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X.Org Foundation Releases X11R6.7 X Window System
Several folks submitted the press release announcing the formation of the X.Org Foundation and the release of X11R6.7 of the X Window System. The XOrg Foundation is the successor to the X Consortium, formed by many of the most notworthy participants in the XFree86 Project. This code release is a tree forked from the last XFree86 release not troubled by that pesky license change. Since Mandrake, Gentoo, OpenBSD, and Debian have already rejected the new XFree86 license, this new code tree will likely become the default X11 for most Linux users. I've attached the press release that explains more details about the code release, as well as the X.Org foundation itself.
XOrg Foundation writes "X.Org Foundation Announces Formation and First Release
The new X.Org Foundation will help drive the X Window System to support
state-of-the-art desktop technologies
San Francisco, CA., April 6, 2004 - X.Org Foundation today announces their first release of the X Window System since the formation of the Foundation in January of this year. The new X.Org release, called X Window System Version 11 Release 6.7 (X11R6.7), builds on the work of the X.Org X11R6.6 and XFree86TM Project Inc. V4.4RC2 releases to combine many of the latest developments from a large number of the participants and companies working with the X Window community. The X Window System X11R6.7 release can be found at http://www.x.org/.
We have made great progress in creating a framework upon which further development of the X Window System can be based, agreed the Interim Board of the Foundation. We expect to provide the desktop community with at least two more releases of the X Window System before the end of this year to encompass all of the new technologies and ideas that we are developing.
This release marks the return to community development of the X Window System under governance open to all contributors for the first time since the founding of the X Consortium in 1988, said Jim Gettys, co-founder of the X Window System, Interim X.Org Foundation board member and member of the research staff of HP Labs.
We welcome the formation of the X.Org Foundation and are looking forward to support this group to bring the work on the X Window System to a new technological level, said Egbert Eich, X Window System developer at Novell's SUSE LINUX business unit.
Matthias Ettrich, Director of Software Development at Trolltech, said As a multi-platform GUI toolkit vendor, we appreciate the value of a powerful underlying windowing system, and as such, we are excited about the direction X.Org is heading. We are very much looking forward to supporting new technologies around X, and we will do our share to make the advances of the platform accessible to software developers.
Being an underlying technology to the most popular desktops on all GNU Systems, in particular GNOME and KDE, the X Window System is indeed an essential part of most Free Software operating systems, said Georg C.F. Greve, president of the FSF Europe. It helps many users to access and enjoy the freedom of Free Software. We are glad that X.Org will from now on watch over this enabling technology.
Red Hat is pleased to be working with the new X.Org Foundation to build a vibrant open source community around X Window System innovation. Look for X11R6.7 in the upcoming Fedora Core 2 and future Red Hat Enterprise Linux products, said Havoc Pennington, desktop development manager at Red Hat.
As one of the largest GNU/Linux distribution projects in the world, the Debian Project is delighted to see that freedom and diversity are alive and well in the X technology sector. We're also delighted that the X.Org Foundation is dedicated to retaining the licensing model that has made the X Window System an enduring success, said Branden Robinson of the Debian GNU/Linux Project. Like us, the X.Org Foundation is a member-driven organization devoted to Free Software. We cannot help but be enthusiastic about them and the work they're doing for the X Window System and Free Software communities alike.
An open source project works best with a large community of active contributors. OSI welcomes the return of X to open source development by the entire community. I'm looking forward to contributing myself, said Russell Nelson, Vice-President of the Open Source Initiative.
Cygwin/X is benefiting heavily from the community-building spirit of the X.Org Foundation and their open development environment. We are pleased to be basing our releases on the good work of the X.Org Foundation, said Harold L Hunt II of the Cygwin/X project.
The XonX Project is very pleased that the X.Org Foundation has been eager to support Darwin and Mac OS X. X11R6.7 adds new features that will be appreciated by many Mac OS X users, said Torrey Lyons, XonX Project Founder.
