[vox-tech] Is xf86cfg the preferred configuration tool for XF86 4.x?

[Jeff Newmiller]

On Mon, 1 Jul 2002, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:

> XFree86 -configure is nearly flawless

Now there is a bold claim. :)

> and asks no questions (so you can't inadvertantly tell it any lies).

Perhaps all programmers should all be using Ada, so the language police
could keep us from telling lies, too.

I really don't know whether xf86cfg is any better or worse than "XFree86
-configure" for a broad range of hardware, but the manpage says the former
calls the latter.  I am still exploring XFree86 4.2 capabilities on a
relatively new laptop, but it is looking like the touchpad is a puzzle for
XFree86 -configure (hand editing time) and most of the video capabilities
are also out of reach (though it kind of works).

As for the "best tool"... Debian's "man 7 XF86Config" indicates:

       Information about the XFree86 X server is available in the
       XFree86(1) manual page.  The format of the version 4 server
       configuration file is given in XF86Config-4(5), and the upstream,
       text-based configuration  tool  for  the  version  4
       server  is  documented  in xf86config(1), Note, however, that usage
       of the debconf configuration process is preferred.
       To reconfigure the X server using debconf, simply run:

       dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

I am not entirely sure I trust this, as it does not appear to rely on
XFree86 -configure, which would have access to the very most recent driver
information without depending on updationg of programs not included in
the XFree86 source.

> pete
> 
> begin Henry House <hajhouse@houseag.com> 
> > It's been a while since I configured X from scratch on a Debian system. Is
> > xf86cfg the best tool to use? Or 'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-common'? I ask
> > for a friend who is a newcomer to Debian. She need to use XF86 4.x because
> > the video chipset is very new.

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