Xvfb(1X)Xvfb(1X)NAMEXvfb - virtual framebuffer X server
SYNOPSISXvfb [option...]
OPTIONS
In addition to the normal server options described in the Xdec(1X) man‐
ual page, Xvfb accepts the following command line switches: Specifies
the name of a configuration file to use to configure the loadable Xvfb
server. The default configuration file is /usr/var/X11/Xvfb.conf This
option creates screen screennum and sets its width, height, and depth
to W, H, and D respectively. By default, only screen 0 exists and has
the dimensions 1280x1024x8. This option specifies a list of pixmap
depths that the server should support in addition to the depths implied
by the supported screens. list-of-depths is a space-separated list of
integers that can have values from 1 to 32. This option specifies the
directory in which the memory mapped files containing the framebuffer
memory should be created. See FILES. This option only exists on
machines that have the mmap and msync system calls. This option speci‐
fies that the framebuffer should be put in shared memory. The shared
memory ID for each screen will be printed by the server. The shared
memory is in xwd format. This option only exists on machines that sup‐
port the System V shared memory interface.
If neither -shmem nor -fbdir is specified, the framebuffer memory will
be allocated with malloc().
DESCRIPTIONXvfb is an X server that can run on machines with no display hardware
and no physical input devices. It emulates a dumb framebuffer using
virtual memory.
The Xvfb command supports the run-time loading and execution of X vir‐
tual frame buffer server libraries on Tru64 UNIX platforms. The com‐
mand loads appropriate libraries installed on the workstation and can
be configured to use any or all of the extension libraries available on
your workstation.
The primary use of this server is intended to be server testing. The
mfb or cfb code for any depth can be exercised with this server without
the need for real hardware that supports the desired depths.
A secondary use is testing clients against unusual depths and screen
configurations.
MODULAR XVFB SERVER
When the Xvfb command is started, it uses a set of internal default
lists of components to build an X server. It also reads a system con‐
figuration file (/usr/var/X11/Xvfb.conf or the file specified by the
-config option) to supplement or replace components on the lists. The
command loads all system and core components and then transfers execu‐
tion to the core components.
The core components then load the list of extensions provided and ini‐
tialize the extensions. Extensions listed in the configuration file
are loaded when a client queries the extension. The core components
also load any font renderers, transport handlers, and authorization
protocol methods specified in the configurations.
The configuration file syntax is described in the Xdec(1X) man page.
The Xvfb command searches for libraries using the library_path speci‐
fied in the configuration file or the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment vari‐
able. Each component in the colon separated path is searched. The
default search path is /usr/shlib/X11:/usr/shlib
The default system installation provides a sample configuration file
/usr/var/X11/Xvfb.conf. It contains comments and shows examples for
setting up library lists, library sub-lists, the library search path,
and sample argument lists.
EXAMPLES
The server will listen for connections as server number 1, and screen 0
will be depth 32 1600x1200. The server will listen for connections as
server number 1, will have the default screen configuration (one
screen, 1280x1024x8), and screen 1 will be depth 16 1600x1200. The
server will listen for connections as server number 0, will have the
default screen configuration (one screen, 1280x1024x8), will also sup‐
port pixmap depths of 3 and 27, and will use memory mapped files in
/usr/tmp for the framebuffer. Displays screen 0 of the server started
by the preceding example.
FILES
The following files are created if the -fbdir option is given. Memory
mapped file containing screen n's framebuffer memory, one file per
screen. The file is in xwd format.
SEE ALSOX(1X), Xdec(1X), xwd(1X), xwud(1X), <XWDFile.h>
AUTHORS
David P. Wiggins, X Consortium, Inc.
Xvfb(1X)
