On Thu, Sep 09, 2004 at 02:33:27PM -0600, Nick Golder wrote: > I have the i830M graphics chipset and want to import some recent changes > made to XFree86 4.4.99.7 (namely the i810 driver to allow dual > headedness). I am currently running XFree86 4.3.0.dfsg.1-4 from testing > and have grabbed the source. Is it even feasible to think about trying > to merge the i810 driver tree into the 4.3.0.dfsg.1-4 source, increment > the package version, and put all the pkgs on hold? Digging around > uncovered an incredible amount of patching but since the i810 driver > constitutes only about 12 files, I may give it a try. Any advice? Sorry it has taken a while to get back to you. You're attempting to tackle one of the harder tasks of XFree86 package management. Fabio Massimo Di Nitto and I have done this, but neither of us have an easy HOWTO to describe the process. The main difficulty with backporting drivers is that sometimes they code you backport depends on changes made elsewhere in the source tree, particularly in the "common" layers of the X server. For example, one headache in backporting post-4.3.0 drivers to 4.3.0 has been the rework of some region operation macros and functions. At this point all I can offer you are broad recommendations: * Learn how dbs works. * Read the xfree86 source package's debian/README file. * The "patch-audit" rule is your friend. It's no use trying to build if a patch doesn't even apply cleanly. * Use other drivers already backported from XFree86 or X.Org CVS as examples to guide your efforts. See, for instance: + debian/patches/000_stolen_from_HEAD_ati_driver.diff + debian/patches/000_stolen_from_HEAD_i830_driver.diff + debian/patches/030_Xserver_and_driver_region_primitive_fixups.diff If you are able to do this work well, and the new driver has not been contaminated by the XFree86 1.1 or X-Oz licenses, we might be able to incorporate your backport into a future Debian release. I think that would benefit everyone. -- G. Branden Robinson | Do not attempt to disprove the Debian GNU/Linux | four-colour theorem on your flag! branden@debian.org | -- Josh Parsons http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |
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