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<h2 class="title"><a name="faq" id=
"faq"></a>Chapter 7. Frequently Asked Questions</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>This section provides answers to frequently asked questions
associated with the NVIDIA Linux x86_64 Driver and its
installation. Common problem diagnoses can be found in <a href=
"commonproblems.html" title=
"Chapter 8. Common Problems">Chapter 8, <i>Common
Problems</i></a> and tips for new users can be found in <a href=
"newusertips.html" title=
"Appendix J. Tips for New Linux Users">Appendix J,
<i>Tips for New Linux Users</i></a>. Also, detailed information for
specific setups is provided in the <a href=
"appendices.html">Appendices</a>.</p>
<div class="qandaset">
<table border="0" summary="Q and A Set">
<col align="left" width="1%">
<tbody>
<tr class="qandadiv">
<td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><a name=
"Nvidiainstaller55f35" id="Nvidiainstaller55f35"></a>
<h3 class="title">7.1. NVIDIA-INSTALLER</h3>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="HowDoIExtractTh41874" id=
"HowDoIExtractTh41874"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>How do I extract the contents of the</b> <code class=
"filename">.run</code> <b>without actually installing the
driver?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Run the installer as follows:</p>
<pre class="screen">
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.125.run --extract-only
</pre>
<p>This will create the directory
NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.125, containing the uncompressed
contents of the <code class="filename">.run</code> file.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="HowCanISeeTheSo057a4" id=
"HowCanISeeTheSo057a4"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>How can I see the source code to the kernel interface
layer?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>The source files to the kernel interface layer are in the kernel
directory of the extracted .run file. To get to these sources,
run:</p>
<pre class="screen">
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.125.run --extract-only
# cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.125/kernel/
</pre>
<p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="devicenodes" id=
"devicenodes"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>How and when are the the NVIDIA device files created?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Depending on the target system's configuration, the NVIDIA
device files used to be created in one of three different ways:</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul type="disc">
<li>
<p>at installation time, using mknod</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>at module load time, via devfs (Linux device file system)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>at module load time, via hotplug/udev</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>With current NVIDIA driver releases, device files are created or
modified by the X driver when the X server is started.</p>
<p>By default, the NVIDIA driver will attempt to create device
files with the following attributes:</p>
<pre class="screen">
UID: 0 - 'root'
GID: 0 - 'root'
Mode: 0666 - 'rw-rw-rw-'
</pre>
<p>Existing device files are changed if their attributes don't
match these defaults. If you want the NVIDIA driver to create the
device files with different attributes, you can specify them with
the "NVreg_DeviceFileUID" (user), "NVreg_DeviceFileGID" (group) and
"NVreg_DeviceFileMode" NVIDIA Linux kernel module parameters.</p>
<p>For example, the NVIDIA driver can be instructed to create
device files with UID=0 (root), GID=44 (video) and Mode=0660 by
passing the following module parameters to the NVIDIA Linux kernel
module:</p>
<pre class="screen">
NVreg_DeviceFileUID=0
NVreg_DeviceFileGID=44
NVreg_DeviceFileMode=0660
</pre>
<p>The "NVreg_ModifyDeviceFiles" NVIDIA kernel module parameter
will disable dynamic device file management, if set to 0.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhyDoesNvidiaNoc13de" id=
"WhyDoesNvidiaNoc13de"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Why does NVIDIA not provide RPMs?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Not every Linux distribution uses RPM, and NVIDIA provides a
single solution that works across all Linux distributions. NVIDIA
encourages Linux distributions to repackage and redistribute the
NVIDIA Linux driver in their native package management formats.