Membership of the X.Org Foundation is free to all participants. Applications for membership are now being accepted, and active participants in the further development of the X Window System are invited to visit: http://www.x.org/XOrg_Foundation_Membership.html to complete a membership application. Participation in the Foundations Sponsor Group is also available to those who wish to financially support the activities The X.Org Foundation. Current Sponsors include Hewlett Packard, IBM, and SUN Microsystems.
About The Foundation Release
X11R6.7 is the first official X.Org Foundation release. It is the successor release to X11R6.6 from X.Org. To assure consistency with industry and community requirements and practices, it was developed from the X.Org X11R6.6 code base and the XFree86 V4.4RC2 code base, with the addition of bug fixes and enhancements. These enhancements include: new IPv6 functionality, Freetype V2.1.7, fontconfig V2.2.2, Xft V2.1.6, Xcursor V1.1.2, and Xrender V0.8.4, with corresponding changes in documentation and notices. Additional source and binary releases are anticipated during 2004.
About The X Window System
The X Window System provides the only common networked windowing environment bridging the heterogeneous platforms in today's computing. The X Window System is one of the most successful open-source, collaborative technologies developed to date and is the standard graphical window system for the Linux and UNIX operating systems. The inherent independence of the X Window System from the operating system, the network and the hardware, as well as its successful interoperability, have made it widely available and deployed with more than 30 million users worldwide. All major hardware vendors support the X Window System and many third parties provide technologies for integrating X Window System applications into the networked computer or personal computer environments including Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux and Mac OS X. Further, thousands of software developers provide X Window System applications, and with the continued growth of Linux and the emergence of Mac OS X, the number of users is growing rapidly.
About X.Org Foundation
X.Org Foundation L.L.C. is a recently formed Delaware company organized to operate as a scientific charity under IRS code 501(c)(3), chartered to develop and execute effective strategies that provide worldwide stewardship of the X Window System technology and standards. The group is currently managed by an Interim Board of Directors that includes: Stuart Anderson (Free Standards Group), Egbert Eich (SUSE), Jim Gettys (HP), Georg Greve (Free Software Foundation Europe), Stuart Kreitman (SUN Microsystems), Kevin Martin (Red Hat), Jim McQuillan (Linux Terminal Server Project), Leon Shiman (Shiman Associates) and Jeremy White (Code Weavers). The website for the X.Org Foundation can be found at http://www.x.org/.
Note to editors: UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the US and other countries. LINUX is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. XFree86 is a trademark of The XFree86 Project, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac OS is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other company names are trademarks of the registered owners.
$"
The new X.Org Foundation will help drive the X Window System to support
state-of-the-art desktop technologies
San Francisco, CA., April 6, 2004 - X.Org Foundation today announces their first release of the X Window System since the formation of the Foundation in January of this year. The new X.Org release, called X Window System Version 11 Release 6.7 (X11R6.7), builds on the work of the X.Org X11R6.6 and XFree86TM Project Inc. V4.4RC2 releases to combine many of the latest developments from a large number of the participants and companies working with the X Window community. The X Window System X11R6.7 release can be found at http://www.x.org/.
We have made great progress in creating a framework upon which further development of the X Window System can be based, agreed the Interim Board of the Foundation. We expect to provide the desktop community with at least two more releases of the X Window System before the end of this year to encompass all of the new technologies and ideas that we are developing.
This release marks the return to community development of the X Window System under governance open to all contributors for the first time since the founding of the X Consortium in 1988, said Jim Gettys, co-founder of the X Window System, Interim X.Org Foundation board member and member of the research staff of HP Labs.
We welcome the formation of the X.Org Foundation and are looking forward to support this group to bring the work on the X Window System to a new technological level, said Egbert Eich, X Window System developer at Novell's SUSE LINUX business unit.
