Bug#855803: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20161206-1 improve NEWS.Debian
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel
Version: 2:2.99.917+git20161206-1
This is a followup to https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=854934
which because it's closed, my update seem to have gone nowwhere.
NEWS.Debian could definitely be improved. I did read it during upgrade
time, and what I read did not warn me that the new driver could just
stop being autodetected and not load at all as a result.
When read that message, it did not seem like it was the problem I was
having. Let me explain so that you can maybe improve the message?
1) I have been using modsetting for a long time (at least I
thought/think I was), so that part of the message did not seem
relevant to me.
2) you mention "triggers bugs" which read to me like "cause display problems"
not "The driver will fail to detect your hardware and not even load"
Note that average user will probably not even notice that the X server
fell back to vesa or framebuffer mode (I did however).
Could you add a blurb mentioning "this may cause the driver not to
detect your hardware and refuse to load, requiring the driver to be
manually loaded in xorg.conf" ?
3) you say "please file them against the xserver"
Can you add details on which package exactly?
xserver-xorg-core ?
Ultimately I'm still not super clear what's going on, the core server
talks to each driver to auto detect hardware and load the driver, or
not.
Is the bug in the core server where it somehow fails to load the intel
driver, or is the intel driver failing the initial autodetection,
requiring a force load to actually work?
As an extra suggestion, I know you said intel does not make releases of
the intel driver, which is a shame, but would you consider versioning
the driver on your side at least to reflect changes in abi
compatibility?
In this case, between 201602 and 201612, the driver changed abi version
and there was no way to apt-get install an older one. I had to manually
fetch one from /var/cache/apt/archives/ on my system and be thankful
that I always keep old packages to revert in cases just like this one.
--
"A mouse is a device used to point at the xterm you want to type in" - A.S.R.
Microsoft is to operating systems ....
.... what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking
Home page: http://marc.merlins.org/ | PGP 1024R/763BE901
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