Re: are X binaries compatible across X versions?

[Erik Steffl <steffl@bigfoot.com>]

Krzys Majewski wrote:
> 
> Will all X 3.3.6 binaries run on X 4.0.2? What about the other way around?
> What other files are dependent on the server version? For example,
> if I upgrade the server from 4.0.2 to something else, which tarballs
> do I need to get besides Xxserv.tgz and Xmod.tgz?
> 
> (This may sound off-topic, but someone on the Xpert list suggested that
> it isn't, since Debian has both 3.3.6 and 4.0.2, depending on the release.)

  AFAIK both X 4.x and X 3.x support the same X protocol. You can start
clients that connect to both version and also other version of X
servers, for example commercially available ones, vncserver, servers
running on different OSs (probably all Unix and unix-like, ms win
(provided you have x server running there)) etc...

  of course, the client needs the xlib and maybe some other libs, you
probably need specific version of those - if a client was compiled with
a need for specific version of shared xlib (and other x libraries) then
you need those. but that's not really X server issue.

	erik