X Strike Force XFree86 SVN commit: r1573 - in trunk/debian: . local
Author: branden
Date: 2004-06-24 17:33:50 -0500 (Thu, 24 Jun 2004)
New Revision: 1573
Modified:
trunk/debian/CHANGESETS
trunk/debian/TODO
trunk/debian/changelog
trunk/debian/local/FAQ.xhtml
Log:
Update FAQ entry:
+ What is the X Window System?
Add FAQ entries:
+ What is freedesktop.org?
+ What is X.Org?
Modified: trunk/debian/CHANGESETS
===================================================================
--- trunk/debian/CHANGESETS 2004-06-24 16:41:40 UTC (rev 1572)
+++ trunk/debian/CHANGESETS 2004-06-24 22:33:50 UTC (rev 1573)
@@ -62,4 +62,11 @@
Miscellaneous cosmetic fixes.
1570
+Update FAQ entry:
++ What is the X Window System?
+Add FAQ entries:
++ What is freedesktop.org?
++ What is X.Org?
+ 1573
+
vim:set ai et sts=4 sw=4 tw=80:
Modified: trunk/debian/TODO
===================================================================
--- trunk/debian/TODO 2004-06-24 16:41:40 UTC (rev 1572)
+++ trunk/debian/TODO 2004-06-24 22:33:50 UTC (rev 1573)
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
4.3.0.dfsg.1-6
--------------
-* Add FAQ entries describing FreeDesktop.Org and X.Org.
* Add FAQ entry describing Debian's plans in the X department.
* Add FAQ entry describing what has become of the XFree86 3.x packages.
* Re-do migration of /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/{app-defaults,xkb}:
Modified: trunk/debian/changelog
===================================================================
--- trunk/debian/changelog 2004-06-24 16:41:40 UTC (rev 1572)
+++ trunk/debian/changelog 2004-06-24 22:33:50 UTC (rev 1573)
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@
* Add FAQ entries:
+ What is the story with XFree86 being forked?
+ What is the story with XFree86's license?
+ + What is freedesktop.org?
+ + What is X.Org? (Thanks to Steve Swales for his explanations of the
+ X.Org organization's history and expected future.)
Changes by Fabio Massimo Di Nitto:
@@ -44,7 +47,7 @@
* Update Brazilian Portuguese template translations (thanks, Andre Luis
Lopes). (Closes: #255963)
- -- Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org> Wed, 23 Jun 2004 13:42:30 -0500
+ -- Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org> Thu, 24 Jun 2004 17:27:02 -0500
xfree86 (4.3.0.dfsg.1-5) unstable; urgency=low
Modified: trunk/debian/local/FAQ.xhtml
===================================================================
--- trunk/debian/local/FAQ.xhtml 2004-06-24 16:41:40 UTC (rev 1572)
+++ trunk/debian/local/FAQ.xhtml 2004-06-24 22:33:50 UTC (rev 1573)
@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@
<ul>
<li><a href="#defxwinsys">What is the X Window System?</a></li>
<li><a href="#defxfree86">What is XFree86?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#freedesktop">What is <code
+ class="other">freedesktop.org</code>?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#xorg">What is X.Org?</a></li>
<li><a href="#xfree86fork">What is the story with XFree86 being forked?</a></li>
<li><a href="#xfree86license">What is the story with XFree86's license?</a></li>
<li><a href="#defxservclient">What are X servers and X clients?</a></li>
@@ -356,10 +359,26 @@
identical with the traditional license.</p>
<p>In May 1999, stewardship of the X Window System passed from the Open Group to
-X.Org, a non-profit organization focused exclusively on maintenance and further
-development of the X Window System. X.Org has supervised the releases of
-X11R6.5.1, X11R6.6, and X11R6.7.</p>
+The X.Org Group (commonly just "X.Org"; <a href="#xorg">see below</a>), a
+subsidiary but mostly autonomous organization within the Open Group. The X.Org
+Group focused exclusively on maintenance and further development of the X Window
+System, and released of X11R6.5.1 and X11R6.6.</p>
+<p>In January 2004, a not-for-profit corporation called the X.Org Foundation was
+organized. While there is no transfer of assets (such as copyrights) planned
+from the Open Group to the X.Org Foundation, the expectation as of this writing
+(June 2004) is that the X.Org Foundation will be the de facto steward of the X
+Window System specification and SI. In the words of Steve Swales, the chair of
