1xorg.conf(5) File Formats Manual xorg.conf(5)
2
6 xorg.conf, xorg.conf.d - configuration files for Xorg X server
7
9 Xorg supports several mechanisms for supplying/obtaining configuration
10 and run-time parameters: command line options, environment variables,
11 the xorg.conf and xorg.conf.d configuration files, auto-detection, and
12 fallback defaults. When the same information is supplied in more than
13 one way, the highest precedence mechanism is used. The list of mecha‐
14 nisms is ordered from highest precedence to lowest. Note that not all
15 parameters can be supplied via all methods. The available command line
16 options and environment variables (and some defaults) are described in
17 the Xserver(1) and Xorg(1) manual pages. Most configuration file param‐
18 eters, with their defaults, are described below. Driver and module spe‐
19 cific configuration parameters are described in the relevant driver or
20 module manual page.
21
23 Xorg uses a configuration file called xorg.conf and files ending in the
24 suffix .conf from the directory xorg.conf.d for its initial setup. The
25 xorg.conf configuration file is searched for in the following places
26 when the server is started as a normal user:
27 /etc/X11/<cmdline>
29 /usr/etc/X11/<cmdline>
30 /etc/X11/$XORGCONFIG
31 /usr/etc/X11/$XORGCONFIG
32 /etc/X11/xorg.conf
33 /etc/xorg.conf
34 /usr/etc/X11/xorg.conf.<hostname>
35 /usr/etc/X11/xorg.conf
36 /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.<hostname>
37 /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf
38 where <cmdline> is a relative path (with no “..” components) specified
40 with the -config command line option, $XORGCONFIG is the relative path
41 (with no “..” components) specified by that environment variable, and
42 <hostname> is the machine's hostname as reported by gethostname(3).
43 When the Xorg server is started by the “root” user, the config file
45 search locations are as follows:
46 <cmdline>
48 /etc/X11/<cmdline>
49 /usr/etc/X11/<cmdline>
50 $XORGCONFIG
51 /etc/X11/$XORGCONFIG
52 /usr/etc/X11/$XORGCONFIG
53 /etc/X11/xorg.conf
54 /etc/xorg.conf
55 /usr/etc/X11/xorg.conf.<hostname>
56 /usr/etc/X11/xorg.conf
57 /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.<hostname>
58 /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf
59 where <cmdline> is the path specified with the -config command line
61 option (which may be absolute or relative), $XORGCONFIG is the path
62 specified by that environment variable (absolute or relative), $HOME is
63 the path specified by that environment variable (usually the home
64 directory), and <hostname> is the machine's hostname as reported by
65 gethostname(3).
66 Additional configuration files are searched for in the following direc‐
68 tories when the server is started as a normal user:
69 /etc/X11/<cmdline>
71 /etc/X11/<cmdline>
72 /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
73 /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
74 where <cmdline> is a relative path (with no “..” components) specified
76 with the -configdir command line option.
77 When the Xorg server is started by the “root” user, the config direc‐
79 tory search locations are as follows:
80 <cmdline>
82 /etc/X11/<cmdline>
83 /etc/X11/<cmdline>
84 /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
85 /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
86 where <cmdline> is the path specified with the -configdir command line
88 option (which may be absolute or relative).
89 Finally, configuration files will also be searched for in a directory
91 reserved for system use. This is to separate configuration files from
92 the vendor or 3rd party packages from those of local administration.
93 These files are found in the following directory:
94 /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
96 The xorg.conf and xorg.conf.d files are composed of a number of sec‐
98 tions which may be present in any order, or omitted to use default con‐
99 figuration values. Each section has the form:
100 Section "SectionName"
102 SectionEntry
103 ...
104 EndSection
105 The section names are:
107 Files File pathnames
109 ServerFlags Server flags
110 Module Dynamic module loading
111 Extensions Extension enabling
112 InputDevice Input device description
113 InputClass Input class description
114 OutputClass Output class description
115 Device Graphics device description
116 VideoAdaptor Xv video adaptor description
117 Monitor Monitor description
118 Modes Video modes descriptions
119 Screen Screen configuration
120 ServerLayout Overall layout
121 DRI DRI-specific configuration
122 Vendor Vendor-specific configuration
123 The following obsolete section names are still recognised for compati‐
125 bility purposes. In new config files, the InputDevice section should
126 be used instead.
127 Keyboard Keyboard configuration
129 Pointer Pointer/mouse configuration
130 The old XInput section is no longer recognised.
132 The ServerLayout sections are at the highest level. They bind together
134 the input and output devices that will be used in a session. The input
135 devices are described in the InputDevice sections. Output devices usu‐
136 ally consist of multiple independent components (e.g., a graphics board
137 and a monitor). These multiple components are bound together in the
138 Screen sections, and it is these that are referenced by the ServerLay‐
139 out section. Each Screen section binds together a graphics board and a
140 monitor. The graphics boards are described in the Device sections, and
141 the monitors are described in the Monitor sections.
142 Config file keywords are case-insensitive, and “_” characters are
144 ignored. Most strings (including Option names) are also case-insensi‐
145 tive, and insensitive to white space and “_” characters.
146 Each config file entry usually takes up a single line in the file.
148 They consist of a keyword, which is possibly followed by one or more
149 arguments, with the number and types of the arguments depending on the
150 keyword. The argument types are:
151 Integer an integer number in decimal, hex or octal
153 Real a floating point number
154 String a string enclosed in double quote marks (")
155 Note: hex integer values must be prefixed with “0x”, and octal values
157 with “0”.
158 A special keyword called Option may be used to provide free-form data
160 to various components of the server. The Option keyword takes either
161 one or two string arguments. The first is the option name, and the
162 optional second argument is the option value. Some commonly used
163 option value types include:
164 Integer an integer number in decimal, hex or octal
166 Real a floating point number
167 String a sequence of characters
168 Boolean a boolean value (see below)
169 Frequency a frequency value (see below)
170 Note that all Option values, not just strings, must be enclosed in
172 quotes.
173 Boolean options may optionally have a value specified. When no value
175 is specified, the option's value is TRUE. The following boolean option
176 values are recognised as TRUE:
177 1, on, true, yes
179 and the following boolean option values are recognised as FALSE:
181 0, off, false, no
183 If an option name is prefixed with "No", then the option value is
185 negated.
186 Example: the following option entries are equivalent:
188 Option "Accel" "Off"
190 Option "NoAccel"
191 Option "NoAccel" "On"
192 Option "Accel" "false"
193 Option "Accel" "no"
194 Frequency option values consist of a real number that is optionally
196 followed by one of the following frequency units:
197 Hz, k, kHz, M, MHz
199 When the unit name is omitted, the correct units will be determined
201 from the value and the expectations of the appropriate range of the
202 value. It is recommended that the units always be specified when using
203 frequency option values to avoid any errors in determining the value.
204
206 The Files section is used to specify some path names required by the
207 server. Some of these paths can also be set from the command line (see
208 Xserver(1) and Xorg(1)). The command line settings override the values
209 specified in the config file. The Files section is optional, as are
210 all of the entries that may appear in it.