These repackaged NVIDIA drivers are likely to inter-operate best
with the Linux distribution's package management technology. For
this reason, NVIDIA encourages users to use their distribution's
repackaged NVIDIA driver, where available.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="CanTheNvidiainsb579b" id=
"CanTheNvidiainsb579b"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Can the nvidia-installer use a proxy server?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Yes, because the FTP support in nvidia-installer is based on
snarf, it will honor the <code class="envar">FTP_PROXY</code>,
<code class="envar">SNARF_PROXY</code>, and <code class=
"envar">PROXY</code> environment variables.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhatIsTheSignifadd36" id=
"WhatIsTheSignifadd36"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>What is the significance of the</b> <code class=
"filename">-no-compat32</code> <b>suffix on Linux-x86_64</b>
<code class="filename">.run</code> <b>files?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>To distinguish between Linux-x86_64 driver package files that do
or do not also contain 32-bit compatibility libraries,
"-no-compat32" is be appended to the latter. <code class=
"filename">NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.125.run</code> contains
both 64-bit and 32-bit driver binaries; but <code class=
"filename">NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.125-no-compat32.run</code>
omits the 32-bit compatibility libraries.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="CanIAddMyOwnPre4e8c2" id=
"CanIAddMyOwnPre4e8c2"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Can I add my own precompiled kernel interfaces to a</b>
<code class="filename">.run</code> <b>file?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Yes, the <code class="option">--add-this-kernel</code>
<code class="filename">.run</code> file option will unpack the
<code class="filename">.run</code> file, build a precompiled kernel
interface for the currently running kernel, and repackage the
<code class="filename">.run</code> file, appending <code class=
"filename">-custom</code> to the filename. This may be useful, for
example. if you administer multiple Linux computers, each running
the same kernel.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhereCanIFindThdef43" id=
"WhereCanIFindThdef43"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Where can I find the source code for the</b> <code class=
"filename">nvidia-installer</code> <b>utility?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>The <code class="filename">nvidia-installer</code> utility is
released under the GPL. The source code for the version of
nvidia-installer built with driver 304.125 is in <code class=
"filename">nvidia-installer-304.125.tar.bz2</code> available
here: <a href="ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-installer/"
target=
"_top">ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-installer/</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="qandadiv">
<td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2"><a name=
"NvidiaDriver8f330" id="NvidiaDriver8f330"></a>
<h3 class="title">7.2. NVIDIA Driver</h3>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhereShouldISta91e27" id=
"WhereShouldISta91e27"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Where should I start when diagnosing display
problems?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>One of the most useful tools for diagnosing problems is the X
log file in <code class="filename">/var/log</code>. Lines that
begin with <code class="computeroutput">(II)</code> are
information, <code class="computeroutput">(WW)</code> are warnings,
and <code class="computeroutput">(EE)</code> are errors. You should
make sure that the correct config file (i.e. the config file you
are editing) is being used; look for the line that begins with:</p>
<pre class="screen">
(==) Using config file:
</pre>
<p>Also make sure that the NVIDIA driver is being used, rather than
the “<span class="quote">nv</span>” or
“<span class="quote">vesa</span>” driver. Search
for</p>
<pre class="screen">
(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
</pre>
<p>Lines from the driver should begin with:</p>
<pre class="screen">
(II) NVIDIA(0)
</pre>
<p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="xverboselog" id=
"xverboselog"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>How can I increase the amount of data printed in the X log
file?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>By default, the NVIDIA X driver prints relatively few messages
to stderr and the X log file. If you need to troubleshoot, then it
may be helpful to enable more verbose output by using the X command
line options <code class="option">-verbose</code> and <code class=
"option">-logverbose</code>, which can be used to set the verbosity
level for the <code class="filename">stderr</code> and log file
messages, respectively. The NVIDIA X driver will output more
messages when the verbosity level is at or above 5 (X defaults to
verbosity level 1 for <code class="filename">stderr</code> and
level 3 for the log file). So, to enable verbose messaging from the
NVIDIA X driver to both the log file and <code class=
"filename">stderr</code>, you could start X with the verbosity
level set to 5, by doing the following</p>
<pre class="screen">
% startx -- -verbose 5 -logverbose 5
</pre>
<p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhatIsNvidiasPo6882d" id=
"WhatIsNvidiasPo6882d"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>What is NVIDIA's policy towards development series Linux
kernels?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>NVIDIA does not officially support development series kernels.
