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story
Nirbo writes
"FreeBSD switches to X.Org, The 'HEADSUP' can be found here, and on the -x11, -current, and -ports mailing lists. Very good news for those FreeBSD users who have either changed to X.Org in anticipation, or have been waiting in hope for this momentous change."
So what will become of xfree? (Score:5, Interesting)
automatic configuration (Score:5, Interesting)
Too bad that you can't upgrade an existing system without using portupgrade, though. I hate to see portupgrade drifting closer and closer to being a required part of the system. I've had a lot of bad (system-breaking) experiences with it.
The lesson of X11.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Who is left...? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Tobes Of Hades Lit By Flickering Torchlight (Score:3, Interesting)
Mike Smith now works for Apple, who's OS is based on BSD.
Check it out: www.lemis.com/~grog/msmr.html [lemis.com]
and at: daemonnews, under "BSD at Apple" [daemonnews.org]
He didn't like the direction that v5 was taking so he quit and starting writing BSD code for Apple.
Name change... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The lesson of X11.... (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think this shift is entirely a license issue. I was chatting with one of the FreeBSD core team guys around the time the decision was being made, and he felt that the frustration of getting fixes fed back into the XFree86 code base in a timely manner was a big part of the motivation. And this certainly isn't the first time I've heard complaints of XFree86 foot-dragging by the FreeBSD folks.
I guess you might say it's all of a piece -- the XFree86 user community simply didn't find the developers responsive (whether on license or technology), and when X.org proved a viable alternative, they voted with their feet.
Anyone for the Fifth Element? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The lesson of X11.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Though I did have a big ass problem with Debian refusing to let apt do it's things the right way when I "broke" the X installation by installing a source-built XFree 4.3.0 over the then-Debian-supplied XFree 4.2.0. This is when I discovered that (a) dpkg sucks (b) Debian's X installation is a spaghetti mess (c) it's virtually impossible to remove XFree packages from a Debian installation and not remove every other program that uses X on the system, which is why I had to just plain install source-built XF over the top of the Debian installed one.
On the bright side, every time apt- would hork the XFree installation by changes having happened to the Debian files during an apt-get, a simple "make World" made my entire X installation back to the way it was supposed to be.
Now, on the other hand, I've never even cracked the bindings of XFree source. I imagine, that it's probably a myriad of horrible hacked crap dating back 10-15 years or more in several places. I imagine that it's a completely unmaintainable nightmare. And I also completely understand that there was virtually NO development happening beyond bug fixes and the occasional tweak type enhancement to XFree. XF 4 was a major update but that was still like 2 years ago. 4.1, 4.2 were mostly bug fixes, 4.3 completed some of th features for 4.0, and fixed more bugs.
I'm really curious as to if there are any differences between X.org and XFree86 in th software, yet?
Re:Short Domain (Score:5, Interesting)
ai [ai] and dk [dk] should work.
Due to DNS weirdness you might need to add a dot, as in ai. [ai.] and dk. [dk.]
The Cautionary Tale of XFree86 (Score:3, Interesting)
They wanted out.. (Score:3, Interesting)
First, XFree86 Core Team Disbands [slashdot.org], then X.org and XFree86 Reform [slashdot.org]. Then a week later, XFree86 Alters License [slashdot.org]. I realise the 'merger' turned out to be more of an exodus, but I think the project was ready to die anyway.
The license change was really just a way of prompting everyone to move on, while not completely abandoning them.
Thats all just my guess, take it or leave it.
Re:What about Apple? (Score:1, Interesting)
The beautiful eye candy is partially as a result of the absolute control apple exercise over their GUI, but there is no technical reason why similar eye candy isn't possible with development of X extensions, as freedesktop.org is demonstrating. Whether it would have been in apple's interest to go in the X direction is another matter - basically, they would have ended up paying for X's enhancement.
In summary: Don't confuse X and the toolkits on top of X...
Re:I wonder... (Score:2, Interesting)
Speaking as a (l)user with an nVidia Riva128 video card (yes, I know it's old and it sucks and I should get a new one; you may be seated), I have experienced frustration in the recent past, when XFree86 4.3.x was limping toward 4.4.0: XFree86 4.2.x had annoying bugs which unfortunately I can't now remember; the Riva128 driver in the 4.3.99 prerelease packages was broken, and the only way to get a working one was to use a CVS snapshot; but getting the CVS snapshots working with any sort of stability was, to put it politely, a challenge.
From the small amount of correspondence I had on the XFree86 mailing list, the devs seemed rather frustrated at the way things were dragging along, and not just with a video driver for a ratty little video card that three people still use. While I'm still mainly using XFree86 for the moment, I'm definitely watching Xorg with interest.
Re:Short Domain (Score:2, Interesting)
I just create a list [daimi.au.dk] with all the short ones I could find that actually resolve.
Re:So XFree Is Dead then (Score:1, Interesting)
I stronly disagree with your statements... (Score:2, Interesting)