211 The entries that can appear in this section are:
213 FontPath "path"
215 sets the search path for fonts. This path is a comma separated
216 list of font path elements which the Xorg server searches for
217 font databases. Multiple FontPath entries may be specified, and
218 they will be concatenated to build up the fontpath used by the
219 server. Font path elements can be absolute directory paths,
220 catalogue directories or a font server identifier. The formats
221 of the later two are explained below:
222 Catalogue directories:
224 Catalogue directories can be specified using the prefix cat‐
226 alogue: before the directory name. The directory can then be
227 populated with symlinks pointing to the real font directo‐
228 ries, using the following syntax in the symlink name:
229 <identifier>:[attribute]:pri=<priority>
231 where <identifier> is an alphanumeric identifier,
233 [attribute] is an attribute which will be passed to the
234 underlying FPE and <priority> is a number used to order the
235 fontfile FPEs. Examples:
236 75dpi:unscaled:pri=20 -> /usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi
238 gscript:pri=60 -> /usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript
239 misc:unscaled:pri=10 -> /usr/share/X11/fonts/misc
240 Font server identifiers:
242 Font server identifiers have the form:
244 <trans>/<hostname>:<port-number>
246 where <trans> is the transport type to use to connect to the
248 font server (e.g., unix for UNIX-domain sockets or tcp for a
249 TCP/IP connection), <hostname> is the hostname of the
250 machine running the font server, and <port-number> is the
251 port number that the font server is listening on (usually
252 7100).
253 When this entry is not specified in the config file, the server
255 falls back to the compiled-in default font path, which contains
256 the following font path elements (which can be set inside a cat‐
257 alogue directory):
258 /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/
260 /usr/share/fonts/X11/TTF/
261 /usr/share/fonts/X11/OTF/
262 /usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/
263 /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/
264 /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/
265 Font path elements that are found to be invalid are removed from
267 the font path when the server starts up.
268 ModulePath "path"
270 sets the search path for loadable Xorg server modules. This
271 path is a comma separated list of directories which the Xorg
272 server searches for loadable modules loading in the order speci‐
273 fied. Multiple ModulePath entries may be specified, and they
274 will be concatenated to build the module search path used by the
275 server. The default module path is
276 /usr/lib64/xorg/modules
278 XkbDir "path"
280 sets the base directory for keyboard layout files. The -xkbdir
281 command line option can be used to override this. The default
282 directory is
283 /usr/share/X11/xkb
285
287 In addition to options specific to this section (described below), the
288 ServerFlags section is used to specify some global Xorg server options.
289 All of the entries in this section are Options, although for compati‐
290 bility purposes some of the old style entries are still recognised.
291 Those old style entries are not documented here, and using them is dis‐
292 couraged. The ServerFlags section is optional, as are the entries that
293 may be specified in it.
294 Options specified in this section (with the exception of the "Default‐
296 ServerLayout" Option) may be overridden by Options specified in the
297 active ServerLayout section. Options with command line equivalents are
298 overridden when their command line equivalent is used. The options
299 recognised by this section are:
300 Option "DefaultServerLayout" "layout-id"
302 This specifies the default ServerLayout section to use in the
303 absence of the -layout command line option.
304 Option "NoTrapSignals" "boolean"
306 This prevents the Xorg server from trapping a range of unex‐
307 pected fatal signals and exiting cleanly. Instead, the Xorg
308 server will die and drop core where the fault occurred. The
309 default behaviour is for the Xorg server to exit cleanly, but
310 still drop a core file. In general you never want to use this
311 option unless you are debugging an Xorg server problem and know
312 how to deal with the consequences.
313 Option "UseSIGIO" "boolean"
315 This controls whether the Xorg server requests that events from
316 input devices be reported via a SIGIO signal handler (also known
317 as SIGPOLL on some platforms), or only reported via the standard
318 select(3) loop. The default behaviour is platform specific.
319 In general you do not want to use this option unless you are
320 debugging the Xorg server, or working around a specific bug
321 until it is fixed, and understand the consequences.
322 Option "DontVTSwitch" "boolean"
324 This disallows the use of the Ctrl+Alt+Fn sequence (where Fn
325 refers to one of the numbered function keys). That sequence is
326 normally used to switch to another "virtual terminal" on operat‐
327 ing systems that have this feature. When this option is
328 enabled, that key sequence has no special meaning and is passed
329 to clients. Default: off.
330 Option "DontZap" "boolean"
332 This disallows the use of the Terminate_Server XKB action (usu‐
333 ally on Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, depending on XKB options). This
334 action is normally used to terminate the Xorg server. When this
335 option is enabled, the action has no effect. Default: off.
336 Option "DontZoom" "boolean"
338 This disallows the use of the Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Plus and
339 Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Minus sequences. These sequences allows you to
340 switch between video modes. When this option is enabled, those
341 key sequences have no special meaning and are passed to clients.
342 Default: off.
343 Option "DisableVidModeExtension" "boolean"
345 This disables the parts of the VidMode extension used by the
346 xvidtune client that can be used to change the video modes.
347 Default: the VidMode extension is enabled.
348 Option "AllowNonLocalXvidtune" "boolean"
350 This allows the xvidtune client (and other clients that use the
351 VidMode extension) to connect from another host. Default: off.
352 Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "boolean"
354 This tells the mousedrv(4) and vmmouse(4) drivers to not report
355 failure if the mouse device can't be opened/initialised. It has
356 no effect on the evdev(4) or other drivers. Default: false.
357 Option "BlankTime" "time"
359 sets the inactivity timeout for the blank phase of the screen‐
360 saver. time is in minutes. This is equivalent to the Xorg
361 server's -s flag, and the value can be changed at run-time with
362 xset(1). Default: 10 minutes.
363 Option "StandbyTime" "time"
365 sets the inactivity timeout for the standby phase of DPMS mode.
366 time is in minutes, and the value can be changed at run-time
367 with xset(1). Default: 10 minutes. This is only suitable for
368 VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and may not be supported by all
369 video drivers. It is only enabled for screens that have the
370 "DPMS" option set (see the MONITOR section below).
371 Option "SuspendTime" "time"
373 sets the inactivity timeout for the suspend phase of DPMS mode.
374 time is in minutes, and the value can be changed at run-time
375 with xset(1). Default: 10 minutes. This is only suitable for
376 VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and may not be supported by all
377 video drivers. It is only enabled for screens that have the
378 "DPMS" option set (see the MONITOR section below).
379 Option "OffTime" "time"
381 sets the inactivity timeout for the off phase of DPMS mode.
382 time is in minutes, and the value can be changed at run-time
383 with xset(1). Default: 10 minutes. This is only suitable for
384 VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and may not be supported by all
385 video drivers. It is only enabled for screens that have the
386 "DPMS" option set (see the MONITOR section below).
387 Option "MaxClients" "integer"
389 Set the maximum number of clients allowed to connect to the X
390 server. Acceptable values are 64, 128, 256 or 512.
391 Option "Pixmap" "bpp"
393 This sets the pixmap format to use for depth 24. Allowed values
394 for bpp are 24 and 32. Default: 32 unless driver constraints
395 don't allow this (which is rare). Note: some clients don't
396 behave well when this value is set to 24.
397 Option "NoPM" "boolean"
399 Disables something to do with power management events. Default:
400 PM enabled on platforms that support it.
401 Option "Xinerama" "boolean"
403 enable or disable XINERAMA extension. Default is disabled.
404 Option "AIGLX" "boolean"
406 enable or disable AIGLX. AIGLX is enabled by default.
407 Option "IndirectGLX" "boolean"
409 enable or disable indirect GLX contexts. Indirect GLX contexts
410 are enabled by default.
411 Option "DRI2" "boolean"
413 enable or disable DRI2. DRI2 is disabled by default.
414 Option "GlxVisuals" "string"
416 This option controls how many GLX visuals the GLX modules sets
417 up. The default value is typical, which will setup up a typical
418 subset of the GLXFBConfigs provided by the driver as GLX visu‐
419 als. Other options are minimal, which will set up the minimal
420 set allowed by the GLX specification and all which will setup
421 GLX visuals for all GLXFBConfigs.
422 Option "UseDefaultFontPath" "boolean"
424 Include the default font path even if other paths are specified
425 in xorg.conf. If enabled, other font paths are included as well.
426 Enabled by default.
427 Option "IgnoreABI" "boolean"
429 Allow modules built for a different, potentially incompatible
430 version of the X server to load. Disabled by default.