However, all the kernel module source code that interfaces with the
Linux kernel is available in the <code class=
"filename">kernel/</code> directory of the <code class=
"filename">.run</code> file. NVIDIA encourages members of the Linux
community to develop patches to these source files to support
development series kernels. A web search will most likely yield
several community supported patches.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhereCanIFindTh2e635" id=
"WhereCanIFindTh2e635"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Where can I find the tarballs?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Plain tarballs are not available. The <code class=
"filename">.run</code> file is a tarball with a shell script
prepended. You can execute the <code class="filename">.run</code>
file with the <code class="option">--extract-only</code> option to
unpack the tarball.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="HowDoITellIfIHa96f1f" id=
"HowDoITellIfIHa96f1f"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>How do I tell if I have my kernel sources installed?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>If you are running on a distro that uses RPM (Red Hat, Mandriva,
SuSE, etc), then you can use <span><strong class=
"command">rpm</strong></span> to tell you. At a shell prompt,
type:</p>
<pre class="screen">
% rpm -qa | grep kernel
</pre>
<p>and look at the output. You should see a package that
corresponds to your kernel (often named something like
kernel-2.6.15-7) and a kernel source package with the same version
(often named something like kernel-devel-2.6.15-7 or
kernel-source-2.4.22-7). If none of the lines seem to correspond to
a source package, then you will probably need to install it. If the
versions listed mismatch (e.g., kernel-2.6.15-7 vs.
kernel-devel-2.6.15-10), then you will need to update the
kernel-devel package to match the installed kernel. If you have
multiple kernels installed, you need to install the kernel-devel
package that corresponds to your <span class=
"emphasis"><em>running</em></span> kernel (or make sure your
installed source package matches the running kernel). You can do
this by looking at the output of <span><strong class=
"command">uname -r</strong></span> and matching versions.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhatIsSelinuxAn7bd2f" id=
"WhatIsSelinuxAn7bd2f"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>What is SELinux and how does it interact with the NVIDIA
driver ?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a set of modifications
applied to the Linux kernel and utilities that implement a security
policy architecture. When in use it requires that the security type
on all shared libraries be set to 'shlib_t'. The installer detects
when to set the security type, and sets it on all shared libraries
it installs. The option <code class="option">--force-selinux</code>
passed to the <code class="filename">.run</code> file overrides the
detection of when to set the security type.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhyDoesXUseSoMu6a4ed" id=
"WhyDoesXUseSoMu6a4ed"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Why does X use so much memory?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>When measuring any application's memory usage, you must be
careful to distinguish between physical system RAM used and virtual
mappings of shared resources. For example, most shared libraries
exist only once in physical memory but are mapped into multiple
processes. This memory should only be counted once when computing
total memory usage. In the same way, the video memory on a graphics
card or register memory on any device can be mapped into multiple
processes. These mappings do not consume normal system RAM.</p>
<p>This has been a frequently discussed topic on XFree86 mailing
lists; see, for example:</p>
<p><a href=
"http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xfree-xpert&m=96835767116567&w=2"
target=
"_top">http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xfree-xpert&m=96835767116567&w=2</a></p>
<p>The <span><strong class="command">pmap</strong></span> utility
described in the above thread is available in the "procps" package
shipped with most recent Linux distributions, and is a useful tool
in distinguishing between types of memory mappings. For example,
while <span><strong class="command">top</strong></span> may
indicate that X is using several hundred MB of memory, the last
line of output from the output of pmap (note that pmap may need to
be run as root):</p>
<pre class="screen">
# pmap -d `pidof X` | tail -n 1
mapped: 161404K writeable/private: 7260K shared: 118056K
</pre>
<p>reveals that X is really only using roughly 7MB of system RAM
(the "writeable/private" value).</p>
<p>Note, also, that X must allocate resources on behalf of X
