On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:13:02 -0700 Steve Langasek <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi Julien, > > On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 11:37:50PM +0200, Julien Lavergne wrote: > > 2013/6/18 Jeremy Bicha <[email protected]>: > > > On 18 June 2013 02:00, Aigars Mahinovs <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> Based solely on comments from this thread, as far as I understand, both > > >> Ubuntu and KDE will maintain the ability to work with X for the > > >> foreseeable > > >> timeframe, so this more of a question on which happens first - Ubuntu > > >> stopping support for X based desktop environments (unlikely to be very > > >> soon, > > >> given the popularity of XFCE and friends) or KWin dropping X support in > > >> favour of Wayland-only solution (also unlikely to be quite soon given how > > >> many distros are not shipping Wayland by default yet). > > > >> There might theoretically be new features that work on Mir (or Wayland), > > >> but > > >> not on X, but those are likely to be minor and more related to boot > > >> and/or > > >> user switching rather than actual work. > > > > I think you're mixing up two different concepts: support for running X > > > apps and support for running X as the system display server. As I > > > mentioned before, my guess is that GNOME will only work with Wayland > > > as system display server within a year or two. Similarly, I expect > > > Unity to only work with Mir as the system display server for either > > > 14.04 LTS or 14.10. Developers are not switching to Mir or Wayland for > > > theoretical minor features, but to finally move past long-standing > > > issues with the X stack that impact users. > > > > Obviously everyone will still support running legacy X apps for at > > > least the next few years. > > > Speaking for Lubuntu, this point is my first concern before even > > thinking about migration to MIR or Wayland : what will be the support > > and Canonical support for X in the next releases ? For example, is X > > will be maintained in 14.04 as a LTS component ? Are other flavors can > > count on it to build a LTS version for 14.04 ? I can't imagine an LTS > > for at least Xubuntu (and all Xfce based flavors) and Lubuntu without > > a LTS support for this critical piece of the OS. > > The established Ubuntu desktop is composed entirely of software that talks > to X. While some of this software may "easily" migrate to Mir by way of > toolkit support, I think there's no question that Canonical will need to > support X - specifically, X on top of Mir - for quite some time to come. > > So in the 14.04 time frame, I think it's a safe bet that Lubuntu will have > options for continuing to run on top of a supported X server. Mir may not > give you anything new that you care about in Lubuntu, but Mir+XMir should > still provide a reasonable, stable, supported display platform for you. > > The problems for Kubuntu, AIUI, have more to do with what happens when > Canonical supports X on top of Mir, and KDE stops supporting either X or > Mir. I suspect this isn't going to be a problem for Lubuntu in the near > future? > > -- > Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS > Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. > Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/ > [email protected] [email protected] As neither Micah nor Lionel have chimed in, I'll tread in as a non-developer briefly. From the Xubuntu perspective, we're still at the wait-and-see point to see how XonMir will perform. The big concern raised in discussion in the land of the mouse is the nature of the X stack and where it will go. If I understand the flow of discussion correctly, a bit of friction results from the use of generalities too. While noted above that X would need to be supported for some time to come, much of what has not been spoken of in this context is what that means in terms of a ballpark figure. Two years? Five years? Until 16.04? Narrowing down that generality may help with that seeming friction point. I cannot and do not speak for Xubuntu's developers officially. We're all busy planning for a variety of contingencies to grow our product. This is yet another contingency we have to keep an eye on in terms of what we do in producing a flavor. I recognize well that this switch to Mir is driven by the needs of the business and will require adaptation. There does come a point where the agility and speed needed to keep up with changes in the needs of the business may introduce some points where things become fragile. I certainly learned that in the private sector working for a publicly-traded non-IT company. We need to find ways to avoid those fragile breaking points as we react to a dynamic marketplace. Stephen Michael Kellat GnuPG Key ID: 37BFA531 -- ubuntu-devel mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel
