                         Release Notes for X11R6.8.1

                            The X.Org Foundation
                          The XFree86 Project, Inc.

                              17 September 2004

                                  Abstract

     These release notes contains information about features and their
     status in the X.Org Foundation X11R6.8.1 release.  It is based on
     the XFree86 4.4RC2 RELNOTES document published by The XFree86[tm]
     Project, Inc.  There are significant updates and differences in the
     X.Org release as noted below.

1.  Introduction to the X11R6.8.1 Release

The release numbering is based on the original MIT X numbering system.  X11
refers to the version of the network protocol that the X Window system is
based on: Version 11 was first released in 1988 and has been stable for 15
years, with only upward compatible additions to the core X protocol, a record
of stability envied in computing.  Formal releases of X started with X ver-
sion 9 from MIT; the first commercial X products were based on X version 10.
The MIT X Consortium and its successors, the X Consortium, the Open Group X
Project Team, and the X.Org Group released versions X11R3 through X11R6.6,
before the founding of the X.Org Foundation.

There will be future maintenance releases in the X11R6.8.x series.  However,
efforts are well underway to split the X distribution into its modular compo-
nents to allow for easier maintenance and independent updates.  We expect a
transitional period while both X11R6.8 releases are being fielded and the
modular release completed and deployed while both will be available as dif-
ferent consumers of X technology have different constraints on deployment. We
have not yet decided how the modular X releases will be numbered.

We encourage you to submit bug fixes and enhancements to bugzilla.freedesk-
top.org using the xorg product, and discussions on this server take place on
<xorg@freedesktop.org>.

X11R6.8.1 comes with a graphical configuration tool called "xorgcfg", which
also has a text mode interface and can be used to create an initial configu-
ration file. It can also be used to customise existing configurations.

Next in the order of configuration preferences is to use the Xorg server's
ability to create a starting configuration file.  Run as root:

     Xorg -configure

 and follow the instructions.

Finally, if all else fails, the trusty old standby text-based tool "xorgcon-
fig" can also be used for generating X server config files.

At least one, and hopefully, all of these configuration options will give you
a reasonable starting point for a suitable configuration file.  With the
automatic mechanism you might even find that you don't need one!

If you do need to customise the configuration file, see the xorg.conf manual
page.  You can also check the driver-specific manual pages and the related
documentation (found at tables below (section , page ) also.

Before downloading  the binary distributions for this release, please have a
quick read through the Installation Document.  It may save you some time and
also help you figure out which of the binary releases you need.

The next section describes what is new in the latest version (6.8.1) compared
with the previous full release (6.8).  The other sections below describe some
of the new features and changes between 3.3.x and 4.0.  There are lots of new
features, and we definitely don't have enough space to cover them all here.

2.  Summary of new features in X11R6.8.1

This is a sampling of the new features in X11R6.8.1.  A more complete list of
changes can be found in the ChangeLog file that is part of the X source tree.

   o Freetype was updated to version 2.1.8. But installing freetype from X
     distributions would often or usually result in the replacement or use of
     "stale" versions of freetype. On Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris 10, and SCO5,
     therefore, X11R6.8.1 will by default use the version of freetype2 that
     is installed on the system. If your system doesn't come with an
     installed freetype2 and you wish to use the version supplied with this
     distribution, please add:

     #define HasFreetype2 NO

     to config/cf/host.def.

   o  The XTT font module and FreeType1 have been retired because FreeType2
     subsumes their functionality

   o  Retire old PS Type1 font rasterizer (except for CID font usage) since
     the FreeType2 rasterizer now handles PS Type1 (*.pfa, *.pfb)

   o Render implementation fixes

   o Updated x86emu and resynced with upstream at Scitech

   o Updated SiS driver

   o Render acceleration for ATI's R100 and R200-series cards

   o Substantial speedups in the software implementation of the render exten-
     sions when compiled with gcc 3.4 on the i386 architecture.