431 Option "AutoAddDevices" "boolean"
433 If this option is disabled, then no devices will be added from
434 the HAL or udev backends. Enabled by default.
435 Option "AutoEnableDevices" "boolean"
437 If this option is disabled, then the devices will be added (and
438 the DevicePresenceNotify event sent), but not enabled, thus
439 leaving policy up to the client. Enabled by default.
440 Option "AutoAddGPU" "boolean"
442 If this option is disabled, then no GPU devices will be added
443 from the udev backend. Enabled by default. (May need to be dis‐
444 abled to setup Xinerama).
445 Option "Log" "string"
447 This option controls whether the log is flushed and/or synced to
448 disk after each message. Possible values are flush or sync.
449 Unset by default.
450
452 The Module section is used to specify which Xorg server modules should
453 be loaded. This section is ignored when the Xorg server is built in
454 static form. The type of modules normally loaded in this section are
455 Xorg server extension modules. Most other module types are loaded
456 automatically when they are needed via other mechanisms. The Module
457 section is optional, as are all of the entries that may be specified in
458 it.
459 Entries in this section may be in two forms. The first and most com‐
461 monly used form is an entry that uses the Load keyword, as described
462 here:
463 Load "modulename"
465 This instructs the server to load the module called modulename.
466 The module name given should be the module's standard name, not
467 the module file name. The standard name is case-sensitive, and
468 does not include the “lib” or “cyg” prefixes, or the “.so” or
469 “.dll” suffixes.
470 Example: the DRI extension module can be loaded with the follow‐
472 ing entry:
473 Load "dri"
475 Disable "modulename"
477 This instructs the server to not load the module called module‐
478 name. Some modules are loaded by default in the server, and
479 this overrides that default. If a Load instruction is given for
480 the same module, it overrides the Disable instruction and the
481 module is loaded. The module name given should be the module's
482 standard name, not the module file name. As with the Load
483 instruction, the standard name is case-sensitive, and does not
484 include the "lib" prefix, or the ".a", ".o", or ".so" suffixes.
485 The second form of entry is a SubSection, with the subsection name
487 being the module name, and the contents of the SubSection being Options
488 that are passed to the module when it is loaded.
489 Example: the extmod module (which contains a miscellaneous group of
491 server extensions) can be loaded, with the XFree86-DGA extension dis‐
492 abled by using the following entry:
493 SubSection "extmod"
495 Option "omit XFree86-DGA"
496 EndSubSection
497 Modules are searched for in each directory specified in the ModulePath
499 search path, and in the drivers, extensions, input, internal, and mul‐
500 timedia subdirectories of each of those directories. In addition to
501 this, operating system specific subdirectories of all the above are
502 searched first if they exist.
503 To see what extension modules are available, check the extensions sub‐
505 directory under:
506 /usr/lib64/xorg/modules
508 The “extmod”, “dbe”, “dri”, “dri2”, “glx”, and “record” extension mod‐
510 ules are loaded automatically, if they are present, unless disabled
511 with "Disable" entries. It is recommended that at very least the
512 “extmod” extension module be loaded. If it isn't, some commonly used
513 server extensions (like the SHAPE extension) will not be available.
514
516 The Extensions section is used to specify which X11 protocol extensions
517 should be enabled or disabled. The Extensions section is optional, as
518 are all of the entries that may be specified in it.
519 Entries in this section are listed as Option statements with the name
521 of the extension as the first argument, and a boolean value as the sec‐
522 ond. The extension name is case-sensitive, and matches the form shown
523 in the output of "Xorg -extension ?".
524 Example: the MIT-SHM extension can be disabled with the follow‐
526 ing entry:
527 Section "Extensions"
529 Option "MIT-SHM" "Disable"
530 EndSection
531
533 The config file may have multiple InputDevice sections. Recent X
534 servers employ HAL or udev backends for input device enumeration and
535 input hotplugging. It is usually not necessary to provide InputDevice
536 sections in the xorg.conf if hotplugging is in use (i.e. AutoAddDevices
537 is enabled). If hotplugging is enabled, InputDevice sections using the
538 mouse, kbd and vmmouse driver will be ignored.
539 If hotplugging is disabled, there will normally be at least two: one
541 for the core (primary) keyboard and one for the core pointer. If
542 either of these two is missing, a default configuration for the missing
543 ones will be used. In the absence of an explicitly specified core input
544 device, the first InputDevice marked as CorePointer (or CoreKeyboard)
545 is used. If there is no match there, the first InputDevice that uses
546 the “mouse” (or “kbd”) driver is used. The final fallback is to use
547 built-in default configurations. Currently the default configuration
548 may not work as expected on all platforms.
549 InputDevice sections have the following format:
551 Section "InputDevice"
553 Identifier "name"
554 Driver "inputdriver"
555 options
556 ...
557 EndSection
558 The Identifier and Driver entries are required in all InputDevice sec‐
560 tions. All other entries are optional.
561 The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this input device.
563 The Driver entry specifies the name of the driver to use for this input
564 device. When using the loadable server, the input driver module
565 "inputdriver" will be loaded for each active InputDevice section. An
566 InputDevice section is considered active if it is referenced by an
567 active ServerLayout section, if it is referenced by the -keyboard or
568 -pointer command line options, or if it is selected implicitly as the
569 core pointer or keyboard device in the absence of such explicit refer‐
570 ences. The most commonly used input drivers are evdev(4) on Linux sys‐
571 tems, and kbd(4) and mousedrv(4) on other platforms.
572 InputDevice sections recognise some driver-independent Options, which
574 are described here. See the individual input driver manual pages for a
575 description of the device-specific options.
576 Option "AutoServerLayout" "boolean"
578 Always add the device to the ServerLayout section used by this
579 instance of the server. This affects implied layouts as well as
580 explicit layouts specified in the configuration and/or on the
581 command line.
582 Option "CorePointer"
584 Deprecated, see Floating
585 Option "CoreKeyboard"
587 Deprecated, see Floating
588 Option "AlwaysCore" "boolean"
590 Deprecated, see Floating
591 Option "SendCoreEvents" "boolean"
593 Deprecated, see Floating
594 Option "Floating" "boolean"
597 When enabled, the input device is set up floating and does not
598 report events through any master device or control a cursor. The
599 device is only available to clients using the X Input Extension
600 API. This option is disabled by default. The options Core‐
601 Pointer, CoreKeyboard, AlwaysCore, and SendCoreEvents, are the
602 inverse of option Floating (i.e. SendCoreEvents "on" is equiva‐
603 lent to Floating "off" ).
604 This option controls the startup behavior only, a device may be
606 reattached or set floating at runtime.
607 Option "TransformationMatrix" "a b c d e f g h i"
609 Specifies the 3x3 transformation matrix for absolute input
610 devices. The input device will be bound to the area given in the
611 matrix. In most configurations, "a" and "e" specify the width
612 and height of the area the device is bound to, and "c" and "f"
613 specify the x and y offset of the area. The value range is 0 to
614 1, where 1 represents the width or height of all root windows
615 together, 0.5 represents half the area, etc. The values repre‐
616 sent a 3x3 matrix, with the first, second and third group of
617 three values representing the first, second and third row of the
618 matrix, respectively. The identity matrix is "1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
619 1".
620 POINTER ACCELERATION
622 For pointing devices, the following options control how the pointer is
623 accelerated or decelerated with respect to physical device motion. Most
624 of these can be adjusted at runtime, see the xinput(1) man page for
625 details. Only the most important acceleration options are discussed
626 here.
627 Option "AccelerationProfile" "integer"
629 Select the profile. In layman's terms, the profile constitutes
630 the "feeling" of the acceleration. More formally, it defines how
631 the transfer function (actual acceleration as a function of cur‐
632 rent device velocity and acceleration controls) is constructed.
633 This is mainly a matter of personal preference.
634 0 classic (mostly compatible)
636 -1 none (only constant deceleration is applied)
637 1 device-dependent
638 2 polynomial (polynomial function)
639 3 smooth linear (soft knee, then linear)
640 4 simple (normal when slow, otherwise accelerated)
641 5 power (power function)
642 6 linear (more speed, more acceleration)
643 7 limited (like linear, but maxes out at threshold)
644 Option "ConstantDeceleration" "real"
646 Makes the pointer go deceleration times slower than normal. Most
647 useful for high-resolution devices. A value between 0 and 1 will
648 speed up the pointer.
649 Option "AdaptiveDeceleration" "real"
651 Allows to actually decelerate the pointer when going slow. At
652 most, it will be adaptive deceleration times slower. Enables
653 precise pointer placement without sacrificing speed.
654 Option "AccelerationScheme" "string"
656 Selects the scheme, which is the underlying algorithm.
657 predictable default algorithm (behaving more predictable)
659 lightweight old acceleration code (as specified in the X protocol spec)
660 none no acceleration or deceleration
661 Option "AccelerationNumerator" "integer"
663 Option "AccelerationDenominator" "integer"
665 Set numerator and denominator of the acceleration factor. The
666 acceleration factor is a rational which, together with thresh‐
667 old, can be used to tweak profiles to suit the users needs. The
668 simple and limited profiles use it directly (i.e. they acceler‐
669 ate by the factor), for other profiles it should hold that a
670 higher acceleration factor leads to a faster pointer. Typically,
671 1 is unaccelerated and values up to 5 are sensible.
672 Option "AccelerationThreshold" "integer"
674 Set the threshold, which is roughly the velocity (usually device
675 units per 10 ms) required for acceleration to become effective.
676 The precise effect varies with the profile however.
677
680 The config file may have multiple InputClass sections. These sections
681 are optional and are used to provide configuration for a class of input
682 devices as they are automatically added. An input device can match more
683 than one InputClass section. Each class can override settings from a
684 previous class, so it is best to arrange the sections with the most
685 generic matches first.
686 InputClass sections have the following format:
688 Section "InputClass"
690 Identifier "name"
691 entries
692 ...
693 options
694 ...
695 EndSection
696 The Identifier entry is required in all InputClass sections. All other
698 entries are optional.
699 The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this input class.
701 The Driver entry specifies the name of the driver to use for this input
702 device. After all classes have been examined, the "inputdriver" module
703 from the first Driver entry will be enabled when using the loadable
704 server.
705 When an input device is automatically added, its characteristics are
707 checked against all InputClass sections. Each section can contain
708 optional entries to narrow the match of the class. If none of the
709 optional entries appear, the InputClass section is generic and will
710 match any input device. If more than one of these entries appear, they
711 all must match for the configuration to apply.
712 There are two types of match entries used in InputClass sections. The
714 first allows various tokens to be matched against attributes of the
715 device. An entry can be constructed to match attributes from different
716 devices by separating arguments with a '|' character. Multiple entries
717 of the same type may be supplied to add multiple matching conditions on
718 the same attribute. For example:
719 Section "InputClass"
721 Identifier "My Class"
722 # product string must contain example and
723 # either gizmo or gadget
724 MatchProduct "example"
725 MatchProduct "gizmo|gadget"
726 ...
727 EndSection
728 MatchProduct "matchproduct"
730 This entry can be used to check if the substring "matchproduct"
731 occurs in the device's product name.
732 MatchVendor "matchvendor"
734 This entry can be used to check if the substring "matchvendor"
735 occurs in the device's vendor name.
736 MatchDevicePath "matchdevice"
738 This entry can be used to check if the device file matches the
739 "matchdevice" pathname pattern.
740 MatchOS "matchos"
742 This entry can be used to check if the operating system matches
743 the case-insensitive "matchos" string. This entry is only sup‐
744 ported on platforms providing the uname(2) system call.
745 MatchPnPID "matchpnp"
747 The device's Plug and Play (PnP) ID can be checked against the
748 "matchpnp" shell wildcard pattern.
749 MatchUSBID "matchusb"
751 The device's USB ID can be checked against the "matchusb" shell
752 wildcard pattern. The ID is constructed as lowercase hexadecimal
753 numbers separated by a ':'. This is the same format as the
754 lsusb(8) program.
755 MatchDriver "matchdriver"
757 Check the case-sensitive string "matchdriver" against the cur‐
758 rently configured driver of the device. Ordering of sections
759 using this entry is important since it will not match unless the
760 driver has been set by the config backend or a previous Input‐
761 Class section.
762 MatchTag "matchtag"
764 This entry can be used to check if tags assigned by the config
765 backend matches the "matchtag" pattern. A match is found if at
766 least one of the tags given in "matchtag" matches at least one
767 of the tags assigned by the backend.
768 MatchLayout "matchlayout"
770 Check the case-sensitive string "matchlayout" against the cur‐
771 rently active ServerLayout section. The empty string "" matches
772 an implicit layout which appears if no named ServerLayout sec‐
773 tions have been found.
774 The second type of entry is used to match device types. These entries
776 take a boolean argument similar to Option entries.
777 MatchIsKeyboard "bool"
779 MatchIsPointer "bool"
781 MatchIsJoystick "bool"
783 MatchIsTablet "bool"
785 MatchIsTouchpad "bool"
787 MatchIsTouchscreen "bool"
789 When an input device has been matched to the InputClass section, any
791 Option entries are applied to the device. One InputClass specific
792 Option is recognized. See the InputDevice section above for a descrip‐
793 tion of the remaining Option entries.
794 Option "Ignore" "boolean"
796 This optional entry specifies that the device should be ignored
797 entirely, and not added to the server. This can be useful when
798 the device is handled by another program and no X events should
799 be generated.
800
802 The config file may have multiple OutputClass sections. These sections
803 are optional and are used to provide configuration for a class of out‐
804 put devices as they are automatically added. An output device can
805 match more than one OutputClass section. Each class can override set‐
806 tings from a previous class, so it is best to arrange the sections with
807 the most generic matches first.
808 OutputClass sections have the following format:
810 Section "OutputClass"
812 Identifier "name"
813 entries
814 ...
815 EndSection
816 The Identifier entry is required in all OutputClass sections. All
818 other entries are optional.
819 The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this output class.
821 The Driver entry specifies the name of the driver to use for this out‐
822 put device. After all classes have been examined, the "outputdriver"
823 module from the first Driver entry will be enabled when using the load‐
824 able server.
825 When an output device is automatically added, its characteristics are
827 checked against all OutputClass sections. Each section can contain
828 optional entries to narrow the match of the class. If none of the
829 optional entries appear, the OutputClass section is generic and will
830 match any output device. If more than one of these entries appear,
831 they all must match for the configuration to apply.
832 The following list of tokens can be matched against attributes of the
834 device. An entry can be constructed to match attributes from different
835 devices by separating arguments with a '|' character.
836 For example:
838 Section "OutputClass"
840 Identifier "My Class"
841 # kernel driver must be either foo or bar
842 MatchDriver "foo|bar"
843 ...
844 EndSection
845 MatchDriver "matchdriver"
847 Check the case-sensitive string "matchdriver" against the kernel
848 driver of the device.
849
851 The config file may have multiple Device sections. There must be at
852 least one, for the video card being used.
853 Device sections have the following format:
855 Section "Device"
857 Identifier "name"
858 Driver "driver"
859 entries
860 ...
861 EndSection
862 The Identifier and Driver entries are required in all Device sections.
864 All other entries are optional.
865 The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this graphics
867 device. The Driver entry specifies the name of the driver to use for
868 this graphics device. When using the loadable server, the driver mod‐
869 ule "driver" will be loaded for each active Device section. A Device
870 section is considered active if it is referenced by an active Screen
871 section.
