Textbook of Linux

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Xorg / X.Org Server

The X Window System server.

The X.Org Server is the long-running reference implementation of the X11 Window System, the protocol that has been the basis for graphical Linux desktops for over thirty years. Applications draw on a logical canvas managed by the server, communicate with each other through the X protocol, and the server ultimately translates everything into draw operations on the graphics hardware.

X.Org forked from the previous XFree86 in 2004 over a licensing dispute. The X.Org Foundation has stewarded the server, the client libraries, and the broad ecosystem of X-aware applications since. Most distribution X servers today are running an X.Org build.

Wayland is now displacing X.Org for most new desktop work — the X protocol is showing its age in security, multi-monitor, and high-DPI handling — but X.Org remains in active use on countless systems and will continue to ship in distributions for years. Many tools and toolkits gain Wayland support gradually, and X.Org continues to play the role of the "always works" fallback.

Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install xserver-xorg
Fedora/RHEL:   sudo dnf install xorg-x11-server-Xorg
Arch:          sudo pacman -S xorg-server