random ramblings from some random dude
diary of a window system hacker

About

Daniel Stone
X ninja
Helsinki, FI

Planets

Planet freedesktop.org
Planet GNOME
Moon Debian

Organisations

challenge
children's cancer centre, rch
ecoles sans frontières
amnesty international
engineers without borders australia
ikando
australian greens
australian republican movement

Links

my website
my photos at flickr
x.org
linux.conf.au 2008
eat.fi
Open Source Food

Categories

/ (122)
  site/ (3)
  tech/ (116)
    debian/ (10)
    fdo/ (15)
    kde/ (1)
    lca/ (1)
    ubuntu/ (10)
    x/ (47)
      xds/ (2)
  travel/ (3)
    guadec2007/ (1)


Archives

2008-Jun
2008-May
2008-Feb
2007-Oct
2007-Sep
2007-Jul
2007-Jun
2007-May
2007-Mar
2007-Jan
2006-Nov
2006-Aug
2006-Jun
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2006-Apr
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2006-Feb
2006-Jan
2005-Dec
2005-Nov
2005-Oct
2005-Sep
2005-Aug
2005-Jul
2005-Jun
2005-Apr
2005-Mar
2005-Feb
2005-Jan
2004-Dec
2004-Nov
2004-Oct
2004-Sep
2004-Jun
2004-May
2004-Apr
2004-Mar
2004-Feb
2004-Jan


Calendar

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Fri, 26 Mar 2004

keith packard is insane

Keith Packard, please seek professional help.
#!/bin/sh
for i in "$@"; do
        if grep -q '<config.h>' $i; then
                echo $i already has config.h
        else
                chmod +w $i
                ed $i << EOF
/^#/
i
#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include <config.h>
#endif
.
w
q
EOF
        fi
done
[13:39 | /tech/x | # | bosporous - kinda scary | home ]

Mon, 15 Mar 2004

xizzle: slow, frustrating progress

So, Xizzle is now running. I'm trying to bludgeon it into doing something useful (say, displaying something), but no dice as yet. I think I know what the problem is, but I'm not quite sure. Either way, the ATI driver and XAA are now linking and working usefully.

I need to commit this stuff, but it's very hacky. Lots of #if 0's around bits I just don't want to run yet, et al. Remember, this is still highly experimental (as you can see) - but it's progress, at least. Word up to that.
[01:39 | /tech/x | # | underworld - two months off | home ]

Fri, 12 Mar 2004

the various x trees: an explanation

OK, listen up kids, 'cause I'm only going to say this once. I think.

DIX: Driver-Indepdent X. Anything that isn't server-specific (extensions, core functions/structures, et al), goes in here.
DDX: Device-Dependent X; the inverse of the above.
XFree86: They still exist. They just released 4.4. The XFree86 distribution contains a DIX, a DDX, X libraries, X apps, fonts, and docs.
X.Org: They have a tree forked from XFree86 that contains all the same stuff, and still uses imake. They're working on a release. They're open and stuff now.
xserver: The freedesktop.org xserver project has a DIX and three DDXes - KDrive, Xizzle, and XWin. That's it.
KDrive: 'Keith's Driver', formerly known as TinyX. A completely separate DDX to XFree86 - very small, used as a testbed for stuff like RandR, Composite, Damage and Fixes. Good for embedded machines.
Xizzle: A fork of the XFree86 DDX, built with autotools, et al. Only just starting to link an actual binary, doesn't work yet, but is moving very, very quickly. Also, the binary is half the size of XFree86's. Pronounced 'shizzle'; mea culpa.
XWin: Cygwin's server for Windows.
freedesktop.org: We have xserver for the server, xlibs for the libs, and xapps for the applications. Everything's modular: the release schedule of the ATI driver is no longer tied to that of the X wire protocol, or some random fonts. Word.
[00:21 | /tech/x | # | squarepusher - love will tear us apart | home ]

Thu, 11 Mar 2004

xizzle links!

Xizzle: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.4.1, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped
Xizzle.unstripped: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.4.1, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), not stripped
-rwxrwxr-x 1 daniel daniel 799K Mar 11 00:32 Xizzle
-rwxrwxr-x 1 daniel daniel 9.5M Mar 11 00:32 Xizzle.unstripped
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.8M Sep 27 18:41 /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86

I'm going to bed now.
[01:13 | /tech/x | # | squarepusher - my red hot car | home ]

Wed, 10 Mar 2004

one!

Xizzle has but one link error left. Granted, some stuff (like logging) is a bit of hack, but shit, I'll take that.
[23:55 | /tech/x | # | krust - warhead | home ]

Tue, 09 Mar 2004

xserver/xizzle: a rough status

OK, for those of you that haven't heard the news: XFree86 has been forked. I've been working on autotooling the DDX (server build, essentially), which has been a nightmare. The build system was old, crufty, and crap, and finding out exactly what you need to build has been difficult, at best. However, I've been brute forcing my way through the mess, and we're approximating being close to having a linking server. I think our initial mid-March release target was a little optimistic, but I don't think we'll slip too far past then.

That said, it's been one hell of a ride, and a fantastic learning experience. There are still many things I'm learning as I go along, and I hope it doesn't stop. I'm an intuitive learner: I learn by going out and having a bash at stuff until it works (or not, either way). Xizzle (the name for our DDX) has been absolutely fantastic for this - I've learnt heaps, and had a blast.

All the drivers have been imported (but only ATI has been autotooled), and we're making very good progress towards having a Linux build. If you're a FreeBSD toolchain whiz, please give me a yell (I've had no success with the bastard thing), or also if you're a GNU toolchain wizard (linker weirdness ...). If you have another architecture, and you want to help with that and testing, give me a shout.

Hell, if you have anything that could be useful, including enthusiasm, give me a shout. There's a lot of work to be done, and volunteers are more than welcome. We're taking X back to the community.
[23:45 | /tech/x | # | squarepusher - i wish you could talk | home ]