path: root/xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/sgml/Solaris.sgml

<!DOCTYPE linuxdoc PUBLIC "-//XFree86//DTD linuxdoc//EN">
<article>

<!-- Title information -->
<title>Information for Solaris
<author>David Holland, modified by Marc Aurele La France
<date>2001 October 01

<!-- Table of contents -->
<toc>

<!-- Begin the document -->
<sect>What is XFree86<p>
XFree86 is a port of X11R6.5.1 that supports several versions of Unix.
It is derived from X386 1.2 which was the X server distributed with X11R5.
This release consists of many new features and performance improvements as well
as many bug fixes.
The release is available as a source code distribution, as well as binary
distributions for many architectures.
<p>
The sources for XFree86 are available by anonymous ftp from:
<quote>
	<htmlurl name="ftp://ftp.XFree86.org/pub/XFree86/current"
	url="ftp://ftp.XFree86.org/pub/XFree86/current">
</quote>
Solaris binaries for XFree86 are available for anonymous ftp at the same
address.
Currently, two binary distributions are available:  one for Solaris 8 x86, the
other for previous Solaris x86 releases.
They are <it>not</it> interchangeable.
No binary distribution is available for Solaris/SPARC as it is still under
development.<p>
<sect>The VT-switching sub-system in Solaris x86<p>
The virtual terminal sub-system is a undocumented, and unsupported feature of
Solaris x86.
Therefore if you use virtual terminals, you do so at <bf>YOUR OWN RISK</bf>.<p>
Virtual terminals are not available in Solaris SPARC, and their availability
has been removed in Solaris8 x86.<p>
When available, the virtual terminals of Solaris work basically the same way as
most other SVR4 VT sub-systems.
However, there are a number of limitations documented below.<p>
First, if you are running a Solaris 2.4 x86 system, and you want VT's, you will
have to create the necessary devices first, so become root.<p>

Verify the chanmux device driver's major number is 100:<p>
<tscreen><verb>
	# grep -i chanmux /etc/name_to_major
	chanmux 100
	#
</verb></tscreen>
If the number after 'chanmux' is anything but 100, I would suggest you
immediately abort your attempt to create virtual terminals, and learn to live
without them.<p>
However, if it is 100, then as root type the following commands to create the
maximum allowable number of virtual terminals.<p>
<tscreen><verb>
	# cd /dev
	# mknod vt01 c 100 1
	# mknod vt02 c 100 2
	# mknod vt03 c 100 3
	# mknod vt04 c 100 4
	# mknod vt05 c 100 5
	# mknod vt06 c 100 6
	# mknod vt07 c 100 7
</verb></tscreen>
There is no need for a reconfiguration boot.<p>
Secondly, for both 2.1, and 2.4 x86 systems, add a few lines to the
<tt/inittab/ to enable logins on them.<p>