Matthias Ettrich, Director of Software Development at Trolltech, said As a multi-platform GUI toolkit vendor, we appreciate the value of a powerful underlying windowing system, and as such, we are excited about the direction X.Org is heading. We are very much looking forward to supporting new technologies around X, and we will do our share to make the advances of the platform accessible to software developers.
Being an underlying technology to the most popular desktops on all GNU Systems, in particular GNOME and KDE, the X Window System is indeed an essential part of most Free Software operating systems, said Georg C.F. Greve, president of the FSF Europe. It helps many users to access and enjoy the freedom of Free Software. We are glad that X.Org will from now on watch over this enabling technology.
Red Hat is pleased to be working with the new X.Org Foundation to build a vibrant open source community around X Window System innovation. Look for X11R6.7 in the upcoming Fedora Core 2 and future Red Hat Enterprise Linux products, said Havoc Pennington, desktop development manager at Red Hat.
As one of the largest GNU/Linux distribution projects in the world, the Debian Project is delighted to see that freedom and diversity are alive and well in the X technology sector. We're also delighted that the X.Org Foundation is dedicated to retaining the licensing model that has made the X Window System an enduring success, said Branden Robinson of the Debian GNU/Linux Project. Like us, the X.Org Foundation is a member-driven organization devoted to Free Software. We cannot help but be enthusiastic about them and the work they're doing for the X Window System and Free Software communities alike.
An open source project works best with a large community of active contributors. OSI welcomes the return of X to open source development by the entire community. I'm looking forward to contributing myself, said Russell Nelson, Vice-President of the Open Source Initiative.
Cygwin/X is benefiting heavily from the community-building spirit of the X.Org Foundation and their open development environment. We are pleased to be basing our releases on the good work of the X.Org Foundation, said Harold L Hunt II of the Cygwin/X project.
The XonX Project is very pleased that the X.Org Foundation has been eager to support Darwin and Mac OS X. X11R6.7 adds new features that will be appreciated by many Mac OS X users, said Torrey Lyons, XonX Project Founder.
Membership of the X.Org Foundation is free to all participants. Applications for membership are now being accepted, and active participants in the further development of the X Window System are invited to visit: http://www.x.org/XOrg_Foundation_Membership.html to complete a membership application. Participation in the Foundations Sponsor Group is also available to those who wish to financially support the activities The X.Org Foundation. Current Sponsors include Hewlett Packard, IBM, and SUN Microsystems.
About The Foundation Release
X11R6.7 is the first official X.Org Foundation release. It is the successor release to X11R6.6 from X.Org. To assure consistency with industry and community requirements and practices, it was developed from the X.Org X11R6.6 code base and the XFree86 V4.4RC2 code base, with the addition of bug fixes and enhancements. These enhancements include: new IPv6 functionality, Freetype V2.1.7, fontconfig V2.2.2, Xft V2.1.6, Xcursor V1.1.2, and Xrender V0.8.4, with corresponding changes in documentation and notices. Additional source and binary releases are anticipated during 2004.
About The X Window System
The X Window System provides the only common networked windowing environment bridging the heterogeneous platforms in today's computing. The X Window System is one of the most successful open-source, collaborative technologies developed to date and is the standard graphical window system for the Linux and UNIX operating systems. The inherent independence of the X Window System from the operating system, the network and the hardware, as well as its successful interoperability, have made it widely available and deployed with more than 30 million users worldwide. All major hardware vendors support the X Window System and many third parties provide technologies for integrating X Window System applications into the networked computer or personal computer environments including Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux and Mac OS X. Further, thousands of software developers provide X Window System applications, and with the continued growth of Linux and the emergence of Mac OS X, the number of users is growing rapidly.
