🖥️ A FreeBSD Desktop: Xorg, a Window Manager and KDE Plasma
Turn a FreeBSD 15.1 machine into a desktop, tested step by step in a virtual machine: the X server and its driver, a small window manager to prove it works, then KDE Plasma with the SDDM login screen, a tour of the desktop, and the places to look when it does not start
What you get
FreeBSD starts as a server: a login prompt and nothing else. A desktop is built from layers, and each layer is a package you can install, test and remove:
- The X server (Xorg) draws on the screen and reads the keyboard and the mouse. It needs a video driver and the keyboard map files.
- A window manager puts windows on the screen, moves them and gives them borders. Openbox is a small one, and we use it as a first test.
- A display manager shows the login screen and starts your session. SDDM is the one KDE uses.
- A desktop environment adds the panel, the launcher, the file manager, the settings and a hundred small programs. We install KDE Plasma 6, with Dolphin (files), Konsole (terminal) and Kate (editor).
Everything here was run on a real FreeBSD 15.1 virtual machine (a fresh install, 6 GB of memory, a QEMU virtual graphics card), and the screens were looked at on the virtual monitor. Commands that start with # ran as root, those with $ as the normal user bsd. The versions you get will be newer, as the package repository moves on.
Step 0: be on FreeBSD 15.1
This is the trap that cost us an hour. The binary packages (pkg) are now built for 15.1, and they need the C library of 15.1. On a machine that is still on 15.0-RELEASE the packages install, but programs such as xkbcomp refuse to run, and the X server stops with "Failed to activate virtual core keyboard". The message that gives it away is in the X log:
ld-elf.so.1: /lib/libc.so.7: version FBSD_1.9 required by /usr/local/bin/xkbcomp not found
The cure is to update the system first. The page Upgrading FreeBSD Safely has the whole procedure (freebsd-update -r 15.1-RELEASE upgrade, then install, a reboot, and install again). Check where you are, and that there is room: the desktop needs about 5 GB under /usr/local, and more while the packages are downloaded.
bsd@practice:~ $ freebsd-version -ku 15.1-RELEASE-p5 15.1-RELEASE-p6 bsd@practice:~ $ df -h / Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on zroot/ROOT/default 36G 1.1G 35G 3% / root@practice:~ # pkg bootstrap -y Installing pkg-2.8.4... Extracting pkg-2.8.4: .......... done Bootstrapping pkg from pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/quarterly, please wait... Verifying signature with trusted certificate pkg.freebsd.org.2013102301... done bsd@practice:~ $ pkg config ABI FreeBSD:15:amd64
A fresh FreeBSD has no pkg yet: pkg bootstrap fetches it (a plain pkg install offers to do the same). pkg config ABI shows what the repository is built for: FreeBSD:15:amd64.
Step 1: the X window system
The package xorg-minimal is the X server and its basic tools, without the hundreds of extras in the full xorg package. On top of it we install five things that the minimal set does not bring and that the server needs:
- xf86-video-vesa, a driver that works with almost any graphics card, and with the virtual card of a virtual machine. On real hardware you will want the driver of your card instead (see the end of this page).
- xkbcomp and xkeyboard-config, the keyboard map compiler and its data. Without them the server cannot read the keyboard, and stops.
- font-misc-misc, font-cursor-misc and dejavu, fonts, so that the first programs have something to draw text with.
root@practice:~ # pkg install -y xorg-minimal xf86-video-vesa xkbcomp xkeyboard-config font-misc-misc font-cursor-misc dejavu Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue... Fetching meta.conf: . done Fetching data: .......... done Processing entries: .......... done FreeBSD-ports repository update completed. 38354 packages processed. Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue... Fetching meta.conf: . done Fetching data: ...... done Processing entries: .......... done FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository update completed. 295 packages processed. All repositories are up to date. Updating database digests format: . done The following 81 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked): [... the list of packages and the progress lines are left out to keep this page short ...] Number of packages to be installed: 81 The process will require 2 GiB more space. 383 MiB to be downloaded. [ 1/81] Fetching xorg-server-21.1.25,1: .......... done [... the list of packages and the progress lines are left out to keep this page short ...] [80/81] Fetching libpciaccess-0.19: ... done [81/81] Fetching py312-pyudev-0.24.1_1: .......... done Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting) [... the list of packages and the progress lines are left out to keep this page short ...] bsd@practice:~ $ pkg info -x "xorg-minimal|xf86-video-vesa|xkbcomp" xf86-video-vesa-2.6.0 xkbcomp-1.5.0 xorg-minimal-7.5.2_3
The long lists are left out. It is 81 packages and about 2 GiB on disk, because X needs Python helpers, fonts and a lot of libraries. At the end, pkg info confirms the three packages that matter.
