XFree86

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XFree86
Basic data

developer The XFree86 Project, Inc.
Publishing year 1991
Current  version 4.8.0
(December 15, 2008)
operating system Unix
programming language C.
category Display server
License X11 license with an additional clause
www.xfree86.org
XFree86 is a display server protocol for X11. A window manager is also required.

XFree86 is a free, open source implementation of the X Window System (also called X11 ) graphics interface . It provides on Unix and Unix-like operating systems ( Linux , GNU Hurd , BSD and its derivatives) basic graphics functions. In the modular system architecture of a graphical operating system , it is located as a "utility program" between the device-specific drivers and the graphical user interface (such as KDE or Gnome ) and provides all of the basic graphic functions such as drawing frames and windows that the user interface or who need graphic application programs. Until 2004, this service was software found on almost every Linux or BSD system.

XFree86 is not limited to any particular operating system. For example, it is also part of Cygwin , a system environment for NT -based Windows systems (NT to Windows 10), which enables easy porting of Linux programs to Windows. There are also ports for OS / 2 and macOS , although Apple provided its own X11 server until 2012 (see XQuartz ).

XFree86 has not been further developed since 2008. The main successor is the X.Org server .

architecture

The XFree86 server communicates with the kernel (mostly a Linux, BSD or UNIX kernel) to control input and output devices, but sometimes it also accesses keyboards and mice itself. Graphics cards are a fundamental exception . XFree86 addresses these directly, bypassing the kernel. XFree86 has its own drivers for the vast majority of graphics cards from the last 15 years . The manufacturer has drivers for many popular cards. But it is also possible to let XFree86 work in the "Linux framebuffer " (a graphics area in the kernel) in order to be able to use a device driver for Linux.

On a typical POSIX system, the XFree86 configuration files are in the / etc / X11 directory . The basic configuration takes place in the file XF86Config or XF86Config-4 , which contains, among other things, settings for the monitor, keyboard, mouse and graphics card used. For less experienced users there are programs (including graphical ones) that facilitate configuration. Modern distributions also offer semi-automatic detection of useful settings.

History and naming

The project was started in 1991 by David Wexelblat, Glenn Lai, David Dawes and Jim Tsillas, who worked together to fix errors in the source code of X11 X386 (written by Thomas Röll). This version was originally called X386 1.2e . Since newer versions of X386 were only sold commercially, the project developed independently and was renamed XFree86, which is a play on words ( X-three-86 became X-free-86 ).

As of October 1, 2001, XFree86 supported the X11 specification R6.5.1 including the GLX and X rendering extensions.

Spin-offs from XFree86

In 2003, Keith Packard , a recognized X Window System developer, was expelled from the core team. He was accused of a conspiracy: Keith Packard had tried to split the XFree86 project. He continues to work within the project, but is secretly trying to win other developers for a new X server project that he has initiated. Packard denied this; However, an email correspondence showed that he had actually discussed a split with other developers. Packard himself preferred not to say anything more about what was going on. This led to the creation of XWin , a forum for improving X and specifically XFree86, which was later fully absorbed into freedesktop.org . Keith Packard started a completely new development project called Xserver based on the X Window System and in cooperation with freedesktop.org . Xserver uses Kdrive's driver API model. The authors like to describe the project as the next generation of X servers following a different direction than XFree86.

However, the XFree86 core team later discovered that there was only limited innovative strength. Among other things, this was tied to the structure of the project: the members of the core team were deliberately selected based on their contributions and thus remained a narrow, closed circle. Because of the barely progressive development of X, the XFree86 core team decided on December 30, 2003 to disband itself the next day.

After the dissolution of the core team, many developers joined forces with the old X.Org Foundation in order to convert it into an open source project that should guarantee an implementation of a free X server in the future. In cooperation with freedesktop.org, the new development team makes its project available under the name X.Org-Server , which is based on a further development of XFree86 4.4 RC2.

The new project received massive support when, in January 2004, the XFree86 project decided on a new license, which included a special advertising clause. Critics interjected that this would make XFree86 non-free software. In any case, the license change was problematic. Many distributors classified this license as incompatible with the GPL and henceforth supported the spin-off, which was based on the XFree86 version 4.4 RC2 and was further developed in the old license.

Since then, the spin-off has been developing its own X server, the X.Org server, under the umbrella of the X.Org Foundation .

In addition to this project, there was at times an experimental branch of the XFree86 code called Xouvert , but its development was discontinued until further notice.

After most of the developers switched to X.Org, there was little progress with XFree86. The last version (4.8.0) was released on December 15, 2008, the last code contribution was added in February 2009. When asked, the last active developer, Marc Aurele La France, stated that work on the project had meanwhile been stopped.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ David Dawes: "core team disbands" on XFree86-devel-e-mail list, December 30, 2003
  2. ↑ David Dawes: "Modification to the base XFree86 (TM) license" in the XFree86 forum, January 29, 2004
  3. ↑ Mirko Lindner: "XFree86 4.4: Rejection is growing" on pro-linux.de, February 18, 2004
  4. ↑ Marc Aurele La France: ANNOUNCE: XFree86 4.8.0 is now available Announcement from December 21, 2008
  5. ↑ CVS commit mailing list
  6. ↑ Marc Aurele La France: Is there ever going to be a new version of xfree86 in the XFree86 forum, December 3, 2011