On Thu, Mar 20, 2003 at 11:06:17PM +0000, Ciaran O'Riordan was heard to remark: > (If you are interested in the status, I'd suggest reading > the xfree86 ml archives (http://www.xfree86.org/mailman/listinfo) OK, that was a very interesting read. There seem to be several issues all tangled together: -- X.org has abdicated control over the future direction of X11; not formally, but by means of inactivity. All innovation is now de facto in the hands of XFree86 and related developers/projects. -- As a result of this, there is now a significant pressure on XFree86 to innovate, to handle patches more quickly, to implement new and cool extensions, and to generally expand its speed and level of activity and involvement. These pressures are driving a tectonic shift. -- A significant part of the XFree86 Core Developers seems to think that what they do and how they do it and the process that they use is just fine and needs no changes. An equally significant faction beleives that things are going too slowly, that innovation is being discouraged, that XFree86 is not rising to the challenge of leading the future of X11. -- Keith Packard is central to the debate. He seems to be well regarded technically, an important contributor and personality, with a good talent for expressing himself, and understanding the laws of politics. And he stands accused of attempted treason to the XFree86 organization, and of deviousness, and of lying to cover his tracks. I have no idea if these charges have any merit, but that's what's feeding the debate. Much if this is relevent to Gnome and to KDE. Gnome does depend on X11, and Gnome would benefit from lots of lively innovation in X11. Gnome should side with the forces pushing for innovation and responsiveness and growth. The 'who's in charge of the future of X11' is a valid question, but there's nothing that I can add to that. Gnome has a vested interest in making sure that X11 development is 'on the right track'. Insofar as some of the XFree86 Core Team do not (or cannot, or don't want to, by their own admission) picture themselves as the leaders and standard bearers of the future of X11, that's a problem, and Gnome must take note. Whether or not Keith Packard is a slimeball, I don't know, and I'm pretty sure that Gnome wants to keep its nose out of that. As to being for or against a fork, maybe that's an 'abstain' issue too. Some of the kinds of forks that people envision would be a good thing. Some other kinds of forks sound like a bad thing. Keith's fork is covered with political mud, and so one can't tell. I don't see any way out but to wait for the fork issue to resolve a bit. But the tangled issue of 'what is the future of X11, and who controls it' really really is important, and its one to watch. --linas -- pub 1024D/01045933 2001-02-01 Linas Vepstas (Labas!) <linas linas org> PGP Key fingerprint = 8305 2521 6000 0B5E 8984 3F54 64A9 9A82 0104 5933
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