XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)NAMEXF86Config - Configuration File for XFree86
DESCRIPTION
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 ".." compo-
nents) 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 con-
fig 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 speci-
fied by that environment variable (usually the home
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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:
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 sec-
tion 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 "_" charac-
ters 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
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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:
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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.
FILES SECTION
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 sec-
tion 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 con-
nect 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
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/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 Mod-
ulePath entries may be specified, and they will be
concatenated to build the module search path used
by the server.
SERVERFLAGS SECTION
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 dis-
couraged.
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 recog-
nised 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
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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 exten-
sion 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 run-
ning 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 ini-
tialisation 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
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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 com-
patible 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 architec-
ture. Default: auto-detected.
Option "NoPM" "boolean"
Disables something to do with power management
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events. Default: PM enabled on platforms that sup-
port it.
Option "Xinerama" "boolean"
enable or disable XINERAMA extension. Default is
disabled.
MODULE SECTION
The Module section is used to specify which X server mod-
ules should be loaded. This section is ignored when the X
server is built in static form. The types of modules nor-
mally loaded in this section are X server extension mod-
ules, 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 subsec-
tion 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.
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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 mod-
ule be loaded. If it isn't some commonly used server
extensions (like the SHAPE extension) will not be avail-
able.
INPUTDEVICE SECTION
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 load-
able server, the input driver module "inputdriver" will be
loaded for each active InputDevice section. An InputDe-
vice 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
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installed as the core (primary) keyboard device.
There must be exactly one core keyboard. If this
option is not set here, in the ServerLayout sec-
tion, 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"
???
DEVICE SECTION
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
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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 informa-
tion 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 accelera-
tor and video memory). One Device section is
required for each head, and this parameter deter-
mines 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 docu-
mentation 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 hard-
ware to determine the RAMDAC type where possible.
Don't specify it unless the driver-specific docu-
mentation recommends that you do.
DacSpeed speed
DacSpeed speed-8 speed-16 speed-24 speed-32
This optional entry specifies the RAMDAC speed rat-
ing (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 mul-
tiple values are give, they apply to the
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framebuffer pixel sizes 8, 16, 24 and 32 respec-
tively. 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 docu-
mentation 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 pro-
grammable 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-spe-
cific 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 speci-
fied if the driver-specific documentation recom-
mends 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.
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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 repre-
senting the chip type. For PCI cards, it is usu-
ally 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 fre-
quency 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 sec-
tions. 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 sec-
tion about the Screen section, and they may also be
included here.
VIDEOADAPTOR SECTION
Nobody wants to say how this works. Maybe nobody knows
...
MONITOR SECTION
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
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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 manu-
facturer.
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 deter-
mine if video modes are within the specifications
of the monitor. This information should be avail-
able 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 deter-
mine if video modes are within the specifications
of the monitor. This information should be avail-
able 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.
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Gamma gamma-value
Gamma red-gamma green-gamma blue-gamma
This is an optional entry that can be used to spec-
ify 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 sec-
tion 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 fol-
lowing 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 inter-
laced. "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 sig-
nal. "Composite" can be used to specify com-
posite sync on hardware where this is sup-
ported. 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
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XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)
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 sup-
plied by the server (if any). "Roving" hori-
zontal 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 sec-
ond 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 speci-
fying 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 indi-
cates that the mode is interlaced. DoubleScan
indicates a mode where each scanline is doubled.
+HSync and -HSync can be used to select the polar-
ity 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".
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XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)MODES SECTION
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 sec-
tions may include the definitions provided in these sec-
tions 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.
SCREEN 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 com-
mand line option. If neither of those is present, the
first Screen section found in the config file is consid-
ered 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:
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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.
Each Screen section must contain one or more Display sub-
sections. 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.
DISPLAY SUBSECTION
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:
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XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)
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 usu-
ally 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 num-
ber 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 configura-
tions 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 combina-
tions do not support virtual screens. Refer to the
appropriate driver-specific documentation for
details.
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XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)
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 refer-
enced 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 appropri-
ate 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 Pseudo-
Color):
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
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XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)
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 sub-
sections. 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 sec-
tion about the Screen section, and they may also be
included here.
SERVERLAYOUT SECTION
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 rela-
tive layout of the heads. A ServerLayout section is con-
sidered "active" if it is referenced by the -layout com-
mand line option. If that option is not used, the first
ServerLayout section found in the config file is consid-
ered the active one. If no ServerLayout sections are pre-
sent, 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 informa-
tion specific to the whole session, including session-
XFree86 Version 4.0.3 21
XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)
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 posi-
tioned. There are a number of different ways that
this information can be provided:
Absolute x y
This says that the upper left corner's coordi-
nates are (x,y). If the coordinates are omit-
ted 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 per-
mitted here are any that may also be given in the
InputDevice sections. Normally only session-spe-
cific input device options would be used here. The
most commonly used options are:
"CorePointer"
"CoreKeyboard"
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XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)
"SendCoreEvents"
and the first two should normally be used to indi-
cate 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 over-
rides 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
DRI SECTION
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>.
VENDOR SECTION
The optional Vendor section may be used to provide vendor-
specific configuration information. Multiple Vendor sec-
tions may be present, and they may contain an Identifier
entry and multiple Option flags. The data therein is not
used in this release.
FILES
For an example of an XF86Config file, see the file
installed as /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.eg.
SEE ALSOX(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), siliconmo-
tion(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),
README <http://www.xfree86.org/current/README.html>,
RELNOTES <http://www.xfree86.org/current/RELNOTES.html>,
XFree86 Version 4.0.3 23
XF86Config(5)XF86Config(5)
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>.
AUTHORS
This manual page was largely rewritten for XFree86 4.0 by
David Dawes <dawes@xfree86.org>.
XFree86 Version 4.0.3 24