clients (the window manager, your web browser, etc); the X server's
memory usage will increase as more clients request resources such
as pixmaps, and decrease as you close X applications.</p>
<p>The <a href=
"xconfigoptions.html#IndirectMemoryAccess">IndirectMemoryAccess</a>
X configuration option may cause additional virtual address space
to be reserved.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhyDoApplicatio54851" id=
"WhyDoApplicatio54851"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Why do applications that use DGA graphics fail?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>The NVIDIA driver does not support the graphics component of the
XFree86-DGA (Direct Graphics Access) extension. Applications can
use the XDGASelectInput() function to acquire relative pointer
motion, but graphics-related functions such as XDGASetMode() and
XDGAOpenFramebuffer() will fail.</p>
<p>The graphics component of XFree86-DGA is not supported because
it requires a CPU mapping of framebuffer memory. As graphics cards
ship with increasing quantities of video memory, the NVIDIA X
driver has had to switch to a more dynamic memory mapping scheme
that is incompatible with DGA. Furthermore, DGA does not cooperate
with other graphics rendering libraries such as Xlib and OpenGL
because it accesses GPU resources directly.</p>
<p>NVIDIA recommends that applications use OpenGL or Xlib, rather
than DGA, for graphics rendering. Using rendering libraries other
than DGA will yield better performance and improve interoperability
with other X applications.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="MyKernelLogCont895da" id=
"MyKernelLogCont895da"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>My kernel log contains messages that are prefixed with "Xid";
what do these messages mean?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>"Xid" messages indicate that a general GPU error occurred, most
often due to the driver misprogramming the GPU or to corruption of
the commands sent to the GPU. These messages provide diagnostic
information that can be used by NVIDIA to aid in debugging reported
problems.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="IUseTheCoolbits0ea09" id=
"IUseTheCoolbits0ea09"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>I use the Coolbits overclocking interface to adjust my
graphics card's clock frequencies, but the defaults are reset
whenever X is restarted. How do I make my changes
persistent?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Clock frequency settings are not saved/restored automatically by
default to avoid potential stability and other problems that may be
encountered if the chosen frequency settings differ from the
defaults qualified by the manufacturer. You can use the command
line below in <code class="filename">~/.xinitrc</code> to
automatically apply custom clock frequency settings when the X
server is started:</p>
<pre class="screen">
# nvidia-settings -a GPUOverclockingState=1 -a GPU2DClockFreqs=<GPU>,<MEM> -a GPU3DClockFreqs=<GPU>,<MEM>
</pre>
<p>Here <code class="filename"><GPU></code> and <code class=
"filename"><MEM></code> are the desired GPU and video memory
frequencies (in MHz), respectively.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhyIsTheRefreshdcf0a" id=
"WhyIsTheRefreshdcf0a"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Why is the refresh rate not reported correctly by utilities
that use the XRandR X extension (e.g., the GNOME "Screen Resolution
Preferences" panel, `xrandr -q`, etc)?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>The XRandR X extension is not presently aware of multiple
display devices on a single X screen; it only sees the MetaMode
bounding box, which may contain one or more actual modes. This
means that if multiple MetaModes have the same bounding box, XRandR
will not be able to distinguish between them.</p>
<p>In order to support DynamicTwinView, the NVIDIA X driver must
make each MetaMode appear to be unique to XRandR. Presently, the
NVIDIA X driver accomplishes this by using the refresh rate as a
unique identifier.</p>
<p>You can use `nvidia-settings -q RefreshRate` to query the actual
refresh rate on each display device.</p>
<p>This behavior can be disabled by setting the X configuration
option "DynamicTwinView" to FALSE.</p>
<p>For details, see <a href="configtwinview.html" title=
"Chapter 13. Configuring Multiple Display Devices on One X Screen">
Chapter 13, <i>Configuring Multiple Display Devices on One X
Screen</i></a>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhyDoesStarting61617" id=
"WhyDoesStarting61617"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Why does starting certain applications result in Xlib error
messages indicating extensions like "XFree86-VidModeExtension" or
"SHAPE" are missing?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>If your X config file has a <code class=