Step 2: a little configuration
Three small things:
- D-Bus is the message system that the desktop programs use to talk to each other. sysrc dbus_enable=YES starts it at boot.
- The user has to be in the video group, to use the graphics devices.
- A file in /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf tells the server to use the vesa driver. The Screen section asks for the mode 1280x800; without it the vesa driver chose 1920x1080 in our virtual machine, a screen that is too big for a tour.
root@practice:~ # sysrc dbus_enable=YES
dbus_enable: -> YES
root@practice:~ # pw groupmod video -m bsd
bsd@practice:~ $ id bsd
uid=1001(bsd) gid=1001(bsd) groups=1001(bsd),0(wheel),44(video)
root@practice:~ # mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/X11
root@practice:~ # cat > /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf <<'EOF'
Section "Device"
Identifier "card0"
Driver "vesa"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen0"
Device "card0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection
EOF
bsd@practice:~ $ cat /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Device"
Identifier "card0"
Driver "vesa"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen0"
Device "card0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Step 3: a window manager and the login screen, first
Before the big desktop, a small test that proves the X layer works. Openbox is a light window manager, xterm a terminal, sddm the login screen, and py312-pyxdg a small Python library that Openbox needs. In our first try it was missing: the session printed openbox-xdg-autostart requires PyXDG to be installed, ended at once, and the screen stayed grey.
root@practice:~ # pkg install -y openbox py312-pyxdg xterm sddm Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue... FreeBSD-ports repository is up to date. Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue... FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository is up to date. All repositories are up to date. The following 135 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked): New packages to be INSTALLED: Imath: 3.2.3_1 [FreeBSD-ports] adwaita-icon-theme: 47.0 [FreeBSD-ports] adwaita-icon-theme-legacy: 46.2 [FreeBSD-ports] aom: 3.15.3 [FreeBSD-ports] at-spi2-core: 2.60.4 [FreeBSD-ports] avahi-app: 0.8_6 [FreeBSD-ports] bash: 5.3.20 [FreeBSD-ports] binutils: 2.44,1 [FreeBSD-ports] boost-libs: 1.92.0 [FreeBSD-ports] cairo: 1.18.2,3 [FreeBSD-ports] colord: 1.4.8_2 [FreeBSD-ports] consolekit2: 2.0.0_2 [FreeBSD-ports] cups: 2.4.20 [FreeBSD-ports] dav1d: 1.5.4 [FreeBSD-ports] dbus: 1.16.2_4,1 [FreeBSD-ports] dbus-glib: 0.116 [FreeBSD-ports] double-conversion: 3.4.0 [FreeBSD-ports] duktape-lib: 2.7.0_1 [FreeBSD-ports] encodings: 1.1.0,1 [FreeBSD-ports] ffmpeg: 9.0.2,1 [FreeBSD-ports] fribidi: 1.0.17 [FreeBSD-ports] gcc14: 14.2.0_7 [FreeBSD-ports] gdbm: 1.26 [FreeBSD-ports] gdk-pixbuf2: 2.44.1 [FreeBSD-ports] giflib: 6.1.3 [FreeBSD-ports] gmp: 6.3.0 [FreeBSD-ports] gnome_subr: 1.0 [FreeBSD-ports] gnutls: 3.8.13 [FreeBSD-ports] gobject-introspection: 1.86.0,1 [FreeBSD-ports] graphite2: 1.3.15 [FreeBSD-ports] gsettings-desktop-schemas: 47.1_2 [FreeBSD-ports] gtk-update-icon-cache: 3.24.42 [FreeBSD-ports] gtk3: 3.24.52 [FreeBSD-ports] harfbuzz: 14.2.1 [FreeBSD-ports] hicolor-icon-theme: 0.18 [FreeBSD-ports] highway: 1.4.0 [FreeBSD-ports] icu: 76.1,1 [FreeBSD-ports] imlib2: 1.12.7,2 [FreeBSD-ports] jbigkit: 2.1_3 [FreeBSD-ports] jpeg-turbo: 3.1.4.1 [FreeBSD-ports] json-glib: 1.10.8 [FreeBSD-ports] lame: 4.0 [FreeBSD-ports] lcms2: 2.19.1 [FreeBSD-ports] lerc: 4.2.0 [FreeBSD-ports] libXScrnSaver: 1.2.5 [FreeBSD-ports] libXaw: 1.0.16,2 [FreeBSD-ports] libXcomposite: 0.4.7,1 [FreeBSD-ports] libXcursor: 1.2.3 [FreeBSD-ports] libXft: 2.3.9 [FreeBSD-ports] libXinerama: 1.1.6,1 [FreeBSD-ports] libXpm: 3.5.20 [FreeBSD-ports] libXres: 1.2.3 [FreeBSD-ports] libXtst: 1.2.6 [FreeBSD-ports] libass: 0.17.5 [FreeBSD-ports] libb2: 0.98.1_1 [FreeBSD-ports] libbluray: 1.5.1,1 [FreeBSD-ports] libdaemon: 0.14_1 [FreeBSD-ports] libdatrie: 0.2.14_1 [FreeBSD-ports] libdeflate: 1.26 [FreeBSD-ports] libdvdnav: 7.0.0 [FreeBSD-ports] libdvdread: 7.1.1 [FreeBSD-ports] libevent: 2.1.13 [FreeBSD-ports] libgcrypt: 1.12.4 [FreeBSD-ports] libgpg-error: 1.61 [FreeBSD-ports] libgusb: 0.4.9_1 [FreeBSD-ports] libheif: 1.23.6 [FreeBSD-ports] libid3tag: 0.16.4 [FreeBSD-ports] libidn2: 2.3.8 [FreeBSD-ports] libjxl: 0.12.0 [FreeBSD-ports] libogg: 1.3.6,4 [FreeBSD-ports] libpaper: 1.1.28_1 [FreeBSD-ports] libplacebo: 7.360.1 [FreeBSD-ports] librsvg2-rust: 2.62.3_2 [FreeBSD-ports] libtasn1: 4.21.0 [FreeBSD-ports] libthai: 0.1.30 [FreeBSD-ports] libudfread: 1.2.0 [FreeBSD-ports] libunibreak: 7.0,1 [FreeBSD-ports] libunistring: 1.4.2 [FreeBSD-ports] libv4l: 1.23.0_5 [FreeBSD-ports] libva: 2.24.1 [FreeBSD-ports] libvdpau: 1.5 [FreeBSD-ports] libvorbis: 1.3.7_2,3 [FreeBSD-ports] libvpx: 1.17.0 [FreeBSD-ports] libx264: 0.165.3223_1 [FreeBSD-ports] libxkbcommon: 1.13.2 [FreeBSD-ports] libxslt: 1.1.45 [FreeBSD-ports] luit: 20240102_1 [FreeBSD-ports] lzo2: 2.10_2 [FreeBSD-ports] mpc: 1.4.1 [FreeBSD-ports] mpfr: 4.2.2,1 [FreeBSD-ports] mpg123: 1.33.7 [FreeBSD-ports] nettle: 3.10.2 [FreeBSD-ports] openblas: 0.3.34_1,2 [FreeBSD-ports] openbox: 3.6_14 [FreeBSD-ports] openexr: 3.4.16 [FreeBSD-ports] openh264: 2.6.0,2 [FreeBSD-ports] openjpeg: 2.5.4_2 [FreeBSD-ports] openjph: 0.32.0 [FreeBSD-ports] opus: 1.6.1 [FreeBSD-ports] p11-kit: 0.26.5_1 [FreeBSD-ports] pango: 1.57.1 [FreeBSD-ports] polkit: 127 [FreeBSD-ports] py312-boost-libs: 1.92.0 [FreeBSD-ports] py312-numpy: 2.4.6_1,1 [FreeBSD-ports] py312-pyxdg: 0.28 [FreeBSD-ports] py312-setuptools: 63.1.0_3 [FreeBSD-ports] qt6-base: 6.11.2_1 [FreeBSD-ports] qt6-declarative: 6.11.2 [FreeBSD-ports] qt6-svg: 6.11.2 [FreeBSD-ports] sddm: 0.21.0.36_7 [FreeBSD-ports] sdl2: 2.32.10_2 [FreeBSD-ports] setxkbmap: 1.3.5 [FreeBSD-ports] shaderc: 2026.4 [FreeBSD-ports] shared-mime-info: 2.4_2 [FreeBSD-ports] sqlite3: 3.54.1,1 [FreeBSD-ports] srt: 1.5.7_1 [FreeBSD-ports] startup-notification: 0.12_4 [FreeBSD-ports] svt-av1: 4.2.0 [FreeBSD-ports] tiff: 4.7.2 [FreeBSD-ports] vmaf: 3.2.1 [FreeBSD-ports] vulkan-loader: 1.4.360 [FreeBSD-ports] webp: 1.6.0 [FreeBSD-ports] x265: 4.1 [FreeBSD-ports] xbitmaps: 1.1.4 [FreeBSD-ports] xcb-util: 0.4.1,1 [FreeBSD-ports] xcb-util-cursor: 0.1.6 [FreeBSD-ports] xcb-util-image: 0.4.1 [FreeBSD-ports] xcb-util-keysyms: 0.4.1 [FreeBSD-ports] xcb-util-renderutil: 0.3.10 [FreeBSD-ports] xcb-util-wm: 0.4.2 [FreeBSD-ports] xmessage: 1.0.7 [FreeBSD-ports] xrdb: 1.2.3 [FreeBSD-ports] xsetroot: 1.1.4 [FreeBSD-ports] xterm: 411 [FreeBSD-ports] xxhash: 0.8.4 [FreeBSD-ports] Number of packages to be installed: 135 The process will require 2 GiB more space. 