The XFree86 core team has announced that it is disbanding. What does this mean for the pending XFree86 4.4.0 release which was going to be out in January? (currently the latest version is 4.4-RC2). We hope that someone puts a release together to give something new to users before freedesktop.org‘s XWin server comes out at the end of 2004 or early 2005.
XFree86 Core Team Disbands
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Eugenia Loli
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Holy crap! Is this true? The link to the mailing list post doesn’t work.
Can anyone verify? If this is true, this is huge news.
It means nothing for the development of XFree86. The ‘core’ team was a group of individuals that drove the process, and increasingly didn’t actually contribute actual work. The decision to disband the core team is a beauracratic and political one. If anything, it will make the development of new XFree86 releases, with new features and go-gaws easier, not harder.
link to the mailing list post doesn’t work.
I hace read 5the mailing list and it was there. So it looks like it’s true and that the “Core Team” was no longer the place where technical discussions took place but rather among groups of developpers. Aparently because it was divided and one group didn’t want to pass technical details to the other group…
Could someone explain to me how this effects the XFree86 project? Will this improve development?
1) This is completely typical of the XFree86 team
What an ambiguous announcement. No real reasoning, no elaboration, no thoughts on what effect this has on XFree86. They probably aired all their views behind closed doors and expect the world to understand their viewpoint without ever making that viewpoint public.
This is why the whole debacle, which ended in Keith Packard leaving, occurred.
2) Freedesktop.org’s X server is not called XWin
XWin.org is a community site on which to discuss and report on X11(or 10 or 12 etc)-related developments.
Break up those turkeys and open up the code to developers!
If it means that the “oficcial” X will actually be developed
to be more up to date.. awesome!
That’s the best thing that could happend. The “core” team was the one in charge, but did not participate anymore in development, thus leading to the problems there were.
This means that a new core team will be voted again, and probably will be more democratic, more open.
Now maybe the old geezers can actually do some coding instead of dissing any potentially interesting feature and making up reasons not to implement it.
i hope the disbanding of the x-core team accelerates this process. a new x-server is _overdue_.
Its not really overdue. The new fd.o X server’s features put it on a par with Longhorn, and if it comes out in the late 2004-early 2005 timeframe, that would put it nicely ahead of the release of Longhorn.
I haven’t heard of fd.o yet. Care to give a synopsis?
> f fd.o yet. Care to give a synopsis?
I meant http://freedesktop.org (fd.o)
fd.o is shorthand for freedesktop.org. Their X Server is at: http://freedesktop.org/Software/xserver.
This was reported previously on osnews at: http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=5105
Nifty screenshots of freedesktop.org’s X Server are at: http://freedesktop.org/~keithp/screenshots/
I was getting annoyed with the XFree86 core team, too.
Who are they and why do they suck so much?
Don’t they understand the history behind XFree86? If so then why attempt to maintain control of a project that is outgrowing them? The X consortium couldn’t do it, what makes them think they could?
All I can say is, we’ll see what comes next. I’m sure XFree86 is going to change alot, for better or worse. Hopefully Keith or someone with a great deal of skill will take over the project (or will make the Freedesktop one the default xserver) and make it the best windowing system ever.
What I don’t understand is why people are so overtly critical of the work done on XFree86. These guys weren’t interested in the project, and should have quit long ago. But the fact remains that these developers, whether you like them or not, did a great deal of tedious, boring work that most FSOSS developers would refuse to do. They may have not done a stellar job, but at least they tried. Anyway, I hope the new development team actually is *interested* in the project.
All things aside, I hope they keep the license the same. (X11) It would be a shame to see that change, at least in my view. I’m sure most people would like to change it to the GPL, but that isn’t fair to people who would want to use the code under more open licenses. (ie. Public Domain, MIT/X, BSD) This isn’t about helping corporations, but about providing code that *every* developer can use.
–Tim
The guy doesn’t seem very helpful. He posts a short message that people have obviously taken the wrong way, and others have asked ‘what does this mean’ about three times and he hasn’t even replied, other than to say ‘you don’t need to worry about it anymore’. I guess that means it doesn’t mean jack.
Why care about the Longhorn release?
It IS overdue, as many people longly await these features and not await Longhorn
MacOS X has many of these features already and even windows 2000+ provides at least real translucency.
If stuff is wanted and not yet there, it is kinda overdue. I hope more people will be found who have an interest in innovation and improvements although some seem to be satisfied with what we have today.
I think this news is good news. It shows that things are changing.
I wish to extend my thanks to David Dawes for having the courage to do the right thing. Although he stated that he wished to do this sometime ago, but that other core members were against it, obviously something hmust have changed their minds. That the core team is disbanding is perhaps one of the best pieces of news from XFree86 over the past year. XFree86 and its *active* developers will still continue at improving XFree86 -but now the imminent danger of forks has been averted, for now the exiled developers can now come back into the fold. This is really great news.
XFree86 needs all of the talented people it can get and these people need cvs commit access to improve the code. Some members of the core team, most notably David Wexelblat, are no longer supporters of open-source and do not even use X anymore. (I don’t know where Davids’ forefathers come from-but a little bit of creative interpretation renders his family name to mean “turncoat”
) People who aren’t supporting open-source and actively working on XFree86 development should have no say whatsoever in the ongoing development and who may be allowed to contribute and in which ways.
XFree86 was well on it’s way to becoming irrelevant-freedesktop.org and xourvert.org having been born out of frustration with the core team have become the hubs of new development activity-with an emphasis on the community- which the core team simply ignored, when not outright abusing them. If the work going on at freedesktop.org and streamlined made-easy development environment setup at xouvert.org can now merge back into the fold- XFree86 has a bright future, with many talented folks and a genuine innovative impulse. Maybe now the wounds can start to heal and the exiled developers can now find their way back to offering their gifts to the world.
Wow, Happy New Year- and what a year it may turn out to be for XFree86….
XFee86 is a lost cause.
Can’t wait for the new fd.o server, then we can ditch Xfree86 for good – so disbaning or not – who cares!?
quote:
“XFee86 is a lost cause.
Can’t wait for the new fd.o server, then we can ditch Xfree86 for good – so disbaning or not – who cares!?”
No, Frank, the core team of XFree86 was a lost cause, not the project itself. fd.o’s(Keith Packards) Xserver is a mutation of Keith’s kdrive X server for embedded displays-it is now a part of XFree86. In fact no one is thinking of breaking the X11 protocol- so XFree is here to stay, but now the exiled developers can find their way back into a more open,innovative and enthusiastic community…..The positive upshot to this is-for example, if the community decides to use Keith’s Xserver as the base for new XFree86 installations then we have a better chance of getting support for it from ATI and Nvidia because it wont be a niche, or a fork -it will be, perhaps, the new standard..
Has any word been heard from Keith or any other former Xfree86 developer that broke away? It would be interesting to see their reactions. Maybe OSAlert could get a interview and a future of XFree86 article?