2. Downloading the XFree86 4.8.0 binaries

We provide XFree86 4.8.0 binaries for a range of operating systems at our ftp site and our web site. Often during releases our site is heavily loaded. Instead of downloading directly from us we recommend that instead you use one of our mirror sites.

Our binaries are organized by sub-directories which correspond to each of the OS/platforms for which we provide binaries. First go to the sub-directory that represents your OS platform. In some cases (e.g., Linux) there may be a number of choices depending on the architecture or libc version your platform uses. In all case we recommend that you first download the Xinstall.sh script, and run it as in the following example to find out which binary distribution you should download.

sh Xinstall.sh -check

The output of this utility tells you which is the correct set of binaries for you to download. If you are careful with this step you will save yourself a lot time and trouble from NOT downloading an incompatible distribution.

NOTES:

• The Xinstall.sh script must be downloaded in binary mode, otherwise it will not run correctly. If you get lots of "command not found" messages when you try to run it, then it is most likely because the script was not downloaded in binary mode. Some web browsers will not do this for files of that name, so we also have a copy of it called "Xinstall.bin", and most browsers should download that correctly. When downloading it under this name, select "save as" on your browser, and save the file under the name "Xinstall.sh".
• The Xinstall.sh script requires some system commands and utilities to function correctly. While most systems will have these, some Linux installations may not. If the script fails because of some missing system command, you need to install it before you can continue.
• Always use the version of the Xinstall.sh script that is provided with the release. Older versions of the script may not install newer releases correctly.
• If the binary distribution reported by the Xinstall.sh script is not present on the XFree86 site, then there are two possibilities: The first is that it has not uploaded yet. This is likeliest possibility if you are looking shortly after the release date. The second possibility is that your target will not be be available for this release. This is likeliest possibility if you are looking more than about two weeks after the release date. Check here for information about updates to our binary distributions, and here for errata related to this release.

Assuming that you have run the Xinstall.sh script and found the binary distribution suitable for your system, download the necessary files. The thirteen (13) mandatory files for all installations are listed below. The installer script will complain if you do not have all of the required files in the same directory.

1.   Xinstall.sh    The installer script
2.   extract        The utility for extracting tarballs
3.   Xbin.tgz       X clients/utilities and run-time libraries
4.   Xlib.tgz       Some data files required at run-time
5.   Xman.tgz       Manual pages
6.   Xdoc.tgz       XFree86 documentation
7.   Xfnts.tgz      Base set of fonts
8.   Xfenc.tgz      Base set of font encoding data
9.   Xetc.tgz       Run-time configuration files, part 1
10.  Xrc.tgz        Run-time configuration files, part 2
11.  Xvar.tgz       Run-time data
12.  Xxserv.tgz     XFree86 X server
13.  Xmod.tgz       XFree86 X server modules

NOTES:

• Some web browsers have a problem downloading the extract utility correctly. If you encounter this problem, download the version called extract.exe. (NOTE: This is not a MS-DOS/Windows executable.)
• Some distributions do not require the Xvar.tgz tarball. If it is present in the binaries sub-directory for your platform, then it is required.
• The Darwin/Mac OS X distribution do not have or require the Xmod.tgz tarball.
• Some distributions may have additional mandatory tarballs. While rare, the installer script will tell you if any are missing.

The following thirteen (13) tarballs are optional. You should download the ones you want to install.

1.   Xdrm.tgz       Source for DRM kernel modules
2.   Xfsrv.tgz      Font server
3.   Xnest.tgz      Nested X server
4.   Xprog.tgz      X header files, config files and compile-time libs
5.   Xprt.tgz       X Print server
6.   Xvfb.tgz       Virtual framebuffer X server
7.   Xtinyx.tgz     TinyX servers
8.   Xf100.tgz      100dpi fonts
9.   Xfcyr.tgz      Cyrillic fonts
10.  Xfscl.tgz      Scalable fonts (Speedo, Type1 and TrueType)
11.  Xhtml.tgz      HTML version of the documentation
12.  Xps.tgz        PostScript version of the documentation
13.  Xpdf.tgz       PDF version of the documentation

NOTES:

• Not all distributions will have all of the above optional tarballs.
• Some distributions may have some additional optional tarballs.

If you miss some and want to install them later, go to the Manual Installation section.