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Cygwin/XFree86 Leaving XFree86.org

Posted by simoniker on from the oh-the-shenanigans dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Cygwin/XFree86 project is leaving XFree86.org. For those that don't know, Cygwin/XFree86 is a port of the X Window System to Cygwin (which provides a *nix-like API on Windows). Here is the announcement and the start of the trouble. The XFree86 project has pushed away more developers than most projects ever have - is this the beginning of the end for XFree86?"

12 of 446 comments (clear)

  1. Leaving? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If developers are leaving the XFree86 arena, where are they flocking to? Is there a replacement readily available or is one in the works?

  2. Not for a while.. by Mr+Smidge · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'll certainly say that Xfree86 isn't going anywhere for a while, as it is all over the place now. But I do feel (and others probably do too) that it's about time we 'started again' with something like X but a whole lot neater and simpler.

    1. Re:Not for a while.. by cgranade · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Like YWindows?

      --

      #define DRM chmod 000

    2. Re:Not for a while.. by Mr+Smidge · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Very much like Y.

      However, some people are bound to complain at its integrated standard toolkit. I like the idea of a standard toolkit for consistency across applications, but to keep everybody happy (and for ultimate flexibility, which is what Linux is about, right?), it would be good for the choice of toolkit to be pluggable... Not based on top, as current toolkits are, but just swappable by Y. That way, we could all be using the same API and have things just the (consistent) way we want them.

      Some native OpenGL and SVG support might prove useful too.. :-)

  3. "beginning of the end"? by Horny+Smurf · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The end pretty much happened earlier this year when the most talented and prolific developers forked to form the xouvert


    slashdot story on the topic.

  4. Thanks for your "insight" by pimpinmonk · · Score: 5, Interesting
    is this the beginning of the end for XFree86?
    Is this the end of the beginning? Is it absolutely nothing? Jeez, talk about your random opinion. I don't see XFree dying, but more appropriately, I don't see this as possibly being the cause of the "beginning of the end." XFree-cygwin is definitely not propping the project up, nor are they the primary users.
  5. beginning of the end? by u19925 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    how many XFree86 users are using Cygwin port? 1 percent? Let us face it, it is not the "beginning of the end" but is rather the "end of the beginning of the end".

  6. I wish. by cK-Gunslinger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Don't get me wrong, XFree86 is great and all, but I wish there was a replacement. I would be willing to wager that >75% of those of us who run a Linux desktop don't need hardly *any* of the advanced features in the X Windows server. I would like to see a completely modular, X-windows core-compatible windowing system for Linux. Want to use some of the advanced features? Add in the module, recompile, and go!

  7. Perseverance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The XFree86 project has pushed away more developers than most projects ever have - is this the beginning of the end for XFree86?

    I think not and here's why: I've been working as a consultant for one of the top banks in the US for the last 10 years. One of my roles is to maintain the COBOL-emulator for the VAX systems that we store customer data in. One of the integral pieces, as you may guess, is CygWin. We actively add elements and integrate third-party products with CygWin since it is the best at what it does.

    The greatest challenge for our team is to enhance the Win32 abstraction layer so that it no longer interferes with the HAL on a multi-processor layer. We've made some progress and thanks to CygWin we're close to completion.

    Which is nice.

  8. good move - their whole patch system is whacked by graveyhead · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been trying to figure out how to get this fullscreen patch for Cygwin/X into the dist, but the xfree86 dev list tells me to submit to bugzilla. So what, I'm supposed to invent a bug and then solve it? Its a new feature and it would be nice to have a real place to discuss and enhance it (the xfree86 dev list is very aloof and hasn't been kind to me at all as a newbie x developer). I think it's a good move for Cygwin...

    --
    std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
  9. Re:beginning of the end? by 10Ghz · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The reason the push developers away is that many of these guys are trying to bloat xfree to hell


    Yeah, guys like Keith Packard were just bloating Xfree!

    In fact, it seems that KP was just about the only guy who was passionate about Xfree and REALLY worked on it. I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry when I saw KP being flamed by David Wexelblat (one of the founder of Xfree) in Xfree mailinglist. It was sad/funny because while Wexelblat was busy flaming KP, he also mentioned that he does not even use Xfree there days, let alone hack it! He uses Windows these days!

    So, Guys like Keith Packard get kicked out, while useless deadbeats like David Wexelblat are members of the core-team. What's wrong with this picture?
    --
    Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
  10. Yeah right by lordDogma · · Score: 4, Interesting
    a real alternative getting underway. Check out the Freso project

    Fresco has been bogged down in Alpha status for the last 5 years. Some people think that the only reason it is so slow in development is because no-one knows about it.

    But the real reason is because Fresco sucks and no one wants to touch it with a 10 foot pole. If you think X is bloated, Fresco is 10 times worse. Its an over-engineered solution heavily reliant on C++, CORBA, GGI, and other crap.

    X does suck, but 90% of the basic design of X is excellent. A new windowing system should focus on keeping the basic design, while (a) eliminating legacy crap that no one needs anymore, and (b) adding the stuff we DO need like Drag and Drop, Transparency, AA fonts, 3D, etc.

    -- LD