On 01/27/2006 07:47 PM, A JM wrote: > I notice that currently my Xbox is using xfree86 instead of xorg-x11, > I think there is a difference... The librarary 'libxvmc-dev' is part > of xorg-x11 so does this mean I need to use xorg-x11 as opposed to > xfree86? > > I'm a bit confused on the difference between the 2?
Complete and total over-simplification (slanted toward the fun side)*. XFree86(R) was "the" X11R6 implementation used for GNU/Linux systems (and BSD systems and ...). Keith Packard, however, got upset at the powers that be (powers that were ;) for focusing on "obsolete" functionality in X11 (X11 redisplay and other network-related issues), neglecting "cutting-edge" possibilities (direct-rendering, compositing, and 3D hardware acceleration) because of their incompatibility with the network-related functionality, releasing updated versions only once every 10 years ;), refusing to modularize X (instead making it so monolithic that small changes to individual parts can have far-reaching consequences, thereby preventing new developers from getting involved), and having a bureaucracy that impeded progress and allowed too much control by the "inner circle" (the XFree86(R) Core Team). So, when Keith got "expelled" from the XFree86(R) "inner circle," he announced the creation of a brand new X11 implementation--created from scratch--called "XServer" and convinced Havoc Pennington to host it on his freedesktop.org site. Keith and a few other "friends" from the trenches of XFree86(R) development began working on XServer and other small projects developing software that could be added to X11 implementations (including XFree86(R)). These projects began to lessen focus on (not quite neglecting) "obsolete" functionality in X11, focusing on "cutting-edge" possibilities, releasing updated versions every 2 weeks ;), creating small "modules" to plug in to X adding never-before-possible functionality, and cutting any bureaucratic red-tape they wandered across. And, no one really cared. Then, the "glory hounds" ;) at XFree86(R) decided to add to the XFree86(R) license a requirement that, starting with XFree86(R) 4.3.99.903 (i.e. XFree86(R) 4.4.0 RC3), binary-only distributions must reproduce the XFree86(R) copyright notice (see http://www.xfree86.org/legal/licenses.html ). This became a mess for distribution vendors who didn't relish the idea of modifying user-level code (i.e. not the low-level X code, but the desktop environment or similary so that the user would actually see the copyright notice) to add this "advertisement." Keith Packard, Havoc Pennington, and freedesktop.org--upon hearing a knock at the door--asked, "Who's there." When the voice behind the door responded, "Opportunity," they took the XFree86(R) 4.3.99.902 source code (which didn't carry the binary-version copyright notice requirement), and announced, in cooperation with the just-created X.org Foundation--the body whose responsibility it was to maintain control of the X11 specification (after having been passed that responsibility from the Open Group, who got it from the X Consortium, who got it from the MIT X Consortium ;)--that the snapshot would become the foundation (pun intended) of a soon-to-be-released "sample implementation" of X11R6 and that it would be released under a free license. (IIRC, this first sample implementation was called X11R6.7.0.) All of a sudden, distribution vendors began switching to X.Org's sample implementation en masse because its license didn't contain the attribution clause that XFree86(R)'s license now contained. And, now, nobody cares about XFree86(R) (thus, the former "powers that be" became the "powers that were"). And, Keith got his wish. The X.Org Foundation which gained control of the X11 specification--for the first time in the history of X--was led by developers using community-based development based on the bazaar model. All previous organizations controlling the spec were vendor organizations and even XFree86(R)--at least in Keith's opinion--behaved more like a vendor organization than a "free" software development project. However, even after all that backstory, I can't tell you how your distribution vendor packages its libraries, but I can say that XFree86(R) and xorg are still very similar and libXvMC has been around since at least XFree86(R) 4.0, so... Mike *Think of this as a work of historical fiction as some details may not be completely accurate, but it gives a pretty good history of "the difference between the 2." ;) _______________________________________________ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
