Can Apple's X11 and Xdarwin coexist on my iMac?

October 28, 2004 1:31 PM

Can Apple's X11 and Xdarwin coexist in peace and harmony on my Imac?

I ask because there are a number of cool Fink packages that crave the love of Xdarwin, and Fink teases me with cryptic references to peaceful cohabitation but leaves out specifics.
posted by mecran01 to computers & internet (7 comments total)

which apps work with xdarwin but not x11?

this is over a year old, and it looks like 10.2.8 broke it, but gives you some idea of what you're in for.
posted by lbergstr at 2:34 PM on October 28, 2004

When I try to install certain apps with fink, such as xpdf, I get this message before it craps out:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to keep your X11 installation, install system-xfree86 resp. system-xtools instead to make this known to Fink's package system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------


It seems to indicate that there's a sweet little patch that will fool fink into thinking I'm running xdarwin or something.
[/cake---eat it too]
posted by mecran01 at 2:48 PM on October 28, 2004

[after having a google insight] It looks like system-xfree86 is used to tell fink that you *have* installed xdarwin somewhere.

I wonder if OS X is like a gateway drug that leads people to getting pure linux boxes, or if the opposite is true.


[gives up, takes ball, goes home]
posted by mecran01 at 3:02 PM on October 28, 2004

i know the answer here. you need to install apple's X11 SDK, not just the X11 user installation. X11 SDK comes as part of the Developer Tools, which are a free download from the Apple Developer Connection site. fink should detect this as for all intents and purposes Apple's X11 (with the SDK installed) and XDarwin are the same thing. Once you install it fink should not ask about your X11 again.

I only have X11 + SDK installed and I just did a fink install xpdf and it seems to be going fine without any need for more X11 stuff.
posted by neustile at 3:37 PM on October 28, 2004

yep, xpdf installed fine with just X11 + the SDK.
posted by neustile at 4:47 PM on October 28, 2004

I took your advice and installed x11 sdk on my ibook, then began installing xpdf.

It took a long time for the script to generate all of the necessary fonts, then I forgot it was running in the background (for over an hour) and rebooted my machine.

Now I get the same old error message when I try to install x11 packages. Sigh.
posted by mecran01 at 10:08 AM on November 2, 2004

Uninstalling all of fink, x11 and the x11 sdk, then reinstalling and using Fink Commander fixed everything. Thanks for your help!
posted by mecran01 at 1:33 PM on November 4, 2004