About X.Org Foundation
X.Org Foundation L.L.C. is a recently formed Delaware company organized to operate as a scientific charity under IRS code 501(c)(3), chartered to develop and execute effective strategies that provide worldwide stewardship of the X Window System technology and standards. The group is currently managed by an Interim Board of Directors that includes: Stuart Anderson (Free Standards Group), Egbert Eich (SUSE), Jim Gettys (HP), Georg Greve (Free Software Foundation Europe), Stuart Kreitman (SUN Microsystems), Kevin Martin (Red Hat), Jim McQuillan (Linux Terminal Server Project), Leon Shiman (Shiman Associates) and Jeremy White (Code Weavers). The website for the X.Org Foundation can be found at http://www.x.org/.
Note to editors: UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the US and other countries. LINUX is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. XFree86 is a trademark of The XFree86 Project, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac OS is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other company names are trademarks of the registered owners.
$"
formed by many of the most notworthy participants
Surely they must be worthy of something...
Y is already used as a name for this project
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Would be and was. It is taken. The Y project is off the ground, and provides it's own widgets. Interesting stuff.
when i read about X11 and their licensing issues i was scared: i had noticed that redhat dropped several (for me important) packages due to the fact that they are not GPL (such as pine... no flames, please, i like it more than any other mail client cause all you need is an xterm). i was wondering what would happen with x11. now i know. and (i think) i am releived...
I just really hope no distro's of mine get overzelous and change /usr/X11R6 to /usr/X11R6.7
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Ah, I love the smell of forks in the morning. Hurrah for vitality.
http://freedesktop.org/~xorg/X11R6.7.0/doc/RELNOTE S3.html
-after all this...
Umm, why? In the brave new world of Unicode, there are lots of symbols to choose from, albeit unpronouncable.
A bit like Prince, you know?
Why? I personally look forward to being able to run [ on my laptop...
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Have you tried mutt?
Why so many people think that GPL incompatible == not free? How is current XFree86 license non-free? Yeah, I know it's not about free-as-in-beer, but how isn't XFree free-as-in-speech?
I had been happily downloading my cygwin updates when this news came out on /. I looked at where the installer was: xorg-x11-6.7.0.0-1.tar.bz2 !!! It's announced today and it's already up for download in the distros ! Maybe that's why this 16Mb download is taking forever...
Non-Linux Penguins ?
I for one greet our new windowing system overlords!
Well I hear folks asking "Y Windows?" all the time so it must be getting popular.
Reginald Molehusband. Edinburgh, Scotland
Did they just essentially commit suicide? Is anyone still sticking with them?
now that the xfree86 server is effectively forked, is there a chance of getting true alphablending and shadows?
Jisho - A Japanese English German Russian French Dictionary for the rest of us.
The crucial thing (for me at least) is wether or not the NVidia binary drivers will work with this new version.
Judging form the fact that's forked of XF4.4rc2 it should , but I'd like to get confirmation .
I just read over the XFree86 license versions 1.0 and 1.1. I see the difference, but why is this seemingly minor change causing such a huge commotion with the major distributions?
Of course, some of us care more about the fact that it is still free (as in beer and in speech) than the exact wording of the license.
Jeremy Baumgartner
> I think Y would be the next logical choice of names for the new project.
That ridiculous. The project implements an X server that understands the X protocol, just like XFree86, FDO's XServer, XiG's X server, Apple's X server and others. Why would they name themselves Y (no pun intended)?
REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.
And since the "new" X is just a fork of the last "Free" XFree86, it should be no different than previous XFree86 upgrades.
That's my understanding, FWIW.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
no. XFree86 is now dying. They've started their own obituary with the abrupt and incompatible licenses changes. Xorg lives on.
Would someone in the know please, for the benefit of the crowd, enlighten us as to whether this entire exercise was, as much as anything else, to rid the mainstream "free software X" development of David Dawes?
From reading the coverage on slashdot so far and following the source material (including specific comments by major players that name his name), that's kind of the sense I get.
Of course, the process created more openness - you can say the openness is the primary reason, but again, from following the list archives, I got the sense he was a big part of why it wasn't so open in the first place...
