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phoronix
04-26-2009, 10:00 AM
Phoronix: X.Org 7.5 Release Schedule Revised For July

X.Org 7.5 with the X Server 1.7 release was planned for release at the start of this month, but sadly they far from made it -- no test releases of the new X Server are even available yet. Though after reading Phoronix, Daniel Stone remembered this release schedule and has decided to give another try at X.Org 7.5...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=NzIzMg
d2kx
04-26-2009, 10:34 AM
I've heard that Xserver 1.7 has EXA improvements that are especially beneficial for KDE4. Does anyone know sth. about it or other EXA improvements made? And if this was true, do DDX drivers have to adopt those changes or does it work with just upgrading the Xserver?
Chewi
04-26-2009, 11:49 AM
It's frequently mentioned here that X.Org releases are always behind schedule. It almost feels like you're picking on them! I'm sure there are plenty of other high profile projects that are even more behind schedule. I only mention this because if it weren't for Phoronix, I wouldn't even notice. I am really looking forward to MPX but I don't mind waiting if it means getting things right. Have patience!
bridgman
04-26-2009, 02:16 PM
I think the problem is that xorg releases have schedules, unlike most of the other projects :D
Ant P.
04-26-2009, 02:18 PM
Maybe they should use nVidia's tactic of releasing "beta" versions every 48-96 hours. It seems to fool the right people...
Michael
04-26-2009, 03:10 PM
It's frequently mentioned here that X.Org releases are always behind schedule. It almost feels like you're picking on them!

It's not a matter at all of "picking on them", but to draw attention to the problem at hand so that hopefully it gets corrected. For such a critical piece of a free software ecosystem, to have their release schedule be easily thrown off by months easily and the lack of communication that takes place, it's a problem. If the GNOME 2.26 or Linux 2.6.29 release schedules had went off severely and were unannounced, distribution vendors, users, and other stakeholders would likely have a fit. Heck, remember Ubuntu 8.04 LTS shipping with an X Server release candidate?
Mithrandir
04-26-2009, 03:57 PM
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS also has mplayer 1.0 RC2, and unreleased ffmpeg. Of course these projects aren't as important as X.Org or Linux kernel.
some-guy
04-26-2009, 04:28 PM
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS also has mplayer 1.0 RC2, and unreleased ffmpeg. Of course these projects aren't as important as X.Org or Linux kernel.
Maplyer and ffmpeg never have releases ;)
portets43
04-26-2009, 04:53 PM
i know it's almost never right to throw money at a problem, but i think we should all donate a few bucks to these people. i know their problem is mainly man power though.... money should increase some motivation at least. or we could donate a little when the release comes out
Michael
04-26-2009, 04:57 PM
i know it's almost never right to throw money at a problem, but i think we should all donate a few bucks to these people. i know their problem is mainly man power though.... money should increase some motivation at least. or we could donate a little when the release comes out

A while ago I talked to some developers about offering up a bounty if they can release on schedule, but they didn't seem to be interested. Granted, most of these developers are already paid to work on X full-time.
Craig73
04-27-2009, 12:20 AM
A while ago I talked to some developers about offering up a bounty if they can release on schedule, but they didn't seem to be interested. Granted, most of these developers are already paid to work on X full-time.

Was that because they are full time already? or is it because when you step back and look at the bigger picture there is already tonnes of work going into the graphics stack overall, and Xorg itself is relatively unimportant right now?

Perhaps the release approach is wrong - why can't it just be a quarterly release of all the work available to go out, so that bug fixes get out and features come when they do.

And if there are blocker bugs or critical features that are not coming - don't throw more money at the existing (likely overworked developers who haven't prioritized it), use it to contract a new developer for X months a year to clear bugs and features.
Duo Maxwell
04-27-2009, 07:07 AM
Maybe they should use nVidia's tactic of releasing "beta" versions every 48-96 hours. It seems to fool the right people...

That just makes it easy to spot the fan boys, who are abnormally quiet about Nouveau and NV releases, but have everything to say about FGLRX or open source ATI releases.
Jimmy
04-27-2009, 12:08 PM
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS also has mplayer 1.0 RC2, and unreleased ffmpeg. Of course these projects aren't as important as X.Org or Linux kernel.

Finally someone agrees with me that Ubuntu isn't all that important.

*ducks* :D
Chewi
04-27-2009, 12:17 PM
Finally someone agrees with me that Ubuntu isn't all that important.

*ducks* :D

Hahaha. I was also going to say I don't use Ubuntu but thought better of it. :D
R3MF
04-28-2009, 06:32 AM
i certainly hope so as i want to see this in opensuse 11.2.
Jimmy
04-28-2009, 08:03 AM
i certainly hope so as i want to see this in opensuse 11.2.

July 31 is OpenSuse 11.2's "Feature and version freeze for the base system" milestone. With the Xorg release planed for the middle of July it could be a close call especially if they are running late.

http://en.opensuse.org/Roadmap/11.2
danboid
04-28-2009, 02:09 PM
DRI2? MPX? xorg 7.5 would seem to me the the most significant release of X in some time- maybe since XFree86 forked- and maybe you could go as far as saying this is the most significant release of X since its inception? I just did!

xorg 7.5! Gallium in Mesa! Public R600/R700 driver trees! 2009 is truly the year when everything aligns (at least improves SIGNIFICANTLY) for the open source graphics stack and why the post-Karmic Linux gaming world could be entirely different beast to its currently wimpy self.

Jaunty is barely a warm up - it'll be be post-Karmic distros that'll really be giving Ballmer a headache, headache HEADACHE!!!
wswartzendruber
04-28-2009, 05:05 PM
I don't see it happening. To equal Windows' functionality you would need a load of packages. Those packages probably wouldn't integrate as well as the Windows components do.

Another part of the problem is choice. Do I target my app for ALSA, PulseAudio, or OSS4?
curaga
04-29-2009, 01:58 PM
There's an easy answer for the sound problem: target the pulseaudio-safe subset of ALSA by targeting the ALSA-safe subset of OSS :D
R3MF
05-01-2009, 05:08 AM
July 31 is OpenSuse 11.2's "Feature and version freeze for the base system" milestone. With the Xorg release planed for the middle of July it could be a close call especially if they are running late.

http://en.opensuse.org/Roadmap/11.2

i see what you are saying, but it would be a great disappointment if suse failed to ship with 7.5.

presumably ubuntu 8:10 and fedora 12 would miss out too.
nanonyme
05-08-2009, 06:06 AM
I don't see it happening. To equal Windows' functionality you would need a load of packages. Those packages probably wouldn't integrate as well as the Windows components do.

Another part of the problem is choice. Do I target my app for ALSA, PulseAudio, or OSS4?Just use OpenAL like all sane cross-platform developers? It's the same sound API in Windows, Linux, BSD's, Solaris and so.