[mythtv-users] Debian 'apt-get build-dep mythtv' problem?

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Sat Jan 28 02:30:32 UTC 2006


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."  ;)


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list