Want to Know How to Cheat the GPL? Read On!
so where does the freedesktop.org xserver fit in with Xorg? i noticed that Xorg has a page on freedesktop.org
I'm not saying *I* feel this way, but I was wondering what people think about David Dawes' statement to the effect that the big Linux Vendors were already planning to jump to X.org, because the collection of vendors can push it in directions that make the companies happier. He hints that they used the license issue as an excuse to wag the dog, and we users have been duped.
Flamebait? He speaks the truth. X development is COMPLETELY FUCKING STAGNANT and it's all because of the petty squablling over bullshit issues. "Brad said I wasn't a good hacker, I'm gonna fork." "I don't like BSD style licenses, I'm gonna fork." "I don't like the main developers, I'm gonna fork."
And there's nobody there so say "Fuck it, someone has to get this shit moving along. Fuck the forks, let's just work on this thing."
'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
I guess they could always use X++.
'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
Will those distros continue to go with XFree86 now that the X.Org Foundation is not just talking about it but is also actually delivering a forward moving, credible alternative?
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
I've got no clue what the new Xfree license entails...
:) I'd go jump on that bandwagon!
And it really shows in your post!
But nonetheless, I think the community is overreacting.
Right. Because RedHat and Debian are *such* reactionary GPL-fundamentalists organization.
(yeah, there are forks, but they haven't been around long enough to prove their stability or their worth).
You do realize that X.org is the maintainer of the reference X11R6.x codebase, and that X11R6.7 is a continuation of XFree86 4.4-RC2, which is a derivative of that reference codebase?
If we can create a modern standardized windowing protocol (which is what X11 essentially is, only broken and outdated),
What is broken and outdated about the X11 protocol? Taking into account widely-supported extensions like RENDER, the X11 protocol is surprisingly Good. There are warts, to be sure (the color model, for example), but every long-lived system has those.
we can maxamize portability between platforms
Eh? X11 is the most portable windowing system in existance!
and radically simplify software development.
So X12 will be written in Lisp
Even Microsoft would jump on the bandwagon.
Have you lost *complete* touch with reality???
and seek to accomplish far too much and form their own proprietary standards.
What proprietory standards???? Do you have the slightest idea what you're talking about?
We need a completely new protocol so that everyone can work together and maintain compatibility.
We need to ditch a widely-supported, well-tested, mature, easily-extensible, and highly compatible protocol, and create a new, untested, immature, and unsupported one, in order to maintain compatibility?
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
It must include representatives from both open and semi-open companies - Red Hat, the KDE and Gnome teams, present X developers, Apple, IBM, Sun, and possibly even Microsoft.
Comments on suggested representatives:
RedHat - Good choice.
KDE - Why? They only deal with QT, not X. Trolltech might be a good choice.
Gnome - Why? They only deal with GTK, not X. Maybe you mean the GTK devs.
Present X devs - The core XF86 team is the reason this mess started in the first place. They shouldn't be brought in to f--- any new standard up.
Apple - Why? Apple uses Quartz, they could care less about X and might even have an incentive to see it fail.
IBM - Good choice.
Sun - Good choice -but- I am starting to have trouble trusting Sun, it's still a stretch but I'm seeing the beginnings of the next SCO in them.
Microsoft - Never. They only have a vested interest in seeing X fail. Look at all the good work they did with OpenGL as an example.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
Regarding KDE, we actually do interact directly with X11 as well as with X directly in a number of places. These include the window manager, startup notification, the system tray, window reparenting for Java support, the list goes on. Basically Qt provides support for things that can be done in a platform indepedent way, and we provide the rest in kdelibs.
It seems that politics are killing X11
...
Of course, I firmly believe that X needs to be replaced. Just not for political reasons. Whomever's in charge of X needs to form a panel of industry experts and draft an X12 protocol. In my mind, the panel should include network engineers, usability experts, etc. It must include representatives from both open and semi-open companies - Red Hat, the KDE and Gnome teams, present X developers, Apple, IBM, Sun, and possibly even Microsoft.