308 MiB to be downloaded. 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1/135] Installing bash-5.3.20... [ 1/135] Extracting bash-5.3.20: .......... done [ 2/135] Installing binutils-2.44,1... [ 2/135] Extracting binutils-2.44,1: .......... done [ 3/135] Installing dav1d-1.5.4... [ 3/135] Extracting dav1d-1.5.4: .......... done [ 4/135] Installing dbus-1.16.2_4,1... ===> Creating groups Creating group 'messagebus' with gid '556' ===> Creating users Creating user 'messagebus' with uid '556' [ 4/135] Extracting dbus-1.16.2_4,1: ......... done [ 5/135] Installing dbus-glib-0.116... [ 5/135] Extracting dbus-glib-0.116: .......... done [ 6/135] Installing double-conversion-3.4.0... [ 6/135] Extracting double-conversion-3.4.0: .......... done [ 7/135] Installing duktape-lib-2.7.0_1... [ 7/135] Extracting duktape-lib-2.7.0_1: ......... done [ 8/135] Installing encodings-1.1.0,1... [ 8/135] Extracting encodings-1.1.0,1: .......... done [ 9/135] Installing fribidi-1.0.17... [ 9/135] Extracting fribidi-1.0.17: .......... done [ 10/135] Installing gdbm-1.26... 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[ 96/135] Extracting gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.1: .......... done [ 97/135] Installing gtk-update-icon-cache-3.24.42... [ 97/135] Extracting gtk-update-icon-cache-3.24.42: .......... done [ 98/135] Installing adwaita-icon-theme-legacy-46.2... [ 98/135] Extracting adwaita-icon-theme-legacy-46.2: .......... done [ 99/135] Installing adwaita-icon-theme-47.0... [ 99/135] Extracting adwaita-icon-theme-47.0: .......... done [100/135] Installing lcms2-2.19.1... [100/135] Extracting lcms2-2.19.1: .......... done [101/135] Installing colord-1.4.8_2... ===> Creating groups Creating group 'colord' with gid '970' ===> Creating users Creating user 'colord' with uid '970' [101/135] Extracting colord-1.4.8_2: .......... done [102/135] Installing librsvg2-rust-2.62.3_2... [102/135] Extracting librsvg2-rust-2.62.3_2: .......... done [103/135] Installing gtk3-3.24.52... [103/135] Extracting gtk3-3.24.52: .......... done [104/135] Installing openjpeg-2.5.4_2... 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[124/135] Extracting qt6-declarative-6.11.2: .......... done [125/135] Installing xmessage-1.0.7... [125/135] Extracting xmessage-1.0.7: .... done [126/135] Installing xrdb-1.2.3... [126/135] Extracting xrdb-1.2.3: ..... done [127/135] Installing xsetroot-1.1.4... [127/135] Extracting xsetroot-1.1.4: ..... done [128/135] Installing sddm-0.21.0.36_7... ===> Creating groups Creating group 'sddm' with gid '219' Using existing group 'video' ===> Creating users Creating user 'sddm' with uid '219' ===> Creating homedir(s) Adding user 'sddm' to group 'video' [128/135] Extracting sddm-0.21.0.36_7: .......... done [129/135] Installing xterm-411... [129/135] Extracting xterm-411: .......... done [130/135] Installing xxhash-0.8.4... [130/135] Extracting xxhash-0.8.4: .......... done [131/135] Installing libplacebo-7.360.1... [131/135] Extracting libplacebo-7.360.1: .......... done [132/135] Installing ffmpeg-9.0.2,1... [132/135] Extracting ffmpeg-9.0.2,1: .......... done [133/135] Installing libheif-1.23.6... [133/135] Extracting libheif-1.23.6: .......... done [134/135] Installing imlib2-1.12.7,2... [134/135] Extracting imlib2-1.12.7,2: .......... done [135/135] Installing openbox-3.6_14... [135/135] Extracting openbox-3.6_14: .......... done ==> Running trigger: gtk-update-icon-cache.ucl Generating GTK icon cache for /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor Generating GTK icon cache for /usr/local/share/icons/Adwaita Generating GTK icon cache for /usr/local/share/icons/AdwaitaLegacy ==> Running trigger: shared-mime-info.ucl Building the Shared MIME-Info database cache ==> Running trigger: glib-schemas.ucl Compiling glib schemas Warning: Schema “org.gnome.system.locale” has path “/system/locale/”. Paths starting with “/apps/”, “/desktop/” or “/system/” are deprecated. Warning: Schema “org.gnome.system.proxy” has path “/system/proxy/”. Paths starting with “/apps/”, “/desktop/” or “/system/” are deprecated. Warning: Schema “org.gnome.system.proxy.http” has path “/system/proxy/http/”. Paths starting with “/apps/”, “/desktop/” or “/system/” are deprecated. Warning: Schema “org.gnome.system.proxy.https” has path “/system/proxy/https/”. Paths starting with “/apps/”, “/desktop/” or “/system/” are deprecated. Warning: Schema “org.gnome.system.proxy.ftp” has path “/system/proxy/ftp/”. Paths starting with “/apps/”, “/desktop/” or “/system/” are deprecated. Warning: Schema “org.gnome.system.proxy.socks” has path “/system/proxy/socks/”. Paths starting with “/apps/”, “/desktop/” or “/system/” are deprecated. ==> Running trigger: gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders.ucl Generating gdk-pixbuf modules cache ===== Message from boost-libs-1.92.0: -- You have built the Boost library with thread support. Don't forget to add -pthread to your linker options when linking your code. ===== Message from libxkbcommon-1.13.2: -- If arrow keys don't work under X11 switch to legacy rules e.g., For sh/bash/ksh/zsh run and (optionally) add into ~/.profile: export XKB_DEFAULT_RULES=xorg For csh/tcsh run and (optionally) add into ~/.login: setenv XKB_DEFAULT_RULES xorg ===== Message from gcc14-14.2.0_7: -- To ensure binaries built with this toolchain find appropriate versions of the necessary run-time libraries, you may want to link using -Wl,-rpath=/usr/local/lib/gcc14 For ports leveraging USE_GCC, USES=compiler, or USES=fortran this happens transparently. ===== Message from py312-boost-libs-1.92.0: -- You have built the Boost library with thread support. Don't forget to add -pthread to your linker options when linking your code. ===== Message from libjxl-0.12.0: -- Additional packages recommended for new users: - imlib2-jxl (e.g., feh, scrot) - kf5-kimageformats (e.g., nomacs, flameshot, skanlite) - gimp-jxl-plugin ===== Message from sddm-0.21.0.36_7: -- SDDM lists a "user session" which needs either an .xinitrc in the user's home directory, or as a fallback, xterm. In order to use the "user session" feature, a ~/.xinitrc is recommended. ===== Message from xterm-411: -- You installed xterm with wide chars support. This