872 Device sections recognise some driver-independent entries and Options,
874 which are described here. Not all drivers make use of these
875 driver-independent entries, and many of those that do don't require
876 them to be specified because the information is auto-detected. See the
877 individual graphics driver manual pages for further information about
878 this, and for a description of the device-specific options. Note that
879 most of the Options listed here (but not the other entries) may be
880 specified in the Screen section instead of here in the Device section.
881 BusID "bus-id"
883 This specifies the bus location of the graphics card. For
884 PCI/AGP cards, the bus-id string has the form
885 PCI:bus:device:function (e.g., “PCI:1:0:0” might be appropriate
886 for an AGP card). This field is usually optional in single-head
887 configurations when using the primary graphics card. In multi-
888 head configurations, or when using a secondary graphics card in
889 a single-head configuration, this entry is mandatory. Its main
890 purpose is to make an unambiguous connection between the device
891 section and the hardware it is representing. This information
892 can usually be found by running the pciaccess tool scanpci.
893 Screen number
895 This option is mandatory for cards where a single PCI entity can
896 drive more than one display (i.e., multiple CRTCs sharing a sin‐
897 gle graphics accelerator and video memory). One Device section
898 is required for each head, and this parameter determines which
899 head each of the Device sections applies to. The legal values
900 of number range from 0 to one less than the total number of
901 heads per entity. Most drivers require that the primary screen
902 (0) be present.
903 Chipset "chipset"
905 This usually optional entry specifies the chipset used on the
906 graphics board. In most cases this entry is not required
907 because the drivers will probe the hardware to determine the
908 chipset type. Don't specify it unless the driver-specific docu‐
909 mentation recommends that you do.
910 Ramdac "ramdac-type"
912 This optional entry specifies the type of RAMDAC used on the
913 graphics board. This is only used by a few of the drivers, and
914 in most cases it is not required because the drivers will probe
915 the hardware to determine the RAMDAC type where possible. Don't
916 specify it unless the driver-specific documentation recommends
917 that you do.
918 DacSpeed speed
920 DacSpeed speed-8 speed-16 speed-24 speed-32
922 This optional entry specifies the RAMDAC speed rating (which is
923 usually printed on the RAMDAC chip). The speed is in MHz. When
924 one value is given, it applies to all framebuffer pixel sizes.
925 When multiple values are given, they apply to the framebuffer
926 pixel sizes 8, 16, 24 and 32 respectively. This is not used by
927 many drivers, and only needs to be specified when the speed rat‐
928 ing of the RAMDAC is different from the defaults built in to
929 driver, or when the driver can't auto-detect the correct
930 defaults. Don't specify it unless the driver-specific documen‐
931 tation recommends that you do.
932 Clocks clock ...
934 specifies the pixel that are on your graphics board. The clocks
935 are in MHz, and may be specified as a floating point number.
936 The value is stored internally to the nearest kHz. The ordering
937 of the clocks is important. It must match the order in which
938 they are selected on the graphics board. Multiple Clocks lines
939 may be specified, and each is concatenated to form the list.
940 Most drivers do not use this entry, and it is only required for
941 some older boards with non-programmable clocks. Don't specify
942 this entry unless the driver-specific documentation explicitly
943 recommends that you do.
944 ClockChip "clockchip-type"
946 This optional entry is used to specify the clock chip type on
947 graphics boards which have a programmable clock generator. Only
948 a few Xorg drivers support programmable clock chips. For
949 details, see the appropriate driver manual page.
950 VideoRam mem
952 This optional entry specifies the amount of video ram that is
953 installed on the graphics board. This is measured in kBytes.
954 In most cases this is not required because the Xorg server
955 probes the graphics board to determine this quantity. The
956 driver-specific documentation should indicate when it might be
957 needed.
958 BiosBase baseaddress
960 This optional entry specifies the base address of the video BIOS
961 for the VGA board. This address is normally auto-detected, and
962 should only be specified if the driver-specific documentation
963 recommends it.
964 MemBase baseaddress
966 This optional entry specifies the memory base address of a
967 graphics board's linear frame buffer. This entry is not used by
968 many drivers, and it should only be specified if the driver-spe‐
969 cific documentation recommends it.
970 IOBase baseaddress
972 This optional entry specifies the IO base address. This entry
973 is not used by many drivers, and it should only be specified if
974 the driver-specific documentation recommends it.
975 ChipID id
977 This optional entry specifies a numerical ID representing the
978 chip type. For PCI cards, it is usually the device ID. This
979 can be used to override the auto-detection, but that should only
980 be done when the driver-specific documentation recommends it.
981 ChipRev rev
983 This optional entry specifies the chip revision number. This
984 can be used to override the auto-detection, but that should only
985 be done when the driver-specific documentation recommends it.
986 MatchSeat seat-id
988 Only apply this Device section if X server was started with
989 -seat seat-id option.
990 Option "ModeDebug" "boolean"
992 Enable printing of additional debugging information about mode‐
993 setting to the server log.
994 Options
996 Option flags may be specified in the Device sections. These
997 include driver-specific options and driver-independent options.
998 The former are described in the driver-specific documentation.
999 Some of the latter are described below in the section about the
1000 Screen section, and they may also be included here.
1001
1004 Nobody wants to say how this works. Maybe nobody knows ...
1005
1008 The config file may have multiple Monitor sections. There should nor‐
1009 mally be at least one, for the monitor being used, but a default con‐
1010 figuration will be created when one isn't specified.
1011 Monitor sections have the following format:
1013 Section "Monitor"
1015 Identifier "name"
1016 entries
1017 ...
1018 EndSection
1019 The only mandatory entry in a Monitor section is the Identifier entry.
1021 The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this monitor. The
1023 Monitor section may be used to provide information about the specifica‐
1024 tions of the monitor, monitor-specific Options, and information about
1025 the video modes to use with the monitor.
1026 With RandR 1.2-enabled drivers, monitor sections may be tied to spe‐
1028 cific outputs of the video card. Using the name of the output defined
1029 by the video driver plus the identifier of a monitor section, one asso‐
1030 ciates a monitor section with an output by adding an option to the
1031 Device section in the following format:
1032 Option "Monitor-outputname" "monitorsection"
1034 (for example, Option "Monitor-VGA" "VGA monitor" for a VGA output)
1036 In the absence of specific association of monitor sections to outputs,
1038 if a monitor section is present the server will associate it with an
1039 output to preserve compatibility for previous single-head configura‐
1040 tions.
1041 Specifying video modes is optional because the server will use the DDC
1043 or other information provided by the monitor to automatically configure
1044 the list of modes available. When modes are specified explicitly in
1045 the Monitor section (with the Mode, ModeLine, or UseModes keywords),
1046 built-in modes with the same names are not included. Built-in modes
1047 with different names are, however, still implicitly included, when they
1048 meet the requirements of the monitor.
1049 The entries that may be used in Monitor sections are described below.
1051 VendorName "vendor"
1053 This optional entry specifies the monitor's manufacturer.
1054 ModelName "model"
1056 This optional entry specifies the monitor's model.
1057 HorizSync horizsync-range
1059 gives the range(s) of horizontal sync frequencies supported by
1060 the monitor. horizsync-range may be a comma separated list of
1061 either discrete values or ranges of values. A range of values
1062 is two values separated by a dash. By default the values are in
1063 units of kHz. They may be specified in MHz or Hz if MHz or Hz
1064 is added to the end of the line. The data given here is used by
1065 the Xorg server to determine if video modes are within the spec‐
1066 ifications of the monitor. This information should be available
1067 in the monitor's handbook. If this entry is omitted, a default
1068 range of 28-33kHz is used.
