XFree86 is an implementation of the X Window System server that was used on UNIX , Linux , and partially Mac OS X. Currently, it is practically not used - most open operating systems adopted X.Org Server instead of XFree86, and most XFree86 developers switched to X.Org Server.
| XFree86 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type of | window system |
| Author | |
| Developer | The XFree86 Project, Inc. |
| Written on | |
| operating system | various |
| First edition | August 16, 1993 |
| Latest version | 4.8.0 ( December 15, 2008 ) |
| Release Candidate | |
| License | XFree86 License 1.1 |
| Site | xfree86.org |
XFree86 provides a client-server connection between hardware I / O ( mouse , keyboard , video card ) and the interface of a specific program, while also providing a window infrastructure and a standardized software interface. XFree86 is platform independent, easily extensible, and available online.
Typically, applications do not work directly with the X Window System (in particular, XFree86), but with graphical toolkits, the most common currently in the Linux community - GTK + and Qt .
The latest version is 4.8.0 dated December 16, 2008 .
2003: Developer Disagreement
Until 2003, XFree86 was mainly developing, but even within this project there were disagreements. The reason for this is the disagreement in the release of updates: developers could not access CVS to make changes, and distributors had to support several versions at the same time. In March, long-term participant Kate Packard was removed from the main development group. The group claimed that this was necessary to hide the fact that Packard had created the XFree86 fork. Packard himself denies this fact.
2004: License Controversy
Versions of XFree86 up to and including release candidates 4.4.0 were released under a licensing MIT license . XFree86 4.4 was released in February 2004 with license changes: an ad item extension similar to the one in the original BSD license , but with a wider scope. Many found the new license unacceptable, and the Free Software Foundation declared it incompatible with the GNU GPL (interestingly, the license was later recognized as compatible with the new version of GPL v3). [3]
Some projects have made releases (notably OpenBSD 3.5 and 3.6, and Debian 3.1 “sarge”) based on version 4.4 of RC2 XFree86, the latest version under the old license. Most operating systems (including later versions of OpenBSD and Debian ) have adopted the X.Org server .
After X11.app, the X server for Mac OS X was changed to X.Org, NetBSD switched to X.Org from version 5.0, and by the beginning of 2009 there were no more operating systems shipped with XFree86.
X.Org Server fork start
X.Org Server has become the official implementation of X11. The first version, X11R6.7.0, was a fork of XFree86 version 4.4 RC2 merged with the X11R6.6 changes. Version X11R6.8 added many new extensions, drivers, and fixes. It is not burdened with changes to the XFree86 license. Hosted and works closely with freedesktop.org .
Most open operating systems adopted X.Org Server instead of XFree86, and most XFree86 developers switched to X.Org Server.