introduces some limitations comparing to the plain single chars version: this version of xterm will use UTF-8 charset for selection buffers, breaking 8-bit copy/paste support unless you are using UTF-8 or ISO8859-1 locale. If you want 8-bit charset selections to work as before, use "eightBitSelectTypes" XTerm resource setting. For further information refer to the SELECT/PASTE section of xterm(1) manual page. root@practice:~ # sysrc sddm_enable=YES sddm_enable: -> YES root@practice:~ # service sddm start Starting sddm. Detected locale "C" with character encoding "US-ASCII", which is not UTF-8. Qt depends on a UTF-8 locale, and has switched to "C.UTF-8" instead. If this causes problems, reconfigure your locale. See the locale(1) manual for more information. root@practice:~ # sleep 10; pgrep -l "sddm|Xorg" 11597 sddm 11599 Xorg 11637 sddm-helper 11638 sddm-greeter-qt6
sysrc sddm_enable=YES makes SDDM start at every boot, and service sddm start starts it now. The two processes you want to see are sddm and Xorg. On the virtual monitor the login screen came up. At the bottom left is the session list: choose Openbox, log in, and the screen is empty and grey. That is normal. A right click opens the Openbox menu, and from Terminals you can start xterm. If this works, X, the driver and the login screen are all good, and what is left is only the desktop.
Step 4: KDE Plasma
One command brings the whole desktop. plasma6-plasma is the Plasma desktop with its settings, the system monitor and the window manager (KWin). kde-baseapps adds the file manager Dolphin, and we name konsole (the terminal) and kate (the editor) so that they are certainly there.
root@practice:~ # pkg install -y plasma6-plasma kde-baseapps konsole kate
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports repository is up to date.
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
The following 484 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):
[... the list of packages and the progress lines are left out to keep this page short ...]
Number of packages to be installed: 484
The process will require 4 GiB more space.
1 GiB to be downloaded.
[ 1/484] Fetching kdsoap-qt6-2.2.0_1: .......... done
[ 2/484] Fetching qt6-location-6.11.2: .......... done
[... the list of packages and the progress lines are left out to keep this page short ...]
[482/484] Extracting plasma6-systemsettings-6.7.5: .......... done
[483/484] Installing plasma6-kinfocenter-6.7.5...
[483/484] Extracting plasma6-kinfocenter-6.7.5: .......... done
[484/484] Installing plasma6-plasma-6.7.5...
[484/484] Extracting plasma6-plasma-6.7.5: ... done
[... the list of packages and the progress lines are left out to keep this page short ...]
bsd@practice:~ $ pkg info | wc -l
701
bsd@practice:~ $ du -sh /usr/local
4.9G /usr/local
It is 484 packages, 1 GiB to download and about 4 GiB more on disk, and it took several minutes on this connection. After it, /usr/local holds 4.9 GB and pkg info lists 701 packages in all. The last package, plasma6-plasma, is only a list of the others. The installer also printed some messages from the packages, among them a notice that kf5-kio is deprecated: it is an old library that one of the programs still pulls in, and it can be ignored.
Nothing more is needed in /etc/rc.conf: sddm_enable and dbus_enable from the earlier steps are the whole setup. What the packages did add is a second session for the login screen:
bsd@practice:~ $ ls /usr/local/share/xsessions openbox-gnome.desktop openbox-kde.desktop openbox.desktop plasmax11.desktop xinitrc.desktop bsd@practice:~ $ grep -E '^(Name|Exec)=' /usr/local/share/xsessions/plasmax11.desktop Exec=/usr/local/bin/startplasma-x11 Name=Plasma (X11) bsd@practice:~ $ sysrc -n sddm_enable dbus_enable YES YES
The files in /usr/local/share/xsessions are the sessions that SDDM offers. plasmax11.desktop is the one that starts Plasma, with the command startplasma-x11.
Step 5: log in to Plasma
On the login screen, open the session list at the bottom left, choose Plasma (X11), and log in. The first start takes a few seconds while the desktop builds its caches. SDDM remembers the choice for the next time.
What you see is the Plasma desktop: a wallpaper, and a panel at the bottom with the application launcher on the left, four pinned programs (System Settings, Discover, which is the software centre, Dolphin and the web browser Konqueror), and the system tray with the sound, the brightness and the clock on the right. A click on the clock opens a calendar.
To skip the login screen on a machine that nobody else uses, give SDDM an autologin in a small file. We tried it: after the restart, the machine went straight to the desktop.
root@practice:~ # mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/sddm.conf.d root@practice:~ # printf '[Autologin]\nUser=bsd\nSession=plasmax11\n' > /usr/local/etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf bsd@practice:~ $ cat /usr/local/etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf [Autologin] User=bsd Session=plasmax11 root@practice:~ # service sddm restart > /dev/null 2>&1; sleep 25; pgrep -l plasmashell 25097 plasmashell
The session name is the name of the file in xsessions, without .desktop. Be careful with this on a laptop or a shared machine: the desktop is open to anyone who can switch the machine on.
A tour of the desktop in ten minutes
- The launcher (the icon on the left of the panel) is the start menu: favourites, all applications in groups, and the places. The search field works as you type: write kate and the editor is listed, with the choice of a new session.
- Dolphin, the file manager. On the left the Places, at the top the path, where every part is a link. F3 splits the window in two, the fastest way to copy files. F4 opens a terminal panel under the files, in the folder you are looking at.
- Konsole, the terminal. It is the same FreeBSD underneath: freebsd-version, pkg info. Ctrl+Shift+T opens a new tab, and Split View puts two terminals side by side.
- Tiling: Meta+Left and Meta+Right (the Windows key) fill the left or the right half of the screen with the window, so two windows sit side by side without the mouse.
- System Settings. The first page has the theme: choose Breeze Dark, press Apply, and the whole desktop changes at once. Display, sound, network and shortcuts all have a page, and the search field at the top finds the right one.
- KRunner: Alt+Space opens a line where you type. A sum (2+2*5) gives the answer, a program name starts the program, and it also searches files, settings and open windows.
- Widgets and edit mode: right click the desktop, choose Enter Edit Mode, and open Add or Manage Widgets. We added the Individual Core Usage widget and a graph of the processors sat on the desktop. Panels can be moved, made thinner, or put on another edge in the same way.
- System Monitor (type its name in KRunner) shows the load of the processors and the memory, with graphs on the History page. On FreeBSD it is not complete: the Overview page shows a red banner that some sensors are missing, and the Applications page says it is unsupported on this system.
One thing to know about a virtual machine: it has no 3D graphics, so KDE draws its effects in software. The normal desktop is fine, but heavy effects can break it: in our test the Overview effect (Meta+W) made the window manager crash and restart. On real hardware with a proper driver this is not a problem.