1069 VertRefresh vertrefresh-range
1071 gives the range(s) of vertical refresh frequencies supported by
1072 the monitor. vertrefresh-range may be a comma separated list of
1073 either discrete values or ranges of values. A range of values
1074 is two values separated by a dash. By default the values are in
1075 units of Hz. They may be specified in MHz or kHz if MHz or kHz
1076 is added to the end of the line. The data given here is used by
1077 the Xorg server to determine if video modes are within the spec‐
1078 ifications of the monitor. This information should be available
1079 in the monitor's handbook. If this entry is omitted, a default
1080 range of 43-72Hz is used.
1081 DisplaySize width height
1083 This optional entry gives the width and height, in millimetres,
1084 of the picture area of the monitor. If given this is used to
1085 calculate the horizontal and vertical pitch (DPI) of the screen.
1086 Gamma gamma-value
1088 Gamma red-gamma green-gamma blue-gamma
1090 This is an optional entry that can be used to specify the gamma
1091 correction for the monitor. It may be specified as either a
1092 single value or as three separate RGB values. The values should
1093 be in the range 0.1 to 10.0, and the default is 1.0. Not all
1094 drivers are capable of using this information.
1095 UseModes "modesection-id"
1097 Include the set of modes listed in the Modes section called mod‐
1098 esection-id. This makes all of the modes defined in that sec‐
1099 tion available for use by this monitor.
1100 Mode "name"
1102 This is an optional multi-line entry that can be used to provide
1103 definitions for video modes for the monitor. In most cases this
1104 isn't necessary because the built-in set of VESA standard modes
1105 will be sufficient. The Mode keyword indicates the start of a
1106 multi-line video mode description. The mode description is ter‐
1107 minated with the EndMode keyword. The mode description consists
1108 of the following entries:
1109 DotClock clock
1111 is the dot (pixel) clock rate to be used for the mode.
1112 HTimings hdisp hsyncstart hsyncend htotal
1114 specifies the horizontal timings for the mode.
1115 VTimings vdisp vsyncstart vsyncend vtotal
1117 specifies the vertical timings for the mode.
1118 Flags "flag" ...
1120 specifies an optional set of mode flags, each of which is a
1121 separate string in double quotes. "Interlace" indicates
1122 that the mode is interlaced. "DoubleScan" indicates a mode
1123 where each scanline is doubled. "+HSync" and "-HSync" can
1124 be used to select the polarity of the HSync signal.
1125 "+VSync" and "-VSync" can be used to select the polarity of
1126 the VSync signal. "Composite" can be used to specify com‐
1127 posite sync on hardware where this is supported. Addition‐
1128 ally, on some hardware, "+CSync" and "-CSync" may be used to
1129 select the composite sync polarity.
1130 HSkew hskew
1132 specifies the number of pixels (towards the right edge of
1133 the screen) by which the display enable signal is to be
1134 skewed. Not all drivers use this information. This option
1135 might become necessary to override the default value sup‐
1136 plied by the server (if any). “Roving” horizontal lines
1137 indicate this value needs to be increased. If the last few
1138 pixels on a scan line appear on the left of the screen, this
1139 value should be decreased.
1140 VScan vscan
1142 specifies the number of times each scanline is painted on
1143 the screen. Not all drivers use this information. Values
1144 less than 1 are treated as 1, which is the default. Gener‐
1145 ally, the "DoubleScan" Flag mentioned above doubles this
1146 value.
1147 ModeLine "name" mode-description
1149 This entry is a more compact version of the Mode entry, and it
1150 also can be used to specify video modes for the monitor. This
1151 is a single line format for specifying video modes. In most
1152 cases this isn't necessary because the built-in set of VESA
1153 standard modes will be sufficient.
1154 The mode-description is in four sections, the first three of
1156 which are mandatory. The first is the dot (pixel) clock. This
1157 is a single number specifying the pixel clock rate for the mode
1158 in MHz. The second section is a list of four numbers specifying
1159 the horizontal timings. These numbers are the hdisp, hsync‐
1160 start, hsyncend, and htotal values. The third section is a list
1161 of four numbers specifying the vertical timings. These numbers
1162 are the vdisp, vsyncstart, vsyncend, and vtotal values. The
1163 final section is a list of flags specifying other characteris‐
1164 tics of the mode. Interlace indicates that the mode is inter‐
1165 laced. DoubleScan indicates a mode where each scanline is dou‐
1166 bled. +HSync and -HSync can be used to select the polarity of
1167 the HSync signal. +VSync and -VSync can be used to select the
1168 polarity of the VSync signal. Composite can be used to specify
1169 composite sync on hardware where this is supported. Addition‐
1170 ally, on some hardware, +CSync and -CSync may be used to select
1171 the composite sync polarity. The HSkew and VScan options men‐
1172 tioned above in the Mode entry description can also be used
1173 here.
1174 Option "DPMS" "bool"
1176 This option controls whether the server should enable the DPMS
1177 extension for power management for this screen. The default is
1178 to enable the extension.
1179 Option "SyncOnGreen" "bool"
1181 This option controls whether the video card should drive the
1182 sync signal on the green color pin. Not all cards support this
1183 option, and most monitors do not require it. The default is
1184 off.
1185 Option "Primary" "bool"
1187 This optional entry specifies that the monitor should be treated
1188 as the primary monitor. (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1189 Option "PreferredMode" "name"
1191 This optional entry specifies a mode to be marked as the pre‐
1192 ferred initial mode of the monitor. (RandR 1.2-supporting driv‐
1193 ers only)
1194 Option "ZoomModes" "name name ..."
1196 This optional entry specifies modes to be marked as zoom modes.
1197 It is possible to switch to the next and previous mode via
1198 Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Plus and Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Minus. All these key‐
1199 pad available modes are selected from the screen mode list.
1200 This list is a copy of the compatibility output monitor mode
1201 list. Since this output is the output connected to the lowest
1202 dot-area monitor, as determined from its largest size mode, that
1203 monitor defines the available zoom modes. (RandR 1.2-supporting
1204 drivers only)
1205 Option "Position" "x y"
1207 This optional entry specifies the position of the monitor within
1208 the X screen. (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1209 Option "LeftOf" "output"
1211 This optional entry specifies that the monitor should be posi‐
1212 tioned to the left of the output (not monitor) of the given
1213 name. (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1214 Option "RightOf" "output"
1216 This optional entry specifies that the monitor should be posi‐
1217 tioned to the right of the output (not monitor) of the given
1218 name. (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1219 Option "Above" "output"
1221 This optional entry specifies that the monitor should be posi‐
1222 tioned above the output (not monitor) of the given name. (RandR
1223 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1224 Option "Below" "output"
1226 This optional entry specifies that the monitor should be posi‐
1227 tioned below the output (not monitor) of the given name. (RandR
1228 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1229 Option "Enable" "bool"
1231 This optional entry specifies whether the monitor should be
1232 turned on at startup. By default, the server will attempt to
1233 enable all connected monitors. (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers
1234 only)
1235 Option "DefaultModes" "bool"
1237 This optional entry specifies whether the server should add sup‐
1238 ported default modes to the list of modes offered on this moni‐
1239 tor. By default, the server will add default modes; you should
1240 only disable this if you can guarantee that EDID will be avail‐
1241 able at all times, or if you have added custom modelines which
1242 the server can use. (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1243 Option "MinClock" "frequency"
1245 This optional entry specifies the minimum dot clock, in kHz,
1246 that is supported by the monitor.
1247 Option "MaxClock" "frequency"
1249 This optional entry specifies the maximum dot clock, in kHz,
1250 that is supported by the monitor.
1251 Option "Ignore" "bool"
1253 This optional entry specifies that the monitor should be ignored
1254 entirely, and not reported through RandR. This is useful if the
1255 hardware reports the presence of outputs that don't exist.
