Porting X11Libre to FreeBSD.

[baaz]

Going a bit off-topic and daydreaming here:

I've been thinking about the possibility of adding some capsicum(4) to XLibre's ingredient list.

It is a hard task to do, and I'm currently busy enough with the ports and other stuff, but it is certainly a possibility, and if actualized would be tremendous for the security of X.
Moreover, with seatd in place there is now a whole new set of possibilities open for capsicum and it's file descriptor limits in there too.

So if a capsicum wizard is out there with some knowledge about the X server internals, and is willing to help the project it would be great.
First step that needs to be done is to centralize the open()(1) calls in DDX into the server with a exported wrapper function to then control in a more fine grain manor...

 

[cederom]

Hello world Just switched to XLibre on FreeBSD All works fine, maybe more responsive, big thank you for the port!

I tested some games and they fail to start as opposed to xorg, I have reported it to theupstream https://github.com/X11Libre/xserver/issues/1922.

Aside from that all works fine and stable with nvidia-driver-devel - enlightenment wm, firefox, gimp (menu does not flicker as in xorg), inkscape, kicad, freecad, virtualbox, bambustudio under linuxlator with nvidia gpu acceleration, etc

 

[AlfredoLlaquet]

Hello world Just switched to XLibre on FreeBSD All works fine, maybe more responsive, big thank you for the port!

I tested some games and they fail to start as opposed to xorg, I have reported it to theupstream https://github.com/X11Libre/xserver/issues/1922.

Aside from that all works fine and stable with nvidia-driver-devel - enlightenment wm, firefox, gimp (menu does not flicker as in xorg), inkscape, kicad, freecad, virtualbox, bambustudio under linuxlator with nvidia gpu acceleration, etc

I'm interested in switching too. Can you drop your two cents about what you had to do? I haven't started to look into it, so any hint will be appreciated.

 

[cederom]

I'm interested in switching too. Can you drop your two cents about what you had to do? I haven't started to look into it, so any hint will be appreciated.

Just #pkg install xlibre (it will deinstall xorg parts for you) and then reinstall nvidia-driver-devel with xlibre flavor This is the only part that seems to change:

xlibre-0.1
xlibre-drivers-1.0
xlibre-nvidia-driver-devel-590.48.01
xlibre-server-25.1.0
xlibre-slim-1.3.6_26
xlibre-xf86-input-keyboard-25.0.0
xlibre-xf86-input-libinput-25.0.0
xlibre-xf86-input-mouse-25.0.0
xlibre-xf86-video-scfb-25.0.0
xlibre-xf86-video-vesa-25.0.0

If you are using SLIM as login manager the update seems on the way but you can easily update it to have xlibre flavor https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=291597

 

[AlfredoLlaquet]

Another Xlibre success story, by new forum user mickypoo.

Post in thread 'Introduce yourself, tell us who you are and why you chose FreeBSD'

Today at 9:18 AM

I encourage you to use the forum. It's usually good help.

Thanks for the encouragement! Definitely will shortly. Ditched the Ryzen system - keeping for Windows/gaming only. But repurposed an old HP Elitedesk 800 G2 today as my TV's more energy efficient HTPC/sofa PC, with a second monitor going to the nearby desk for daily driver use. Wireless kb/m, I can take to the sofa or desk! Has worked out so well. Managed to install Xlibre with a MATE desktop.

One issue with sound over HDMI/DP adapter, but that will be on the forum soon. I'm generally finding FreeBSD so much easier to...

• mickypoo

• 

 

[fahrenheit]

I have a partial success story. While XLibre works fine for desktop work, browsing and what not, I have segmentation faults and issues creating dri3 contexts while launching linux native games and from the compat/linux container glxinfo only lists llvmpipe (which works fine for older titles but obviously fails for newer stuff).
So I had to revert back to Xorg.

 

[MG]

Didn't try it yet. Where does it conflict with any Xorg installation if they aren't running at the same time? Does a kernel module has to be unloaded? Or does it go beyond a point of no return because a part of the loading can't be undone? If it needs different libraries, isn't that just a matter of separating program directories?

 

[vermaden]

Just wanted to share my thoughts about the 'state' of porting XLibre to FreeBSD - for me - worked like a charm.

I tried XLibre recently when I tried to use as less RAM as possible with some still fully functional and nice looking GUI - https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/01/18/200-mb-ram-freebsd-desktop/ - and everything installed and worked well from official FreeBSD pkg(8) repositories. No additional hassle. No custom configs. Just worked. Really appreciated.