When it does not start
There are two logs, and the screen stays black or returns to the login screen when one of them has something to say:
bsd@practice:~ $ grep -c '(EE)' /var/log/Xorg.0.log 1 bsd@practice:~ $ grep -E '\(EE\)|Setting up VESA' /var/log/Xorg.0.log | head -n 4 (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown. [ 4978.013] (II) VESA(0): Setting up VESA Mode 0x17A (1280x800) bsd@practice:~ $ tail -n 4 /var/log/sddm.log [17:05:45.744] (WW) DAEMON: Authentication information: SDDM::Auth::INFO_UNKNOWN "Last login: Mon Oct 5 21:02:39 from 10.0.2.2" [17:05:45.746] (II) HELPER: Writing cookie to "/tmp/xauth_WYxhUO" [17:05:45.747] (II) HELPER: Starting X11 session: "" "/usr/local/share/sddm/scripts/Xsession \"/usr/local/bin/startplasma-x11\"" [17:05:45.752] (II) DAEMON: Session started true bsd@practice:~ $ ls /home/bsd/.local/share/sddm/ xorg-session.log
- /var/log/Xorg.0.log is the log of the X server. A healthy one has no (EE) lines (the single match above is the legend at the top of the file). Look for (EE) and for the driver that was used: Setting up VESA Mode ... (1280x800) tells you that the server found the driver and the screen.
- /var/log/sddm.log is the log of the login screen: it shows the authentication and the command that started the session.
- ~/.local/share/sddm/xorg-session.log has the output of your own session. When you log in and are thrown back at once, the reason is usually here: a missing library, or the session program that could not start.
The faults we met on the way, and what they were:
- Failed to activate virtual core keyboard in the X log: the keyboard map compiler did not run. Either xkbcomp and xkeyboard-config are not installed, or the system is on 15.0 and the program needs the C library of 15.1 (Step 0).
- Only console users are allowed to run the X server when starting X by hand from an ssh session. That is what SDDM is for: it starts X for you on the console.
- Login works, but the screen goes grey and nothing starts: the Openbox session without py312-pyxdg (the message is in ~/.local/share/sddm/xorg-session.log).
- A screen of the wrong size: without the Screen section of Step 2 the vesa driver chose 1920x1080 in our virtual machine.
On real hardware you will want the driver for your graphics card in place of vesa. On FreeBSD that is the drm-kmod package with the kernel module of your card, loaded from /etc/rc.conf (for example kld_list="amdgpu" or kld_list="i915kms"), after which the X server uses the modesetting driver and Plasma can use 3D. We did not test this: the virtual machine has no such card. The FreeBSD Handbook chapter on the desktop lists the modules.
What we did not do
- Real graphics hardware, drm-kmod, and a Wayland session. The Plasma 6 Wayland session (startplasma-wayland) is installed, but needs a driver with kernel mode setting, so we tested only the X11 session.
- Sound, printing, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi in the desktop, and a web browser other than Konqueror (pkg install firefox is one line).
- The **full kde package**, which adds every KDE application (the office suite, the games, the education programs) and is several times bigger.
- Other desktops (Xfce, MATE, GNOME) and other window managers. The steps up to Step 3 are the same for all of them.
The cheat sheet
- Be on 15.1 first (freebsd-version -ku, freebsd-update), or the X programs fail with FBSD_1.9 required (Step 0).
- X: pkg install xorg-minimal xf86-video-vesa xkbcomp xkeyboard-config font-misc-misc font-cursor-misc dejavu.
- Config: sysrc dbus_enable=YES, pw groupmod video -m USER, and /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf with the driver (and the mode, for a virtual machine).
- Test first: pkg install openbox py312-pyxdg xterm sddm, sysrc sddm_enable=YES, service sddm start.
- KDE: pkg install plasma6-plasma kde-baseapps konsole kate (484 packages, about 4 GiB), then choose Plasma (X11) in the session list of the login screen.
- Autologin: /usr/local/etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf with [Autologin], User=, Session=plasmax11.
- Keys: Alt+Space (KRunner), F3 and F4 in Dolphin, Meta+arrows (tiling), Ctrl+Shift+T (a Konsole tab).
- Logs: /var/log/Xorg.0.log, /var/log/sddm.log, ~/.local/share/sddm/xorg-session.log.
- Virtual machine: no 3D, so avoid heavy effects, and give it 4 GB of memory or more.
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