   o Infrastructure for rotation support in drivers

   o New Trapezoid specification for the Render extension

        o Respecify Render to include only 'normal' traps

        o Allow backward compatibility but internally covert to new format

   o Software mouse cursor is now based on the Damage extension

   o A new keyboard driver is enabled by default. The old driver is disabled
     unless explicitly compiled in by defining the macro USE_DEPRECATED_KEY-
     BOARD_DRIVER

   o Extensions can be enabled/disabled from the configuration file and from
     the command line

   o Mac OS X updates:

        o Support dynamic screen configuration changes in rootless mode

        o Added option to always use Mac command key equivalents

        o Interpret scroll wheel mouse events correctly when shift is held
          down

        o Added trivial Xinput support

        o Fixed launch of X clients from Finder with a space in their path

        o Fixed some GLX rendering problems on Mac OS X 10.2 and earlier

2.1  New X extensions

X11R6.8.1 includes four new extensions:

      XFixes
            The XFixes extension is a collection of improvements for defi-
            ciencies in the core protocol, including

               o Notification when a selection changes

               o Server-side region objects

               o Allow clients to track the cursor image

      Damage
            The Damage extension allows a client to be notified whenever
            something is drawn to a window. This feature is useful for VNC
            servers, for screen magnifiers, and for clients using the Compos-
            ite extension to update the screen.

      Composite (experimental)
            The Composite extension allows a client to request that all draw-
            ing to window is redirected to off-screen buffer. Though the Dam-
            age extension the client, called a 'compositing manager', can
            know which areas of a window is modified and render the windows
            on screen. By making use of the drawing requests from both the
            core protocol and the RENDER extension, the compositing manager
            can create special effects, such as translucennt windows.

            The Composite extension is considered experimental in X11R6.8.1
            and is turned off by default.

      XEvIE (X Event Interception Extension) (experimental)
            XEvIE is an extension to intercept core keyboard and pointing
            device input It allows consumation, modification or synthesis of
            input events before these are sent to their final destination
            (i.e., interested clients). This feature is required by the GNOME
            accessibility project.

            The XEvIE extension is considered experimental in X11R6.8.1 and
            is turned off by default.

As noted above, some extensions are disabled by default.  They can be enabled
either in the xorg.conf configuration file or on the Xorg command-line.  For
example, to enable the Composite extension, you could include a section like
the following in the xorg.conf file:

     Section "Extensions"
             Option "Composite" "Enable"
     EndSection

or you could put +extension Composite on your command line.

2.2  Distributed Multihead X (DMX)

X11R6.8.1 includes a new X server, called Xdmx, that allows users to create a
single unified desktop from multiple running X servers.  It works by creating
a local screen on each of these running X servers, which can be distributed
across a network, and then presents that set of screens to the user.  When
combined with Xinerama, a unified workspace, ranging from large display walls
to small two display enviroments, can be created.

More information about DMX can be found on the DMX Project's web site
<URL:http://dmx.sf.net/>, including how to configure and use Xdmx.

2.3  Xprint updates

   o Integrated various fixes from xprint.mozdev.org (more or less the whole
     codebase has been merged)

   o Integrated various fixes from Sun Microsystems

   o OpenGL is now supported for printing

   o New set of maintenance tools for the Xprint server (xplsprinters, xpre-
     hashprinterlist, etc.)

   o Added new XprintUtils client library to make the usage off Xprint easier

   o Various other features and fixes integrated

   o Athena toolkit now has print support (XawPrintShell) which is included
     in a separate version of that library (Xaw8)

   o Various applications/tools like xman, xedit, xlogo, etc. now have print
     support

2.4  Updated Mesa and DRI from upstream sources

   o More OpenGL extensions

   o MergedFB for Radeon (Dualhead DRI support on these cards)

   o Many GLX fixes

   o Working SiS DRI driver

   o Major Radeon and R200 DRI driver updates

   o fbconfigs support

   o Beginnings of pbuffer support (indirect only, and only in specific cir-
     cumstances).

   o Merge Mach64 DRI support (Eric Anholt, July 23)