(<bf>Note</bf>, do <bf>NOT</bf> make a mistake here, you could lock yourself
out of the system)<p>
<verb>
--------------------->Snip Snip<-----------------------------------------------
v1:234:respawn:/usr/lib/saf/ttymon -g -h -p "`uname -n` VT01 login: " -T AT386 -d /dev/vt01 -l console
v2:234:respawn:/usr/lib/saf/ttymon -g -h -p "`uname -n` VT02 login: " -T AT386 -d /dev/vt02 -l console
v3:234:respawn:/usr/lib/saf/ttymon -g -h -p "`uname -n` VT03 login: " -T AT386 -d /dev/vt03 -l console
v4:234:respawn:/usr/lib/saf/ttymon -g -h -p "`uname -n` VT04 login: " -T AT386 -d /dev/vt04 -l console
---------------------->End Here<-----------------------------------------------
</verb>
These four lines enable four VT's on Alt-SysReq-F1 through Alt-SysReq-F4.<p>
Then execute the command '<tt>init q</tt>' to immediately enable the virtual
terminals.<p>
The keys used for VT switching are as follows:<p>
<quote>
	<tt>Alt-SysReq-F1</tt> through <tt>Alt-SysReq-F7</tt>
	enable VT screens 1-7 respectively
	(if the VT is active).<p>
	<tt>Alt-SysReq-n</tt> enables the next active VT screen.<p>
	<tt>Alt-SysReq-p</tt> enables the previous active VT screen.<p>
	<tt>Alt-SysReq-h</tt> returns to the console.<p>
</quote>
If you are using virtual terminals, you must leave at least one free for use by
the Xserver.<p>
Limitations of the virtual terminal sub-system under Solaris x86:<p>
There are only a total of 8 available VT's (7 normal VT's + 1 console) not the
usual 15.
If you have all 8 allocated, and you attempt to allocate a additional VT you
will panic the system.
(This bug is worked around in the Solaris XFree86 Xserver.)<p>
From a programming stand point, they work pretty much as documented in the
AT&amp;T Unix System V/386 Release 4 Integrated Software Development Guide,
however a number of <tt>ioctl()</tt> calls are broken.<p>
<sect>Notes for building XFree86 on Solaris<p>
<enum>
<item>
Both GCC, and ProWorks are supported by XFree86.
The minimum recommended GCC release is 2.7.2.
Some earlier GCC's are known to not work and should be avoided.<p>
You should also make certain your version of GCC predefines `sun'.
If needed edit <tt>/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/*/*/specs</tt>, and modify the
<tt>*predefines:</tt> line.<p>
On SPARCs, regardless of the compiler you use, ensure it generates 32-bit
binaries.
At this time, 64-bit binaries will probably not work.<p>
<item>
Also on SPARCs, you will need to set BuildXFree86OnSparcSunOS to YES in
~xc/config/cf/host.def.
Otherwise, you can only build the old deprecated Xsun* servers.<p>
<item>
A Threaded Xlib compiled with GCC has subtle problems.
It'll work 98&percnt; of the time, however clients will occasionally exhibit
strange hangs.
Most notably image viewers such as xv-3.10 exhibit this problem.<p>
It is recommended that you set ThreadedX in <tt>~xc/config/cf/host.def</tt> to
NO, if you are using GCC.
ProWorks does not have this problem.
Whether this behaviour still exists with newer GCC's has not been verified.<p>
<item>
To build XFree86 with GCC you need gcc and (optionally) c++filt from GNU
binutils.
Don't install gas or ld from GNU binutils, use the one provided by Sun.<p>
You might need to setup a /opt/SUNWspro/bin directory containing symbolic links
named <tt/cc/, <tt/CC/, and <tt/c++filt/ pointing respectively to the actual
<tt/gcc/, <tt/g++/ and <tt/c++filt/ commands.<p>
<item>
If you are using ProWorks to compile the XFree86 distribution, you need to
modify your PATH appropriately so the ProWorks tools are available.
Normally, they should be in <tt>/opt/SUNWspro/bin</tt><p>
<item>
You <bf>MUST</bf> put <tt>/usr/ccs/bin</tt> at the front of your PATH.
There are known problems with some GNU replacements for the utilities found
there.
So the <tt>/usr/ccs/bin</tt> versions of these programs must be found before
any possible GNU versions.
(Most notably GNU '<tt/ar/' does not work during the build).<p>
</enum>
<sect>Notes for running XFree86 on Solaris<p>
<enum>
<item>
Depending on the release or architecture of Solaris you are running, you might
need to install an OS driver for an aperture device.<p>
Under Solaris x86 2.5 and later, there's a system driver (<tt>/dev/xsvc</tt>)
that provides this functionality.
It will be detected automatically by the server, so you don't need to install
the aperture driver.<p>
For older Solaris x86 and for Solaris SPARC releases, the source for this
driver is included in
<tt>xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/etc/apSolaris.shar</tt> of the source
distribution.
This file can usually also be found in the <tt>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/etc</tt>
directory when XFree86 is installed.
Building, and installing the driver is relatively straight forward. Please read
its accompanying README file.<p>
<item>
If you have not made the Virtual Terminal devices, you will need to specify the
terminal device to run the Xserver on.
The correct device is vt00 so your <tt>xinit</tt> command would look like
so:<p>
<tscreen><verb>
	xinit -- vt00
</verb></tscreen>
If you have made the virtual terminal devices you do not need to specify the VT
to run the Xserver on.<p>
<item>
For Solaris you will probably want to set your LD_LIBRARY_PATH to
<tt>/usr/X11R6/lib:/usr/openwin/lib:/usr/dt/lib</tt>.
Including <tt>/usr/X11R6/lib</tt> in your LD_LIBRARY_PATH is probably not
necessary, however it doesn't hurt. :)<p>
Including <tt>/usr/openwin/lib</tt> in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH is recommended
because some Sun supplied binaries were not compiled with LD_RUN_PATH set
properly at compile time.<p>
Motif and CDE applications may require <tt>/usr/dt/lib</tt> in your
LD_LIBRARY_PATH too.
<item>
Xqueue is <bf>NOT</bf> supported under Solaris.
The includes necessary for Xqueue are available, however the driver does not
seem to be in the kernel.
(Go figure)<p>
<item>
If you want to use xdm with Solaris, extract the files from the shar file in
<tt>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/etc/XdmConf.svr4</tt> into a temporary directory.
The <tt>README</tt> file tells where the individual files need to be installed.
Be sure to read through each file and make any site-specific changes that you
need.<p>
</enum>
<sect> Known bugs, and work arounds with Solaris<p>
<enum>
<item>
The Solaris 2.1 for x86 OpenWindows filemgr does not work against a X11R5
Xserver, it probably will also not work against a X11R6 Xserver.
Attempting to 'Drag and Drop' a file causes the filemgr to abort with an
'X error'<p>
Solaris x86 2.4 does not have this problem.<p>
There is no known work around.<p>
<item>
The SPARC port is still quite new, so instability is to be expected (and
reported!).
It might even have broken some aspects of the x86 port.<p>
</enum>
<sect>Bug Notification<p>
Bug reports should be sent to one of the <bf/XFree86@XFree86.org/,
<bf>Xpert@XFree86.org</bf>, or <bf>Newbie@XFree86.org</bf> (depending on your
level of comfort).
<verb>
$XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/sgml/Solaris.sgml,v 1.3 2002/01/25 21:55:53 tsi Exp $
</verb>
</article>