Taken from a conversation with ajax in #xorg on freenode. I've been curious what the 'standard' modules in xorg.conf even do, and couldn't find this info anywhere else. Thanks to ajax for the brief but useful clarification. Here's my now verbosely commented xorg.conf module section.
Section "Module" # old bitmap font support (no longer needed as of xorg7.x) Load "bitmap" # a collection of X protocol extensions that you want but shouldn't even be loadable Load "extmod" # to load freetype fonts and type 1 fonts Load "freetype" Load "type1" # layer below vbe that emus x86 real mode so you can call into vbios # vesa bios interface for card setup stuff Load "int10" Load "vbe" # serial bus over which you speak the ddc protocol to get info from the monitor Load "i2c" Load "ddc" # direct rendering infrastructure which makes opengl go fast Load "dri" # glx and glcore implement opengl Load "glx" Load "GLcore" # double buffering extension (no apps use?) # Load "dbe" # 1 of 3 extensions for application automation (unneeded -- most things use xtest from extmod) # Load "record" EndSection
Additional information is provided with the Debian configuration utility dpkg-reconfigure:
This option is recommended to experienced users only. In most cases, all of these modules should be enabled.
- glx : support for OpenGL rendering; - dri : support in the X server for DRI (Direct Rendering Infrastructure) - vbe : support for VESA BIOS Extensions. Allows to query the monitor capabilities via the video card; - ddc : support for Data Display Channel, respectively. Allows to query the monitor capabilities via the video card; - int10 : real-mode x86 emulator used to softboot secondary VGA cards. Should be enabled if vbe is enabled; - dbe : enables the double-buffering extension in the server. Useful for animation and video operations; - extmod: enables many traditional and commonly used extensions, such as shaped windows, shared memory, video mode switching, DGA, and Xv; - record: implements the RECORD extension, often used in server testing; - bitmap: font rasterizer (so are freetype, and type1 modules).
For further information about these modules, please consult the X.Org documentation.