2.5  Video driver enhancements

   o SiS driver updates include

        o output device hotplugging

        o lots of fixes for 661, 741, 760

        o extended interface for SiSCtrl?

        o extended LCD handling (allow more modes)

        o HDTV support (480p, 480i, 720p. 1080i; 315/330 series)

        o Added video blitter Xv adapter (315/330 series)

        o extended RENDER acceleration

   o Radeon driver updates:

        o Merged Framebuffer support (dualhead with DRI)

        o DynamicClocks option (reduced power usage)

        o Render acceleration (r100, r200 chips only)

        o Support for new ATI chips (R420/M18, R423, RV370/M22, RV380/M24,
          RS300)

        o DRI support for IGP chips

        o Xv gamma correction

        o Updated 3D drivers

        o Many other small fixes

   o Neomagic driver updates

        o Support for Xv on pre-nm2160 chips

        o Pseudocolor overlay mode

        o Improved support for lowres double scan modes

   o MGA driver updates

        o Support for DDC and DPMS on second head on G400

        o Updated 3D driver

   o i810 driver updates

        o Dualhead support (i830+)

        o i915 support

        o New 3D driver (i830+)

   o Savage driver updates

        o Pseudocolor overlay mode

   o S3 driver updates

        o Support for additional IBM RAMDACS

   o Chips driver update

        o Improved BE support

   o New Voodoo driver (Alan Cox)

        o Provides native (glide-less) acceleration and mode setup for
          voodoo/voodoo2 boards

3.  Drivers

3.1  Video Drivers

X11R6.8.1 includes the following video drivers:

+--------------+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
|Driver Name   | Description              | Further Information                         |
+--------------+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
|apm           | Alliance Pro Motion      | README.apm                                  |
|ark           | Ark Logic                |                                             |
|ati           | ATI                      | README.ati, README.r128, r128(4), radeon(4) |
|chips         | Chips & Technologies     | README.chips, chips(4)                      |
|cirrus        | Cirrus Logic             |                                             |
|cyrix (*)     | Cyrix MediaGX            | README.cyrix                                |
|fbdev         | Linux framebuffer device | fbdev(4)                                    |
|glide         | Glide2x (3Dfx)           | glide(4)                                    |
|glint         | 3Dlabs, TI               | glint(4)                                    |
|i128          | Number Nine              | README.I128, i128(4)                        |
|i740          | Intel i740               | README.i740                                 |
|i810          | Intel i8xx               | README.i810, i810(4)                        |
|imstt         | Integrated Micro Solns   |                                             |
|mga           | Matrox                   | mga(4)                                      |
|neomagic      | NeoMagic                 | neomagic(4)                                 |
|newport (-)   | SGI Newport              | README.newport, newport(4)                  |
|nsc           | National Semiconductor   | nsc(4)                                      |
|nv            | NVIDIA                   | nv(4)                                       |
|rendition     | Rendition                | README.rendition, rendition(4)              |
|s3            | S3 (not ViRGE or Savage) |                                             |
|s3virge       | S3 ViRGE                 | README.s3virge, s3virge(4)                  |
|savage        | S3 Savage                | savage(4)                                   |
|siliconmotion | Silicon Motion           | siliconmotion(4)                            |
|sis           | SiS                      | README.SiS, sis(4)                          |
|sunbw2 (+)    | Sun bw2                  |                                             |
|suncg14 (+)   | Sun cg14                 |                                             |
|suncg3 (+)    | Sun cg3                  |                                             |
|suncg6 (+)    | Sun GX and Turbo GX      |                                             |
|sunffb (+)    | Sun Creator/3D, Elite 3D |                                             |
|sunleo (+)    | Sun Leo (ZX)             |                                             |
|suntcx (+)    | Sun TCX                  |                                             |
|tdfx          | 3Dfx                     | tdfx(4)                                     |
|tga           | DEC TGA                  | README.DECtga                               |
|trident       | Trident                  | trident(4)                                  |
|tseng         | Tseng Labs               |                                             |
|via           | VIA                      | via(4)                                      |
|vesa          | VESA                     | vesa(4)                                     |
|vga           | Generic VGA              | vga(4)                                      |
|vmware        | VMWare guest OS          | vmware(4)                                   |
+--------------+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------+

Drivers marked with (*) are present in a preliminary form in this release,
but are not complete and/or stable yet.