So, you're saying that politics are killing X11, and the above mentioned entities should all get in a room to create X12? What do you think the politics are going to be like? Can you really seee Apple, IBM, Sun and Microsoft (MS - wtf would they want with X12) all getting together for the common good?
At some point, somewhere, the entire internet will be found to be illegal.
It's not that pine is not GPL, it's that pine is altogether Not Free Software. Specifically, the University of Washington will not allow anyone to distribute modified versions, they've even threatened to sue people who do this with older versions of Pine. This makes it hard to work the software into a distribution like Red Hat, and even harder to want to.
Personally, I use Mutt, and I love it. Other people seem equally pleased with elm. With both of these clients, "all you need is an xterm".
If you really prefer Pine, there are two projects to create an Free replacement for it: Hydrant and OSERP. I don't know how far along and usable either project is. If you just miss Pico, there's an excellent Free clone called Nano, which is very usable and included in most Linux distros already.
----
Open mind, insert foot.
Are you aware that there is already a very well established protocol called X12? I guess they'd have to pick another name for it, if they even did it for some reason.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Would half of you complain half as much, if you actualy tried to code something using the X protocol, or atleast half of it? before judging that X is bad, slow and old?
I ask, whats so darn bad about X?
What does sucks so much about its protocol?
I find it interesting that you insist (in boldface) that Apple be such an important player in that kind of process. Apple would have shipped OS X earlier if it had tempered the advice of all the experts they'd brought in with some common sense. (The obvious example is Tevanian's insistence on using Mach, which required a good part of a whole team of kernel engineers over 4 years to fix up, because it was his pet research project at CMU.)
You say the forks haven't been around long enough to prove their stability? How about Debian's for of XFree86? They port it to many architectures and then maintain a stable release for a few years while working on its replacement. I think they are proven.
This fork (X.org) is simply XFree86 4.4RC2 (before the liscense change) and I would suspect they are monitoring XFree86 for updates which aren't tainted by the new license, and they are working on it themselves. It's not a worrying fork at this stage, it's just what would have happened if XFree86 (or another FOSS project) and all it's internal developers were blown up yesterday. These people have all been working with XFree86 from the outside for quite a while and it includes Cygwin's Mr Hunt who had withdrawn cygwin from XFree86 (well stopped sending patches) because it was more work to liase with XFree86 than not to! I see good things ahead (but first we have a nice stable XFree86 4.4 replacement so there are no hiccups).
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
I've got no clue what the new Xfree license entails... But nonetheless, I think the community is overreacting. By dropping Xfree, we no longer have any long-term alternatives (yeah, there are forks, but they haven't been around long enough to prove their stability or their worth).
a) this IS a fork
b) being as it is a fork, it is XFree, the latest version before the license change, just being improved and such.
c) you might have read the press release about who is supporting it - a whole lot of people. They are now no longer behind XFree.
d) XFree was a fork of the reference implementation of X, the latter being made by the X.org people to begin with.
The only question is; how many XFree86 developers will jump ship to X.org? My guess is, most of them. By changing the license, the XFree86 project has made itself irrelevant, and who want to work on an irrelevant open source project? Yes, if people continue using XFree86, you'd get credited on manuals etc., but already RedHat, SuSE and debian are moving to X.org; so you'd be credited in places no one gets to see anyway, and your patches are of no use to anyone.
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
well, i just typed:
emerge unmerge xfree && emerge xorg-x11
I'll let you know soon if my system is totally fucked or not.
-- MartinG To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz
I just installed the e-build that's already in the tree. And told etc-update to automatically update all 200+ config files. >:) (crazy I know, but it works) make sure you read the info on the release notes page, and see what portage tells you at the end of the emerge. There is some useful info there.
