xref: /xsrc/external/mit/xorg-docs/dist/general/README.xml

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<article id='README'>

<articleinfo>

<title>README for X11R&relvers;</title>

<corpauthor><ulink url="http://www.x.org/wiki/XorgFoundation">
The X.Org Foundation
</ulink></corpauthor>

<pubdate>&reldate;</pubdate>

<abstract>

<para>
X11R&relvers; is an Open Source version of the X Window System that
supports many <trademark class="registered">UNIX</trademark> and UNIX-like
operating systems (such as Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Solaris)
on a variety of platforms.  This version is compatible with
X11R&prevrelvers; and other X Window System implementations which support
the X11 standard.
</para>

</abstract>

</articleinfo>

<sect1 id='What_is_X11R&relvers;'>
<title>What is X11R&relvers;?</title>

<!-- We only do release notes for full releases now.
<![ %updaterel [
<para>
X11R&relvers; is the &whichupdaterel; update to X11R&majorvers;, the
&whichfullrel; full release in the <![ %earlyrel; [new]]> X11R&relvers;
series.
</para>
<para>
Update releases are taken from a stable/maintenance branch. They are
designed to be installed on top of the full release that they are updating.
They contain fixes for serious problems, most commonly fixes for security
issues, fixes for driver bugs, and fixes that improve stability.
</para>
]]>

<![ %minorrel [
-->
<para>
X11R&relvers; is the &whichfullrel; release in the X11R&majorvers; series.
</para>
<!--
]]>

<![ %snapshot [
<para>
X11R&relvers; is a pre-release snapshot of X11R&fullrelvers;.
<![ %relcandidate [
This snapshot is a release candidate &rcnum; for version &fullrelvers;.
]]>
Pre-release snapshots are provided for beta testing. You should only
install snapshots if you're comfortable dealing with possibly unstable
beta-level software. If you find problems with this snapshot, you are
encouraged to report your findings to the public X.Org server mailing list:
<email>xorg@lists.freedesktop.org</email>.
</para>
]]>
 -->

<para>
<!--
<![ %majorrel [
X11R&relvers; is the first release in the new X11R&majorvers; series.
The &relvers; version is a new major release that includes additional
hardware support, functional enhancements and bug fixes.
]]>
<![ %minorrel [
The &relvers; version is a new minor release that includes additional
hardware support, functional enhancements and bug fixes.
]]>
<![ %haverelnotes [
 -->
Specific release enhancements can be viewed in the <olink
targetdoc="ReleaseNotes" targetptr="ReleaseNotes">Release Notes</olink>.
<!--
]]>
 -->
</para>

<para>
Most modern PC video hardware is supported in this release, and most PC
video hardware that isn't supported explicitly can be used with the
"vesa" driver.  The <olink
targetdoc="ReleaseNotes" targetptr="ReleaseNotes">Release Notes</olink>
has a table showing the drivers provided with X11R&relvers;, and links to
related documentation.
</para>

<para>
The X.Org Foundation X releases are produced by the X.Org Foundation.
The X.Org Foundation has been formed as a Delaware corporation organized
to operate as a scientific charity under IRS code 501(c)(3) chartered
to develop and execute effective strategies which provide world-wide
stewardship of the X Window System technology and standards. Membership
in the X.Org Foundation is free to all participants. Applications for
Membership are now being accepted, and active participants in the
further development of the X Window Technology are invited to complete a
<ulink
url="http://www.x.org/wiki/Membership"
>membership application</ulink>.  The X11R&relvers; release has been
produced by the many contributors to the X.Org community and members of
the X.Org Foundation and includes code from the X Consortium, the Open
Group and the <trademark class="registered">XFree86</trademark> Project.
This release is dedicated to the greater X community, developers and
users alike.
</para>

</sect1>

<!--
<![ %snapshot [
<sect1 id='Redistribution_of_Snapshots'>
<title>Redistribution of Snapshots</title>
<para>
While the X.Org Foundation <olink
targetdoc="License" targetptr="License>License</olink>
doesn't
prohibit vendors and others redistributing binaries of this snapshot
release, we don't recommend including them in production releases.
</para>
</sect1>
]]>
 -->

<sect1 id='Licensing'>
<title>Licensing</title>

<para>
X Window System source code is covered by many licenses.  All of these
licenses have in common the fact that they do not impose significant
conditions on the modification or redistribution or either source code
or binaries beyond requiring one or more of the following:
</para>

<para>

<orderedlist>
<listitem>

<para>
Copyright and/or license notices are left intact.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>

<para>
Copyright and/or license notices are reproduced verbatim in
documentation accompanying binary distributions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>