Drivers marked with (+) are for Linux/Sparc only.

Drivers marked with (-) are for Linux/mips only.

Darwin/Mac OS X uses IOKit drivers and does not use the module loader drivers
listed above. Further information can be found in README.Darwin.

X11R6.8.1 includes the following input drivers:

3.2  Input Drivers

   +------------+----------------------------------+---------------------+
   |Driver Name | Description                      | Further Information |
   +------------+----------------------------------+---------------------+
   |aiptek(*)   | Aiptek USB tablet                | aiptek(4)           |
   |calcomp     | Calcomp                          |                     |
   |citron      | Citron                           | citron(4)           |
   |digitaledge | DigitalEdge                      |                     |
   |dmc         | DMC                              | dmc(4)              |
   |dynapro     | Dynapro                          |                     |
   |elographics | EloGraphics                      |                     |
   |fpit        | Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet PCs     | fpit(4)             |
   |hyperpen    | Aiptek HyperPen 6000             |                     |
   |js_x        | JamStudio pentablet              | js_x(4)             |
   |kbd         | generic keyboards (alternate)    | kbd(4)              |
   |keyboard    | generic keyboards                | keyboard(4)         |
   |microtouch  | MicroTouch                       |                     |
   |mouse       | most mouse devices               | mouse(4)            |
   |mutouch     | MicroTouch                       |                     |
   |palmax      | Palmax PD1000/PD1100             | palmax(4)           |
   |penmount    | PenMount                         |                     |
   |spaceorb    | SpaceOrb                         |                     |
   |summa       | SummaGraphics                    |                     |
   |tek4957     | Tektronix 4957 tablet            | tek4957(4)          |
   |ur98(*)     | Union Reality UR-F98 headtracker | ur98(4)             |
   |void        | dummy device                     | void(4)             |
   |wacom       | Wacom tablets                    | wacom(4)            |
   +------------+----------------------------------+---------------------+

Drivers marked with (*) are available for Linux only.

4.  Overview of X11R6.8.1

On most platforms, X11R6.8.1 has a single X server binary called Xorg.  This
binary can either have one or more video and input drivers linked in stati-
cally, or more usually, dynamically, and in that manner load the video
drivers, input drivers, and other modules that are needed.

X11R6.8.1 has X server support for most UNIX® and UNIX-like operating systems
on Intel/x86 platforms, plus support for Linux and some BSD OSs on Alpha,
PowerPC, IA-64, AMD64, Sparc, and Mips platforms, and for Darwin on PowerPC.

4.1  Loader and Modules

The X server has a built-in run-time loader, which can load normal object
files and libraries in most of the commonly used formats.  The loader does
not rely on an operating system's native dynamic loader support and it works
on platforms that do not provide this feature.  This  allows  for the modules
to be operating system independent (although not, of course, CPU architecture
independent) which means that a module compiled on Linux/x86 can be loaded by
an X server running on Solaris/x86, or FreeBSD, or even OS/2.

A main benefit of this, is that when modules are updated, they do not need to
be recompiled for every different operating system.  The loader in version
6.8.1 has support for Intel (x86), Alpha and PowerPC platforms.  It also has
preliminary support for Sparc platforms.

The X server makes use of modules for video drivers, X server extensions,
font rasterisers, input device drivers, framebuffer layers (like mfb, cfb,
etc), and internal components used by some drivers (like XAA),

The module interfaces (both API and ABI) used in this release are subject to
change without notice.  While we will attempt to provide backward compatibil-
ity for the module interfaces as of the 4.0 release (meaning that 4.0 modules
will work with future core X server binaries), we cannot guarantee this.
Compatibility in the other direction is explicitly not guaranteed because new
modules may rely on interfaces added in new releases.