"computeroutput">Module</code> section that does not list the
"extmod" module, some X server extensions may be missing, resulting
in error messages of the form:</p>
<pre class="screen">
Xlib: extension "SHAPE" missing on display ":0.0"
Xlib: extension "XFree86-VidModeExtension" missing on display ":0.0"
Xlib: extension "XFree86-DGA" missing on display ":0.0"
</pre>
<p>You can solve this problem by adding the line below to your X
config file's <code class="computeroutput">Module</code>
section:</p>
<pre class="screen">
Load "extmod"
</pre>
<p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhereCanIFindOl8f618" id=
"WhereCanIFindOl8f618"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>Where can I find older driver versions?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Please visit <a href=
"ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/" target=
"_top">ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="WhatIsTheFormatf1c5e" id=
"WhatIsTheFormatf1c5e"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>What is the format of a PCI Bus ID?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>Different tools have different formats for the PCI Bus ID of a
PCI device.</p>
<p>The X server's "BusID" X configuration file option interprets
the BusID string in the format "bus@domain:device:function" (the
"@domain" portion is only needed if the PCI domain is non-zero), in
decimal. More specifically,</p>
<pre class="screen">
"%d@%d:%d:%d", bus, domain, device, function
</pre>
<p>in printf(3) syntax. NVIDIA X driver logging, nvidia-xconfig,
and nvidia-settings match the X configuration file BusID
convention.</p>
<p>The lspci(8) utility, in contrast, reports the PCI BusID of a
PCI device in the format "domain:bus:device.function", printing the
values in hexadecimal. More specifically,</p>
<pre class="screen">
"%04x:%02x:%02x.%x", domain, bus, device, function
</pre>
<p>in printf(3) syntax. The "Bus Location" reported in the
/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0..N/information files matches the lspci
format.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="question">
<td align="left" valign="top"><a name="xversions" id=
"xversions"></a></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><b>How do I interpret X server version numbers?</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="answer">
<td align="left" valign="top"></td>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p>X server version numbers can be difficult to interpret because
some X.Org X servers report the versions of different things.</p>
<p>In 2003, X.Org created a fork of the XFree86 project's code
base, which used a monolithic build system to build the X server,
libraries, and applications together in one source code repository.
It resumed the release version numbering where it left off in 2001,
continuing with 6.7, 6.8, etc., for the releases of this large
bundle of code. These version numbers are sometimes written
X11R6.7, X11R6.8, etc. to include the version of the X
protocol.</p>
<p>In 2005, an effort was made to split the monolithic code base
into separate modules with their own version numbers to make them
easier to maintain and so that they could be released
independently. X.Org still occasionally releases these modules
together, with a single version number. These releases are simply
referred to as “<span class="quote">X.Org
releases</span>”, or sometimes “<span class=
"quote">katamari</span>” releases. For example, X.Org 7.6 was
released on December 20, 2010 and contains version 1.9.3 of the
xorg-server package, which contains the core X server itself.</p>
<p>The release management changes from XFree86, to X.Org monolithic
releases, to X.Org modular releases impacted the behavior of the X
server's <code class="computeroutput">-version</code> command line
option. For example, XFree86 X servers always report the version of
the XFree86 monolithic package:</p>
<pre class="screen">
XFree86 Version 4.3.0 (Red Hat Linux release: 4.3.0-2)
Release Date: 27 February 2003
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.6
</pre>
<p>X servers in X.Org monolithic and early “<span class=
"quote">katamari</span>” releases did something similar:</p>
<pre class="screen">
X Window System Version 7.1.1
Release Date: 12 May 2006
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 7.1.1
</pre>
<p>However, X.Org later modified the X server to start printing its
individual module version number instead:</p>
<pre class="screen">
X.Org X Server 1.9.3
Release Date: 2010-12-13
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
</pre>
<p>Please keep this in mind when comparing X server versions: what
looks like “<span class="quote">version 7.x</span>” is
<span class="emphasis"><em>older</em></span> than version 1.x.</p>
</td>
</tr>
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