Bug 69188 – There is no ebuild for xvfb (virtual frame buffer driver)

• Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
• Product: Gentoo Linux

[Description A. Person 2004-10-27 14:36:12 UTC]

It would be great to have an ebuild for xvfb, which is the virtual frame buffer driver from xfree.  xvfb allows you to run X programs without X.  I plan to use this with VMware Workstation to test changes to my production server before I make them (i.e. emerge, etc-update).

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
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xvfb is outline here:

http://www.xfree86.org/4.0.1/Xvfb.1.html

[Comment 1 Seemant Kulleen (RETIRED) 2004-10-27 22:09:19 UTC]

as far as I know, Xvfb  is built as _part_ of X

[Comment 2 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2004-10-27 22:25:54 UTC]

It's in xorg-x11 or xfree. If you want a separate ebuild, please supply one and reopen.

[Comment 3 A. Person 2004-11-09 10:24:45 UTC]

The cool thing about xvfb is it allows you to run X apps without X so I guess I am after a separate ebuild.  This page:

http://www.xfree86.org/4.0.1/Xvfb.1.html

says this:

To build Xvfb, put the following in your host.def and remake.
#define BuildServer YES /* if you aren't already building other servers */
#define XVirtualFramebufferServer YES

I've never created an ebuild before.  The above sounds pretty easy though.  Any pointers?

- Grant

[Comment 4 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2004-11-09 10:39:11 UTC]

That'll give you all the libraries, clients, the standard Xorg server and so forth too, because they build by default.

You're looking at _incredibly_ old documentation. Try something recent like http://freedesktop.org/~xorg/X11R6.8.0/doc/. That page may be the same, but it's good to be sure.

[Comment 5 A. Person 2004-11-09 11:41:31 UTC]

I've done all kinds of Googling but can't seem to come up with any other docs for xvfb.  I did find a Debian xvfb package here:

http://packages.debian.org/testing/x11/xvfb

Would that help in creating an ebuild?

- Grant

[Comment 6 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2004-11-09 14:18:39 UTC]

No, that's a binary package. They build all of X11, then ripped out Xvfb.

[Comment 7 A. Person 2004-11-09 18:23:56 UTC]

Would it be possible to create an ebuild that builds xvfb with the binary?  I don't think building it via source is going to happen.

- Grant

[Comment 8 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2004-11-09 20:52:52 UTC]

Where do you plan on obtaining this binary? Upstream doesn't distribute binary packages.

[Comment 9 A. Person 2004-11-09 21:01:01 UTC]

I thought it would be possible to get it from the Debian package.  I'm definitely fumbling in the dark here though.  Maybe I should drop it?

[Comment 10 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2004-11-09 22:00:34 UTC]

You're more than welcome to create a custom ebuild for yourself, but I won't be adding it to Portage.

At some point in the future, xorg is going modular. You'll probably be able to have a standalone Xvfb then.

Until then, make a custom ebuild or just use someone else's binary.

[Comment 11 Henrik 2009-04-27 13:22:22 UTC]

I do not know whether this could help to create an ebuild

http://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-modular/2006-August/001090.html