RFC: add text about freedesktop.org and related topics to FAQ

[Tom Rhodes]

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 14:11:04 -0500
Mark Linimon <linimon at lonesome.com> wrote:

> Index: book.sgml
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /home/FreeBSD/dcvs/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml,v
> retrieving revision 1.620
> diff -u -r1.620 book.sgml
> --- book.sgml	31 May 2004 14:58:51 -0000	1.620
> +++ book.sgml	5 Jun 2004 18:50:56 -0000
> @@ -7002,6 +7002,83 @@
>  
>      <qandaset>
>        <qandaentry>
> +        <question id="whatis-X">
> +          <para>What is the X Window System?</para>
> +        </question>
> +
> +        <answer>
> +
> +          <para>The X Window System is the most popular windowing system
> +	    capable of running on UNIX or UNIX-like systems, including


'the most popular' kind of rubs me the wrong way.  Is there any
proof that it is the most popular?  Polls or otherwise?  I know
that by default Solaris installs CDE which I don't think uses X in
any way.

NOTE: I have not powered up my Sun in weeks and I may be wrong
about this.


> +	    &os;.  <ulink url= "http://www.x.org">X.org</ulink> administers
> +	    the <ulink url="http://www.x.org/X11_protocol.html">X protocol
> +	    standards</ulink>.  The current release of the specification
> +	    is 11.6, so you will often see references shortened to
> +	    <literal>X11R6</literal> or even just <literal>X11</literal>.
> +	  </para>
> +
> +	  <para>Many implementations are available for different
> +	    architectures and operating systems.  For instance, an
> +	    implementation of the server-side code is properly known
> +	    as an <literal>X server</literal>.</para>
> +
> +        </answer>
> +      </qandaentry>
> +
> +      <qandaentry>
> +        <question id="which-X">
> +          <para>Which X servers are available for &os;?</para>
> +        </question>
> +
> +        <answer>
> +
> +	  <para>In the past, if you wanted to run X on &os;, you were
> +	    basically restricted to running an X implementation called
> +	    <literal>XFree86</literal>™ which is maintained by

s/<literal>XFree86</literal>™/&xfree86;/g


> +	    <ulink url="http://www.xfree86.org">The XFree86 Project,
> +	    Inc.</ulink>  This software was installed by default on
> +	    &os; versions up until 4.10 and 5.2.  Although X.org

<hostname> tags please.  :)

> +	    itself maintained an implementation during that time
> +	    period, it was basically only provided as a reference
> +	    platform, as it had suffered greatly from bitrot over
> +	    the years.</para>
> +	    
> +	  <para>However, early in 2004, the XFree86 Project split
> +	    over issues including the pace of code changes, future
> +	    directions, and a licensing change.  X.org updated its
> +	    source tree to the last XFree86 release before the
> +	    licensing change (XFree86 version 4.3.99.903), incorporated
> +	    many changes that had previously been maintained separately,

I think we want <application> tags around the software name and
version, but poll the list for more.

> +	    and has released that software as X11R6.7.0.  A separate but
> +	    related project, <ulink url="http://www.freedesktop.org">
> +	    freedesktop.org</ulink> (or <literal>fd.o</literal> for short),
> +	    is working on rearchitecting the original XFree86 code to
> +	    reflect modern graphics card technology (with the goal of
> +	    greatly increased performance) and modern software practices
> +	    (with the goal of incresed maintainability, and thus faster
> +	    releases as well as easier configuration).  X.org intends to
> +	    incorporate the fd.o changes in its future releases.</para>
> +
> +	  <para>The current technology roadmap for &os; includes
> +	    replacing XFree86 with fd.o as the default server sometime

<filename>fd.o</filename> ?

> +	    later in 2004 under the assumption that the pace of its
> +	    development will more closely match that of &os; itself.
> +	    The XFree86 ports
> +	    (<filename role="package">x11/XFree86-4</filename> and
> +	    subports) will remain in the ports collection and be supported
> +	    as developer interest permits.  Note that it is not currently
> +	    possible to mix-and-match pieces of each implementation; this
> +	    problem is being actively worked on.</para>

Perhaps the note above could be placed into a caution tag.  It
doesn't seem like a note but more like a warning or caution.

> +
> +	  <note>
> +	    <para>The following paragraphs refer to the existing
> +	      XFree86 implementation, but most should also be applicable
> +	      to the fd.o implementation as well.</para>
> +	  </note>
> +	</answer>
> +      </qandaentry>
> +
> +      <qandaentry>
>          <question id="running-X">
>            <para>I want to run X, how do I go about it?</para>
>          </question>

Hope that helps, remember that you are not required to take my
advice.  :)

-- 
Tom Rhodes