Portupgrade, XFree86, and Gnome

[Drew Tomlinson]

I've looked but have been unable to find an answer to my question.  Can I
use portupgrade to upgrade XWindows related components while XWindows is
running?  For example, I use the Gnome desktop.  If I open a terminal window
on the desktop, can I upgrade Gnome and XFree86 related items that need
updating in this window?  Or is it required that I exit my desktop session,
kill gdm, and then kill XFree86 and run portupgrade from a console session?
Or maybe this isn't required but preferred?  I'm confused.

Thanks for any insight.

Drew