On top of Wayland, Chimera supports Xorg. Note that Wayland is recommended by the distribution for most users.
To install Xorg, simply add the necessary package:
# apk add xserver-xorg
This will install a setup that is enough for most users. Other components of the X11 stack are available through other packages, however. This full metapackage installs most apps.
You can also install a way smaller, but functional installation and add the apps you need yourself. To do that, use:
# apk add xserver-xorg-minimal
Starting a WM/DE
Most people will want to use a display manager, such as GDM. You can find instructions for GDM on the GNOME page.
Other people will prefer to use the startx tool. To use that, you need
to create the .xinitrc file in either ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/.xinitrc
(this will typically be ${HOME}/.config/.xinitrc) or in ${HOME}/.xinitrc.
Put your startup commands in there, and run startx.
Privileged Xorg
By default, Chimera Xorg is unprivileged, and uses elogind to negotiate
permissions for the display device. There are cases when you may want to
use the legacy method using a setuid wrapper:
- Xorg needs to be able to switch VTs, e.g. when using GDM without Wayland.
- Systems that don’t use
elogind(for now).
To set that up, you can do the following:
# echo needs_root_rights = yes > /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config
Once done, Xorg will no longer require elogind and it will have greater
privileges. Note that doing this is not recommended.