assumed.
- RightOf "screen-id"
- LeftOf "screen-id"
- Above "screen-id"
- Below "screen-id"
- Relative "screen-id" x y
- These
give the screen's location relative to another screen.
- InputDevice "idev-id"
"option" ...
- One of these entries must be given for each input device being
used in a session. Normally at least two are required, one each for the
core pointer and keyboard devices. The idev-id field is mandatory, and specifies
the name of the InputDevice section being referenced. Multiple option fields
may be specified, each in double quotes. The options permitted here are
any that may also be given in the InputDevice sections. Normally only session-specific
input device options would be used here. The most commonly used options
are:
"CorePointer"
"CoreKeyboard"
"SendCoreEvents"
and the first two should normally be used to indicate the core pointer
and core keyboard devices respectively.
- Options
- Any option permitted in
the ServerFlags section may also be specified here. When the same option
appears in both places, the value given here overrides the one given in
the ServerFlags section.
Here is an example of a ServerLayout section for
a dual headed configuration with two mice:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout 1"
Screen "MGA 1"
Screen "MGA 2" RightOf "MGA 1"
InputDevice "Keyboard 1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse 1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse 2" "SendCoreEvents"
Option "BlankTime" "5"
EndSection
This optional section is used to provide some information for
the Direct Rendering Infrastructure. Details about the format of this section
can be found in the README.DRI document, which is also available on-line
at <http://www.xfree86.org/current/DRI.html
>.
The optional Vendor
section may be used to provide vendor-specific configuration information.
Multiple Vendor sections may be present, and they may contain an Identifier
entry and multiple Option flags. The data therein is not used in this release.
For an example of an XF86Config file, see the file installed as /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.eg.
X(7)
, Xserver(1)
, XFree86(1)
, apm(4)
, ati(4)
, chips(4)
, cirrus(4)
,
cyrix(4)
, fbdev(4)
, glide(4)
, glint(4)
, i128(4)
, i740(4)
, i810(4)
, imstt(4)
,
mga(4)
, neomagic(4)
, nv(4)
, r128(4)
, rendition(4)
, s3virge(4)
, siliconmotion(4)
,
sis(4)
, sunbw2(4)
, suncg14(4)
, suncg3(4)
, suncg6(4)
, sunffb(4)
, sunleo(4)
,
suntcx(4)
, tdfx(4)
, tga(4)
, trident(4)
, tseng(4)
, v4l(4)
, vesa(4)
, vga(4)
,
vmware(4)
,
README <http://www.xfree86.org/current/README.html
>,
RELNOTES <http://www.xfree86.org/current/RELNOTES.html
>,
README.mouse <http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.html
>,
README.DRI <http://www.xfree86.org/current/DRI.html
>,
Status <http://www.xfree86.org/current/Status.html
>,
Install <http://www.xfree86.org/current/Install.html
>.
This manual page
was largely rewritten for XFree86 4.0 by David Dawes <[email protected]>.
Table of Contents