Xorg's XFree86 Replacement Released


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Well today Xorg released X11R6.7 which is a fork of the well known XFree86 project. It was forked specifically at 4.4.0-rc2 and contains all updates which are not a part of the 1.1 license XFree86 now uses. Amoung these differences Xorg also updated Fontconfig, Freetype, the render extension and render library, as well as many other minior changes such as binary support for both Xorg and XFree86 modules. The full changelog can be viewed here at "http://freedesktop.org/~xorg/X11R6.7.0/doc/RELNOTES3.html#3" and I think that everyone which is able to should try and support this project. Xorg has also stated that they plan on making another 1 to 2 releases this year which I find very exciting. Before with XFree86 we would typically wait roughly 1 year or so between releases and by the time a release was offered many parts of X were very outdated and the lack of new features and patch acceptance also is a big deterrant to X. Now with Xorg they are trying to make a few very good releases every year, keep X using fairly recent software as well as add new features to improve the performance of X and openly accept developers and patches. With all these new changes I feel that Xorg will create a much better xserver for everyone.

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:o Do i really need this?

no you don't need it. Most distros are going to use this in their future releases so you will get it then. The only reason I have it is because I like to use the newest stuff. I have noticed very little difference between this and 4.3 or 4.4 xfree

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it is definantly something that is not needed but will be good for the project to gain a larger user base. This will allow more bug reports to be sent and in the end more bugs fixed and a better product as a whole. There won't be any major changes till Xorg's next release comes about and even then it will still simply be a progression in a new direction.

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I just made the nice transition using the ebuilds that are already in Gentoo's Portage. I like that I can use the newer code without that terrible licence that Xfree has. I also like where the Xorg project is going, especially with the merging of changes from Keith Packard's work. This is definately a project to keep an eye on and something that all current Xfree 4.4 users should switch to.

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I just made the nice transition using the ebuilds that are already in Gentoo's Portage. I like that I can use the newer code without that terrible licence that Xfree has. I also like where the Xorg project is going, especially with the merging of changes from Keith Packard's work. This is definately a project to keep an eye on and something that all current Xfree 4.4 users should switch to.

did that add the drop shadows around the windows and transparency from Keith's xserver?

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No. From what I read on the freedesktop.org website, work is already being done to backport the changes from Xserver to Xorg. It also mentions how Xorg is a effort to change from a monolithic package to modular one based on the Xlibs, Xserver, and Xapps development. I hope to see some innovation soon.

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No. From what I read on the freedesktop.org website, work is already being done to backport the changes from Xserver to Xorg. It also mentions how Xorg is a effort to change from a monolithic package to modular one based on the Xlibs, Xserver, and Xapps development. I hope to see some innovation soon.

Wow, that sounds totally awesome :) I would really love it if we could get the best of both worlds - eg. the transparency/dropshadows/speed/other misc. eye candy from Xserver and the compatibility with nvidia binary drivers from Xorg. :woot: :woot: :woot:

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