+The X.Org Group:</p>
+
+<blockquote>...the old X.Org will merge or dissolve into the new X.Org
+Foundation. The old executive board, for example, will effectively be the
+sponsor group, though individual [representatives] may change.</blockquote>
+
+<p>On 6 April 2004, the X.Org Foundation released X11R6.7, which was largely
+based on a release candidate snapshot of XFree86 4.4.0, shortly before the
+latter's relicensing (<a href="#xfree86license">see below</a>).</p>
+
<h3><a id="defxfree86">What is XFree86?</a></h3>
<p>As noted above, the various groups that have developed the X Window System
@@ -398,6 +417,56 @@
a fairly comprehensive history of the XFree86 project to up to that point in
time.</p>
+<h3><a id="freedesktop">What is <code
+class="other">freedesktop.org</code>?</a></h3>
+
+<p>In its own words:</p>
+
+<blockquote><code class="other">freedesktop.org</code> is a free software
+project to work on interoperability and shared technology for desktop
+environments for the X Window System.</blockquote>
+
+<p><code class="other">freedesktop.org</code> is perhaps best-known for hosting
+the an overhauled and modularized SI of the X Window System, one which
+significantly diverges in implementation detail from the traditional SIs of
+XFree86 and X.Org. As of this writing (June 2004), <code
+class="other">freedesktop.org</code>'s modular SI is still under
+development.</p>
+
+<h3><a id="xorg">What is X.Org?</a></h3>
+
+<p><a href="http://www.x.org";>X.Org</a> was originally a technical working group
+within the Open Group, established after the Open Group absorbed the work of the
+X Consortium. In the period 1998 to 1999, X.Org established greater autonomy
+for itself in part due to the unpopularity — among vendors and the
+community alike — of the Open Group's decision to change the licensing of
+the X Window System SI. However, as presently constitued, and as described in
+its <a href="http://www.x.org/XOrg_By-laws.html";>by-laws</a>, X.Org continues to
+be managed at an organizational level by the Open Group.</p>
+
+<p>In January 2004, the members of X.Org announced the formation of the X.Org
+Foundation, a U.S. not-for-profit corporation and scientific charity which
+succeeds the X.Org working group of the Open Group in most respects. While many
+view X.Org as the current steward of the X Window System specifications and
+sample implementation, the copyrights in the specification documents and code
+previously held by the X Consortium and subsequently transferred to the Open
+Group continue to be held by the Open Group. Steve Swales of the X.Org
+Foundation observed in June 2004:</p>
+
+<blockquote>The main X11 IP practically held by [the Open Group] is the test
+suite, and the logo. They also are the registered owners of the <code
+class="other">x.org</code> domain...There is currently no plan to transfer any
+of the IP or the domain name. I believe that [the] X.Org Foundation could add a
+copyright to their distribution, but this would not actually transfer the
+license. Transferring the license in any legal sense has been seen as a very
+costly waste of time, since there are dozens and dozens of copyright notices in
+the code, many from companies which no longer exist as separate
+entities.</blockquote>
+
+<p>The X.Org Foundation develops the X Window System specification and SI in
+explicit cooperation with <code class="other">freedesktop.org</code>, and there
+is extensive overlap in membership between the two organizations.</p>
+
<h3><a id="xfree86fork">What is the story with XFree86 being forked?</a></h3>
<p>After XFree86 rose to prominence, X.Org began to incorporate parts of its
@@ -2454,8 +2523,8 @@
<h2><a id="acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a></h2>
<p>The author would like to thank Andreas Metzler, Guillem Jover, Ingo Saitz,
-Osamu Aoki, Matthew Arnison, Colin Walters, and "ulisses" for their
-contributions to this document.</p>
+Osamu Aoki, Matthew Arnison, Colin Walters, Steve Swales, and "ulisses" for
+their contributions to this document.</p>
<hr />
<p class="x-small">$Id$</p>
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