The only thing I've seen so far, that I don't like, is a little bit of degradation of quality in the AA of fonts. I'm sure this is just a configuration issue, that I haven't found the answer to yet. But it's definitely usable right now. You will have to unmerge xfree and xft, as they are blocked by "xorg-x11" which is the name of the new e-build.
Cheers, and please share any useful info you might come up with.
We have been using TCP/IP for something like 20-30 years now. OMG, TCP/IP-developement is stagnant! We must work faster!
Of what? X? To my knowledge: zero. X is a protocol, nothing more. If you are talking about Xfree, the answer would be: two. Xouvert and Xorg.
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
Well amoung a few small changes it appears that xorg's release is already more updated than xfree86. Some things I noticed that have been updated are FreeType2 (2.1.4 on XF86, 2.1.7 on Xorg), Fontconfig (2.2.1 on XF86, 2.2.2 on Xorg), and most likely others. I am personally very glad to see these updates as it will offer a better product to the end user. I am looking foward to their second release and currently running their latest release.
Website for those interested.
The PDF there describes all the reasons they're replacing X, and they make sense. They're planning to get a 1.0 release out the door within a year. It's going to be vector-based, hardware-accelerated and so on.
I think it will eventually be the superior technology to X, which is so riddle with extensions that they're conflicting each other now.
With that many "fuck"s in your post, you must be right!
This just gave the GPL a lot more strength, and all non-conforming licenses a lot less. You can bet that nobody else is going to test Redhat/Debian/Mandrake/etc, or else your project is done for.
Berto
I think it was a masterful bit of spin on David Dawes's part. I don't think it succeeds, but it's impressive anyway.
I think the big Linux vendors were already planning to jump to X.org, and the license change was just the steel girder that broke the camel's back. XFree86, as an organization, has had increasing bad publicity: patches languishing, weird political in-fighting, organizational chaos. The license change got a whole bunch of people, all at once, to stop muttering in annoyance and actually fork the project. (Maybe we should thank XFree86 for making it happen so quickly.)
Another priceless bit of spin: now XFree86 can now get back to its roots, distributing software directly to end users. That sounds much better than "all the Linux distros are dumping us like last month's garbage".
XFree86, both the organization and the software, will quickly become irrelevant. I don't know whether they will actually disappear, but it's safe to stop paying attention to them.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
... that we again had a "vibrant open source community around X Window System innovation".
We've had some innovation, but it was definitely slowing down. But vibrant community? More of a dysfunctional family. (Not that everyone was dysfunctional, by a long shot, but the leadership mix clearly wasn't working.) Having the sole focus be the PC community always worried me, too. (Yeah, I know it's the largets by orders of magnitude, but the cross-platform expertise and disciplines have a lot to offer.)
In the early days, anyone who wanted to contribute did, and it all worked rather well. X was one of the first *major* open source projects to really take off. I, for one, am glad to see it back in a form that has a chance to really start kicking some proprietary booty again.
If you submit GPL'ed code to a GPL'ed project, and they accepted your code, and they want to change the project's license, then they have 2 choices:
1. Ask every contributor whether he agrees on the license change. Only if everybody agrees, the license can be changed.
2. If not everybody agrees, then they can remove your code and write their own, and change license anyway.
So no - once your code has been GPL'ed, it cannot be relicensed, unless you agree.
Up until version 4.0, the XFree86 guys were getting multi-platform development for free: Debian took care of it. Debian cares a great deal about supporting multiple platforms, and Debian builds everything on a bunch of platforms and contributes back bug fixes. They were doing that for XFree86.
Now Debian is simply going to walk away from XFree86. The XFree86 project will either have to suddenly do a whole bunch of work to keep the multi-platform nature of XFree86, or else the "86" part is going to mean something again.
I find it amazing that the XFree86 guys ever thought that this license change was a good idea, and that they aren't falling all over themselves to reverse it now that the consequences are becoming clear.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely