XFree86 or Xorg

[Ultra Frosty]

Okay, I'm gonna get a new distro, but before I choose, which package of X11 should I use, XFree86 or Xorg? What are the pros and cons of each one?

[Veiva]

Xorg.

[csabo2]

i would say xfree as its more stable. but thats just me

[lexor]

i would say x11 as its more stable. but thats just me

ok then why is he asking which package of X11 to pick, XFree or Xorg? that would imply they are versions of the same thing, aka X11.

[Aeonandromere]

Im using Xfree on my gentoo, but it seems that Xorg is becoming mainstream so im gonna switch to that soon.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Okay, I'm gonna get a new distro, but before I choose, which package of X11 should I use, XFree86 or Xorg? What are the pros and cons of each one?

There are very little technical differences.

X.org is favoured for political reasons because XFree86 changed to a GPL incompatible license when they went to XFree86 4.4

XFree86 4.3 does not have the licensing issues, it is well supported by drivers and it considered to be stable.

X.org is based on XFree86 4.4 but is also free of licensing issues. It has improved screen fonts and better alpha transparencies. You may, however, have issues when you go to add such things as video drivers.

Some distros, like those based on Debian, plan to wait for the modular edition of X.org before they port their system onto it. Their reasoning is that there is too little benefit to justify a move to X.org until then. The current release of X.org is little more than XFree86 4.4 repacked under the X.org banner (albeit with a GPL compatiblelicense).

The general consensus, however, is that XFree86 is dead (in the long term).

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I should also mention that X.org 6.8 (their repackaged version of XFree86 4.4 with a few extras) was supposed to ship on Wednesday, August 25th, 2004 but it looks like their release date has slipped.

There is probably little point in upgrading to X.org 6.7 at this point although I don't really know if they are getting even close to releasing 6.8. The chart that I saw on their website (which I don't know if it is up to date) showed a lot of red boxes in the unfinished category.

I heard that some distros, like SuSE 10 are waiting for X.org to release 6.8 before they launch so they pressure is on...

[Zerosleep]

Xorg for life.

[LaNcom]

x.org - it's more stable, and constantly improving (something not true for XFree86 anymore).

I think some background info might be helpful:

X.org is approved by the Open Group, an entity governing the X11 standard. XFree86 was a usable reference-implementation of the UNIX-wide X standard. But X changed the license from MIT-X11 to something GPL-incompatible before 4.4 was released. One of the main X guru's, Keith Packard, left the XFree86 team some months ago, before the license change, and started fd.o XServer, an experimental, now defunct, X11 implementation to test new features. After the license change, the last XFree86 version before the change was forked, and approved as the new, official X11 reference-implementation by the Open Group, and hosted at freedesktop.org. Keith gave up XServer and ported his improvements to X.org. A lot of the other XFree86 core developers, fed up with XFree86's license change and lack of flexibility, joined the X.org team (Egbert Eich, Alan Coopersmith, Jim Gettys, Eric Anholt...). The first X.org release was 6.7, basically XFree86 with some bugfixes - the soon to be released 6.8 contains quite a few performance and eye-candy improvements like XDamage, XFixes and Compose, and future releases might even implement parts of Looking Glass and similar features. BTW, drivers are not really an issue, even Andy Ritger of Nvidia is a regular on the X.org mailinglist... ;-)

[Fred Derf Veteran]

BTW, drivers are not really an issue, even Andy Ritger of Nvidia is a regular on the X.org mailinglist... ;-)

Drivers are not an issue IF you have a Nvidia card.

[smp]

Drivers are not an issue IF you have a Nvidia card.

or if you have an onboard intel gfx

[metal_dragen Veteran]

It's been said before, but I want to add my own 2?.

X.org is going to be the future of the X11 window system. Since it is a fork of the XFree 4.3 tree, it's tried and tested and as stable as XFree 4.3 ever was (with the same driver support). The advantage of X.org is that it is and will continue to be a GPL-compatible license, and, it has a better development schedule. X.org is planning on implementing a lot of features that users have been wanting. XFree is too slow with integrating new features, patches, and upgrades. And their development is a lot more restricted in that fewer people are allowed to commit directly to the tree versus a normal OSS project. X.org has opened up a lot more and is allowing more community contribution. Which is always a Good Thing.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

It's been said before, but I want to add my own 2?.

X.org is going to be the future of the X11 window system. Since it is a fork of the XFree 4.3 tree, it's tried and tested and as stable as XFree 4.3 ever was (with the same driver support). The advantage of X.org is that it is and will continue to be a GPL-compatible license, and, it has a better development schedule. X.org is planning on implementing a lot of features that users have been wanting. XFree is too slow with integrating new features, patches, and upgrades. And their development is a lot more restricted in that fewer people are allowed to commit directly to the tree versus a normal OSS project. X.org has opened up a lot more and is allowing more community contribution. Which is always a Good Thing.

Actually it was forked at XFree 4.4RC2.

ATI does not provide driver support for XFree4.4 or X.org just XFree 4.3

I think that just about eveyone believes that XFree86 is dead. The decision is whether we should wait until X.org offers something more concrete (like their modular version).

Nobody doubts the future, just the present...

[Alien Venom]

Xorg was meant to replace XFree86 as the license was reently chnged.

Many distributions already have Xorg packages (Fedora installs it by default now). And Debian gives you an option which to install.

I think Xorg is fully compatible with XFree86.

[dotRoot]

Xorg was meant to replace XFree86 as the license was reently chnged.

Many distributions already have Xorg packages (Fedora installs it by default now). And Debian gives you an option which to install.

I think Xorg is fully compatible with XFree86.

Fedora installs a hybrid version of the two. Its not one nor the other.

Xorg should be your choice, most users would agree.

[SaguratuS]

Go xorg, but beware that xv is partially broken without a fix for it :(

[Fred Derf Veteran]

And Debian gives you an option which to install.

Debian does not. Debian is tied to their heavily patched version of XFree 4.3

Furthermore, Debian will bypass the forthcoming X.org v6.8 and wait until the modular version of X.org

[Djmutik1013]

X.org for the speed at which it is developed

[Fred Derf Veteran]

X.org for the speed at which it is developed

x.org will be the X11 system that we all use two years from now but there are little advantages in swiching now. xFree86 is effectively dead as far as the future is concerned but in the present, it matters little.

x.org may be progressing quickly but there were late with their 6.8 release.

[panicswitched]

x.org

[Knight']

Don't use the 6.7.99.90x builds right now, I've found them to be pretty buggy if you're using Gnome and there's still lots of work needed to be done and it does break apps which use gtk1 libs. Wait 'till the final release.

[slapnuts_ox]

I recomend using xorg over xfree86 for a few reasons. First off is that while they did miss their release date by almost 2 weeks, how many groups truly reach their release goals? I'd personally rather have a stable and solid 6.8 release than worry about a buggy 6.8 that crashes on me. Also xorg is on a cycle where they plan on making 2-3 eleases every year vs the beyond slow release schedule that the xfree86 team had. Next I feel that the xfree86 group's license change was not called for and it was done because there were rumors that x was going to be forked so they changed it simply to "protect" their code so to say. Finally xorg is working on actually making x11 a modern day xserver and not so ancient. whats really going to be nice is the direction that xorg is headed. When they add opengl acceleration its going to take x to whole new levels and the modular x will also make it easier patch, update and maintain x.

To make it short xorg has newer features, is being backed by most vendors and is gpl compliant.

[Rudy]

i dont know why you guys care so much if its gpl or not.....but im using xorg too but i couldnt care less of the liscencing

[markwolfe Veteran]

GPL-compliant doesn't necessarily mean that it is licenesed under the GPL.

The reason that many of us think it is important is that a change in licensing terms can allow software to be propriatary and closed.