<para>
Attributions are included with documentation accompanying binaries.
</para>
</listitem>

</orderedlist>

</para>

<para>
Most of these licenses are based on the MIT, X Consortium, or BSD
(original and revised) licenses.  All of them are consistent with the
<ulink
url="http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php"
>Open Source Definition</ulink
>, and most are
consistent with the Free Software Foundation's <ulink
url="http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-sw.html"
>Free Software Definition</ulink
>.
</para>

<para>
Copyright and Licensing information for X, including the reproduction
of copyright and/or license notices and attributions required by some
of the licenses for binary distributions, can be found in the <olink
targetdoc="License" targetptr="License">License Document</olink>.
If you find any omissions in that document, please contact us with details at
<email>xorg@lists.x.org</email>.
While the current licenses are all open source licenses, the
X.Org Foundation is attempting, with time, to bring as much as
possible of the code's licenses in the distribution into compliance with the
<ulink url="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines"
>Debian Free Software Guidelines</ulink>.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id='Pointers_to_additional_information'>
<title>Pointers to additional information</title>

<para>
The documentation for this release can be found online at the <ulink
url="http://www.x.org/">X.Org web site</ulink>.
</para>

<para>
The X11 version numbering system (including historical information)
can be found in the <olink targetdoc="Versions" targetptr="Versions">Versions
Document</olink>.
</para>

<para>
Additional information may be available at the <ulink url="http://wiki.x.org/"
>X.Org Foundation Wiki</ulink>.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id='The_Public_Mailing_Lists'>
<title>The Public Mailing Lists</title>

<para>
Current information about the X.Org Foundation public mailing lists is
available on <ulink url="http://www.x.org/wiki/XorgMailingLists">the X.Org
mailing list page</ulink> and related desktop
technology mailing lists can be found on <ulink
url="http://freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo">Freedesktop.org's mailing list
page</ulink>.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id='Contributing_to_the_X.Org_Foundations_X_efforts.'>
<title>Contributing to the X.Org Foundation's X efforts.</title>

<para>
If you have any new work or enhancements/bug fixes for existing work,
please send them as git format patches to
<email>xorg-devel@lists.freedesktop.org</email> or to our
<ulink url="https://bugs.freedesktop.org/">bug tracking system</ulink>
using the xorg component.  This will help ensure that they are included
in future releases.   More details on patch submission and review
process are available on the
<ulink url="http://www.x.org/wiki/Development/Documentation/SubmittingPatches">
SubmittingPatches</ulink> page of the X.Org wiki.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id='How_to_get_the_release'>
<title>How to get the release</title>

<!--
<![ %snapshot; [
<para>
X11R&relvers; can be found from the <ulink url="http://wiki.x.org">X.Org
Foundation wiki</ulink>, and at mirrors of this server.
</para>
]]>

<![ %release; [
-->
<para>
Information about X11R&relvers; can be found from the
<ulink
url="http://wiki.x.org"
>X.Org Foundation wiki</ulink>, and at
mirrors of this server.
</para>
<!--
]]>
 -->

<sect2 id='X11R&relvers;'>
<title>X11R&relvers;</title>

<para>
This is the &whichfullrel; release of the new modular source code tree.  The
source code has been split into nine logical modules: app, data, doc,
driver, font, lib. proto, util and xserver.  Each of these modules
contain one or more packages that can be configured, built and installed
separately.  Please see an X11R&relvers; release site for a complete
list of the tarballs.
</para>

<para>
For information on how to build the modular tree packages see the <ulink
url="http://wiki.x.org/wiki/ModularDevelopersGuide"
>Modular Developer's Guide</ulink
>.  This guide also
contains information for developers who want to help improve the modular
build system and modular code base.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id='The_current_development_tree'>
<title>The current development tree</title>

<para>
The X source code for this and all releases/snapshots as well as
development versions can also be accessed via the Freedesktop.org git
repository.  It's also possible to browse the <ulink
url="http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/"
>freedesktop git repository</ulink
>.
</para>

<para>
To check out the latest development version, don't specify any tag.
</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id='Reporting_Bugs'>
<title>Reporting Bugs</title>

<para>
Bugs should be reported to freedesktop.org's <ulink
url="https://bugs.freedesktop.org/">bug tracking system</ulink>
using the xorg component.  Before
reporting bugs, please check the server log file, which can be found at
<filename>/var/log/Xorg.0.log</filename> on most platforms.  If you can't
resolve the problem yourself, send the entire log file with your bug report but
not the operating system core dump.  Do not edit the log file as our
developers use it to reproduce and debug your problem.  Please attach it
to your bug report.
</para>

</sect1>

</article>