1256 (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1257 Option "Rotate" "rotation"
1259 This optional entry specifies the initial rotation of the given
1260 monitor. Valid values for rotation are "normal", "left",
1261 "right", and "inverted". (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only)
1262
1265 The config file may have multiple Modes sections, or none. These sec‐
1266 tions provide a way of defining sets of video modes independently of
1267 the Monitor sections. Monitor sections may include the definitions
1268 provided in these sections by using the UseModes keyword. In most
1269 cases the Modes sections are not necessary because the built-in set of
1270 VESA standard modes will be sufficient.
1271 Modes sections have the following format:
1273 Section "Modes"
1275 Identifier "name"
1276 entries
1277 ...
1278 EndSection
1279 The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this set of mode
1281 descriptions. The other entries permitted in Modes sections are the
1282 Mode and ModeLine entries that are described above in the Monitor sec‐
1283 tion.
1284
1286 The config file may have multiple Screen sections. There must be at
1287 least one, for the “screen” being used. A “screen” represents the
1288 binding of a graphics device (Device section) and a monitor (Monitor
1289 section). A Screen section is considered “active” if it is referenced
1290 by an active ServerLayout section or by the -screen command line
1291 option. If neither of those is present, the first Screen section found
1292 in the config file is considered the active one.
1293 Screen sections have the following format:
1295 Section "Screen"
1297 Identifier "name"
1298 Device "devid"
1299 Monitor "monid"
1300 entries
1301 ...
1302 SubSection "Display"
1303 entries
1304 ...
1305 EndSubSection
1306 ...
1307 EndSection
1308 The Identifier entry is mandatory. All others are optional.
1310 The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this screen. The
1312 Screen section provides information specific to the whole screen,
1313 including screen-specific Options. In multi-head configurations, there
1314 will be multiple active Screen sections, one for each head. The
1315 entries available for this section are:
1316 Device "device-id"
1318 This entry specifies the Device section to be used for this
1319 screen. When multiple graphics cards are present, this is what
1320 ties a specific card to a screen. The device-id must match the
1321 Identifier of a Device section in the config file.
1322 Monitor "monitor-id"
1324 specifies which monitor description is to be used for this
1325 screen. If a Monitor name is not specified, a default configu‐
1326 ration is used. Currently the default configuration may not
1327 function as expected on all platforms.
1328 VideoAdaptor "xv-id"
1330 specifies an optional Xv video adaptor description to be used
1331 with this screen.
1332 DefaultDepth depth
1334 specifies which color depth the server should use by default.
1335 The -depth command line option can be used to override this. If
1336 neither is specified, the default depth is driver-specific, but
1337 in most cases is 8.
1338 DefaultFbBpp bpp
1340 specifies which framebuffer layout to use by default. The
1341 -fbbpp command line option can be used to override this. In
1342 most cases the driver will chose the best default value for
1343 this. The only case where there is even a choice in this value
1344 is for depth 24, where some hardware supports both a packed 24
1345 bit framebuffer layout and a sparse 32 bit framebuffer layout.
1346 MatchSeat seat-id
1348 Only apply this Screen section if X server was started with
1349 -seat seat-id option.
1350 Options
1352 Various Option flags may be specified in the Screen section.
1353 Some are driver-specific and are described in the driver docu‐
1354 mentation. Others are driver-independent, and will eventually
1355 be described here.
1356 Option "Accel"
1358 Enables 2D hardware acceleration. This option is on by default,
1359 but it may be necessary to turn it off if there are bugs in the
1360 driver. There are many options to disable specific accelerated
1361 operations, listed below. Note that disabling an operation will
1362 have no effect if the operation is not accelerated (whether due
1363 to lack of support in the hardware or in the driver).
1364 Option "InitPrimary" "boolean"
1366 Use the Int10 module to initialize the primary graphics card.
1367 Normally, only secondary cards are soft-booted using the Int10
1368 module, as the primary card has already been initialized by the
1369 BIOS at boot time. Default: false.
1370 Option "NoInt10" "boolean"
1372 Disables the Int10 module, a module that uses the int10 call to
1373 the BIOS of the graphics card to initialize it. Default: false.
1374 Each Screen section may optionally contain one or more Display subsec‐
1376 tions. Those subsections provide depth/fbbpp specific configuration
1377 information, and the one chosen depends on the depth and/or fbbpp that
1378 is being used for the screen. The Display subsection format is
1379 described in the section below.
1380
1383 Each Screen section may have multiple Display subsections. The
1384 “active” Display subsection is the first that matches the depth and/or
1385 fbbpp values being used, or failing that, the first that has neither a
1386 depth or fbbpp value specified. The Display subsections are optional.
1387 When there isn't one that matches the depth and/or fbbpp values being
1388 used, all the parameters that can be specified here fall back to their
1389 defaults.
1390 Display subsections have the following format:
1392 SubSection "Display"
1394 Depth depth
1395 entries
1396 ...
1397 EndSubSection
1398 Depth depth
1400 This entry specifies what colour depth the Display subsection is
1401 to be used for. This entry is usually specified, but it may be
1402 omitted to create a match-all Display subsection or when wishing
1403 to match only against the FbBpp parameter. The range of depth
1404 values that are allowed depends on the driver. Most drivers
1405 support 8, 15, 16 and 24. Some also support 1 and/or 4, and
1406 some may support other values (like 30). Note: depth means the
1407 number of bits in a pixel that are actually used to determine
1408 the pixel colour. 32 is not a valid depth value. Most hardware
1409 that uses 32 bits per pixel only uses 24 of them to hold the
1410 colour information, which means that the colour depth is 24, not
1411 32.
1412 FbBpp bpp
1414 This entry specifies the framebuffer format this Display subsec‐
1415 tion is to be used for. This entry is only needed when provid‐
1416 ing depth 24 configurations that allow a choice between a 24 bpp
1417 packed framebuffer format and a 32bpp sparse framebuffer format.
1418 In most cases this entry should not be used.
1419 Weight red-weight green-weight blue-weight
1421 This optional entry specifies the relative RGB weighting to be
1422 used for a screen is being used at depth 16 for drivers that
1423 allow multiple formats. This may also be specified from the
1424 command line with the -weight option (see Xorg(1)).
1425 Virtual xdim ydim
1427 This optional entry specifies the virtual screen resolution to
1428 be used. xdim must be a multiple of either 8 or 16 for most
1429 drivers, and a multiple of 32 when running in monochrome mode.
1430 The given value will be rounded down if this is not the case.
1431 Video modes which are too large for the specified virtual size
1432 will be rejected. If this entry is not present, the virtual
1433 screen resolution will be set to accommodate all the valid video
1434 modes given in the Modes entry. Some drivers/hardware combina‐
1435 tions do not support virtual screens. Refer to the appropriate
1436 driver-specific documentation for details.
1437 ViewPort x0 y0
1439 This optional entry sets the upper left corner of the initial
1440 display. This is only relevant when the virtual screen resolu‐
1441 tion is different from the resolution of the initial video mode.
1442 If this entry is not given, then the initial display will be
1443 centered in the virtual display area.
1444 Modes "mode-name" ...
1446 This optional entry specifies the list of video modes to use.
1447 Each mode-name specified must be in double quotes. They must
1448 correspond to those specified or referenced in the appropriate
1449 Monitor section (including implicitly referenced built-in VESA
1450 standard modes). The server will delete modes from this list
1451 which don't satisfy various requirements. The first valid mode
1452 in this list will be the default display mode for startup. The
1453 list of valid modes is converted internally into a circular
1454 list. It is possible to switch to the next mode with
1455 Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Plus and to the previous mode with Ctrl+Alt+Key‐
1456 pad-Minus. When this entry is omitted, the valid modes refer‐
1457 enced by the appropriate Monitor section will be used. If the
1458 Monitor section contains no modes, then the selection will be
1459 taken from the built-in VESA standard modes.
