10.9 CDE (To Be Removed)

CDE Desktop Environment Overview

CDE (Common Desktop Environment) was the standard desktop environment for commercial UNIX systems in the 1990s, widely used in commercial distributions such as Solaris, HP-UX, and AIX.

Installing the CDE Desktop Environment

• Install using pkg:

# pkg install xorg cde wqy-fonts xdg-user-dirs

• Or install using Ports:

# cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg/ && make install clean
# cd /usr/ports/x11/cde/ && make install clean
# cd /usr/ports/x11-fonts/wqy/ && make install clean
# cd /usr/ports/devel/xdg-user-dirs/ && make install clean

Package Description

Package	Description
xorg	X Window System
cde	Provides the traditional CDE desktop environment
wqy-fonts	WenQuanYi Chinese Fonts
xdg-user-dirs	Manages user directories such as "Desktop", "Downloads", etc.

• View post-installation information

# pkg info -D cde

Configuring Services and Files

• Configure services

# service rpcbind enable  # Set RPC bind service to start on boot
# service dtcms enable  # Set DTCMS service to start on boot
# service inetd enable  # Set inetd daemon to start on boot
# service dtlogin enable  # Set DTLogin display manager to start on boot

• Configure the X server to allow any user to start:

# echo "allowed_users=anybody" > /usr/local/etc/X11/Xwrapper.config

• Create a symbolic link to Xsession for the current user, used to start the desktop session:

$ ln -s /usr/local/dt/bin/Xsession ~/.xinitrc

• Configure the dtspcd service to start via TCP, add the following content to the /etc/inetd.conf file:

dtspc	stream	tcp	nowait	root	 /usr/local/dt/bin/dtspcd	/usr/local/dt/bin/dtspcd

• Specify TCP port 6112 for the dtspc service, add the following content to the /etc/services file:

dtspc		6112/tcp

Chinese Configuration

Edit the /etc/login.conf file: find the default:\ section and change :lang=C.UTF-8 to :lang=zh_CN.UTF-8.

Rebuild the capability database based on the /etc/login.conf file for the configuration to take effect:

# cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf

Desktop Gallery

dtlogin

FreeBSD Install CDE

It pauses at this stage for several minutes each time it starts.

FreeBSD Install CDE

Terminal

Troubleshooting and Outstanding Issues

Unable to Set Chinese Environment

The overall CDE interface cannot be switched to Chinese; only the calendar component can display Chinese.

According to the source code at https://sourceforge.net/p/cdesktopenv/code/ci/master/tree/cde/imports/motif/localized/, CDE does not have Simplified Chinese support. However, according to the Simplified Chinese Solaris User Guide, the Solaris version does include Simplified Chinese support. This localization support may have been lost during the open-sourcing process, or the Solaris version may be an unmerged branch. This has been reported at Missing Simplified Chinese locale support under cde/imports/motif/localized.

References

• FreshPorts. cde Common Desktop Environment[EB/OL]. [2026-03-25]. https://www.freshports.org/x11/cde. CDE desktop environment Port details and installation guide provided by FreshPorts.
• FreeBSD Project. Setting up Common Desktop Environment for modern use[EB/OL]. [2026-03-25]. https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/setting-up-common-desktop-environment-for-modern-use.69475/. For detailed configuration, refer to the relevant FreeBSD forum discussion.
• CDE Project. CDE - Common Desktop Environment Wiki[EB/OL]. [2026-03-25]. https://sourceforge.net/p/cdesktopenv/wiki/FreeBSDBuild/. FreeBSD platform build and configuration guide provided by the official CDE project Wiki.