1460 Visual "visual-name"
1462 This optional entry sets the default root visual type. This may
1463 also be specified from the command line (see the Xserver(1) man
1464 page). The visual types available for depth 8 are (default is
1465 PseudoColor):
1466 StaticGray
1468 GrayScale
1469 StaticColor
1470 PseudoColor
1471 TrueColor
1472 DirectColor
1473 The visual type available for the depths 15, 16 and 24 are
1475 (default is TrueColor):
1476 TrueColor
1478 DirectColor
1479 Not all drivers support DirectColor at these depths.
1481 The visual types available for the depth 4 are (default is Stat‐
1483 icColor):
1484 StaticGray
1486 GrayScale
1487 StaticColor
1488 PseudoColor
1489 The visual type available for the depth 1 (monochrome) is Stat‐
1491 icGray.
1492 Black red green blue
1494 This optional entry allows the “black” colour to be specified.
1495 This is only supported at depth 1. The default is black.
1496 White red green blue
1498 This optional entry allows the “white” colour to be specified.
1499 This is only supported at depth 1. The default is white.
1500 Options
1502 Option flags may be specified in the Display subsections. These
1503 may include driver-specific options and driver-independent
1504 options. The former are described in the driver-specific docu‐
1505 mentation. Some of the latter are described above in the sec‐
1506 tion about the Screen section, and they may also be included
1507 here.
1508
1510 The config file may have multiple ServerLayout sections. A “server
1511 layout” represents the binding of one or more screens (Screen sections)
1512 and one or more input devices (InputDevice sections) to form a complete
1513 configuration. In multi-head configurations, it also specifies the
1514 relative layout of the heads. A ServerLayout section is considered
1515 “active” if it is referenced by the -layout command line option or by
1516 an Option "DefaultServerLayout" entry in the ServerFlags section (the
1517 former takes precedence over the latter). If those options are not
1518 used, the first ServerLayout section found in the config file is con‐
1519 sidered the active one. If no ServerLayout sections are present, the
1520 single active screen and two active (core) input devices are selected
1521 as described in the relevant sections above.
1522 ServerLayout sections have the following format:
1524 Section "ServerLayout"
1526 Identifier "name"
1527 Screen "screen-id"
1528 ...
1529 InputDevice "idev-id"
1530 ...
1531 options
1532 ...
1533 EndSection
1534 Each ServerLayout section must have an Identifier entry and at least
1536 one Screen entry.
1537 The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this server layout.
1539 The ServerLayout section provides information specific to the whole
1540 session, including session-specific Options. The ServerFlags options
1541 (described above) may be specified here, and ones given here override
1542 those given in the ServerFlags section.
1543 The entries that may be used in this section are described here.
1545 Screen screen-num "screen-id" position-information
1547 One of these entries must be given for each screen being used in
1548 a session. The screen-id field is mandatory, and specifies the
1549 Screen section being referenced. The screen-num field is
1550 optional, and may be used to specify the screen number in
1551 multi-head configurations. When this field is omitted, the
1552 screens will be numbered in the order that they are listed in.
1553 The numbering starts from 0, and must be consecutive. The posi‐
1554 tion-information field describes the way multiple screens are
1555 positioned. There are a number of different ways that this
1556 information can be provided:
1557 x y
1559 Absolute x y
1561 These both specify that the upper left corner's coordinates
1562 are (x,y). The Absolute keyword is optional. Some older
1563 versions of XFree86 (4.2 and earlier) don't recognise the
1564 Absolute keyword, so it's safest to just specify the coordi‐
1565 nates without it.
1566 RightOf "screen-id"
1568 LeftOf "screen-id"
1570 Above "screen-id"
1572 Below "screen-id"
1574 Relative "screen-id" x y
1576 These give the screen's location relative to another screen.
1577 The first four position the screen immediately to the right,
1578 left, above or below the other screen. When positioning to
1579 the right or left, the top edges are aligned. When posi‐
1580 tioning above or below, the left edges are aligned. The
1581 Relative form specifies the offset of the screen's origin
1582 (upper left corner) relative to the origin of another
1583 screen.
1584 InputDevice "idev-id" "option" ...
1586 One of these entries should be given for each input device being
1587 used in a session. Normally at least two are required, one each
1588 for the core pointer and keyboard devices. If either of those
1589 is missing, suitable InputDevice entries are searched for using
1590 the method described above in the INPUTDEVICE section. The
1591 idev-id field is mandatory, and specifies the name of the Input‐
1592 Device section being referenced. Multiple option fields may be
1593 specified, each in double quotes. The options permitted here
1594 are any that may also be given in the InputDevice sections.
1595 Normally only session-specific input device options would be
1596 used here. The most commonly used options are:
1597 "CorePointer"
1599 "CoreKeyboard"
1600 "SendCoreEvents"
1601 and the first two should normally be used to indicate the core
1603 pointer and core keyboard devices respectively.
1604 MatchSeat seat-id
1606 Only apply this ServerLayout section if X server was started
1607 with -seat seat-id option.
1608 Options
1610 In addition to the following, any option permitted in the
1611 ServerFlags section may also be specified here. When the same
1612 option appears in both places, the value given here overrides
1613 the one given in the ServerFlags section.
1614 Option "IsolateDevice" "bus-id"
1616 Restrict device resets to the specified bus-id. See the BusID
1617 option (described in DEVICE SECTION, above) for the format of
1618 the bus-id parameter. This option overrides SingleCard, if
1619 specified. At present, only PCI devices can be isolated in this
1620 manner.
1621 Option "SingleCard" "boolean"
1623 As IsolateDevice, except that the bus ID of the first device in
1624 the layout is used.
1625 Here is an example of a ServerLayout section for a dual headed configu‐
1627 ration with two mice:
1628 Section "ServerLayout"
1630 Identifier "Layout 1"
1631 Screen "MGA 1"
1632 Screen "MGA 2" RightOf "MGA 1"
1633 InputDevice "Keyboard 1" "CoreKeyboard"
1634 InputDevice "Mouse 1" "CorePointer"
1635 InputDevice "Mouse 2" "SendCoreEvents"
1636 Option "BlankTime" "5"
1637 EndSection
1638
1640 This optional section is used to provide some information for the
1641 Direct Rendering Infrastructure. Details about the format of this sec‐
1642 tion can be found on-line at <http://dri.freedesktop.org/>.
1643
1645 The optional Vendor section may be used to provide vendor-specific con‐
1646 figuration information. Multiple Vendor sections may be present, and
1647 they may contain an Identifier entry and multiple Option flags. The
1648 data therein is not used in this release.
1649
1651 General: X(7), Xserver(1), Xorg(1), cvt(1), gtf(1).
1652 Not all modules or interfaces are available on all platforms.
1654 Display drivers: apm(4), ati(4), chips(4), cirrus(4), cyrix(4),
1656 fbdev(4), glide(4), glint(4), i128(4), i740(4), imstt(4), intel(4),
1657 mga(4), neomagic(4), nv(4), openchrome(4), r128(4), radeon(4), rendi‐
1658 tion(4), savage(4), s3virge(4), siliconmotion(4), sis(4), sisusb(4),
1659 sunbw2(4), suncg14(4), suncg3(4), suncg6(4), sunffb(4), sunleo(4),
1660 suntcx(4), tdfx(4), trident(4), tseng(4), vesa(4), vmware(4),
1661 voodoo(4), wsfb(4), xgi(4), xgixp(4).
1662 Input drivers: acecad(4), citron(4), elographics(4), evdev(4), fpit(4),
1664 joystick(4), kbd(4), mousedrv(4), mutouch(4), penmount(4), synap‐
1665 tics(4), vmmouse(4), void(4), wacom(4).
1666 Other modules and interfaces: exa(4), fbdevhw(4), v4l(4).
1668
1670 This manual page was largely rewritten by David Dawes
1671 <dawes@xfree86.org>.
1672X Version 11 xorg-server 1.17.4 xorg.conf(5)