Note about module security

     The X server runs with root privileges, i.e., the X server loadable
     modules also run with these privileges.  For this reason we recom-
     mend that all users be careful to only use loadable modules from
     reliable sources,  otherwise the introduction of viruses and con-
     taminated code can occur and wreak havoc on your system.  We hope
     to have a mechanism for signing/verifying the modules that we pro-
     vide available in a future release.

4.2  Configuration File

The X server uses a configuration file as the primary mechanism for providing
configuration and run-time parameters.  The configuration file format is
described in detail in the xorg.conf(5) manual page.

The X server has support for automatically determining an initial configura-
tion on most platforms, as well as support or generating a basic initial con-
figuration file.

4.3  Command Line Options

Command line options can be used to override some default parameters and
parameters provided in the configuration file.  These command line options
are described in the Xorg(1) manual page.

4.4  XAA

The XFree86 Acceleration Architecture (XAA) was completely rewritten from
scratch for XFree86 4.x and is used in X11R6.8.1.  Most drivers implement
acceleration by making use of the XAA module.  The Xorg server will accept
modules built either for XFree86 4.4 servers or its own.

4.5  Multi-head

Some multi-head configurations are supported in X11R6.8.1, primarily with
multiple PCI/AGP cards.

One of the main problems is with drivers not sufficiently initialising cards
that were not initialised at boot time.  This has been improved somewhat with
the INT10 support that is used by most drivers (which allows secondary card
to be "soft-booted", but in some cases there are other issues that still need
to be resolved.  Some combinations can be made to work better by changing
which card is the primary card (either by using a different PCI slot, or by
changing the system BIOS's preference for the primary card).

4.6  Xinerama

Xinerama is an X server extension that allows multiple physical screens to
behave as a single screen.  With traditional multi-head in X11, windows can-
not span or cross physical screens.  Xinerama removes this limitation.  Xin-
erama does, however, require that the physical screens all have the same root
depth, so it isn't possible, for example, to use an 8-bit screen together
with a 16-bit screen in Xinerama mode.

Xinerama is not enabled by default, and can be enabled with the +xinerama
command line option for the X server.

Xinerama was included with X11R6.4.  The version included in X11R6.8.1 was
completely rewritten for improved performance and correctness.

Known problems:

   o Most window managers are not Xinerama-aware, and so some operations like
     window placement and resizing might not behave in an ideal way.  This is
     an issue that needs to be dealt with in the individual window managers,
     and isn't specifically an X server problem.

4.7  DGA version 2

DGA 2.0 is included in 6.8.1.  Documentation for the client libraries can be
found in the XDGA(3) man page.  A good degree of backwards compatibility with
version 1.0 is provided.

4.8  DDC

The VESA® Display Data Channel (DDC[tm]) standard allows the monitor to tell
the video card (or on some cases the computer directly) about itself; partic-
ularly the supported screen resolutions and refresh rates.

Partial or complete DDC support is available in most of the video drivers.
DDC is enabled by default, but can be disabled with a "Device" section entry:
Option "NoDDC".  We have support for DDC versions 1 and 2; these can be dis-
abled independently with Option "NoDDC1" and Option "NoDDC2".

At startup the server prints out DDC information from the display, and can
use this information to set the default monitor parameters, or to warn about
monitor sync limits if those provided in the configuration file don't match
those that are detected.

4.8.1  Changed behavior caused by DDC.

Several drivers uses DDC information to set the screen size and pitch.  This
can be overridden by explicitly resetting it to the and non-DDC default value
75 with the -dpi 75 command line option for the X server, or by specifying
appropriate screen dimensions with the "DisplaySize" keyword in the "Monitor"
section of the config file.

4.9  GLX and the Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI)

Direct rendered OpenGL® support is provided for several hardware platforms by
the Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI).  Further information about DRI can
be found at the DRI Project's web site <URL:http://dri.sf.net/>.  The 3D core
rendering component is provided by Mesa <URL:http://www.mesa3d.org>.

4.10  XVideo Extension (Xv)

The XVideo extension is supported in X11R6.7.x.  An XvQueryPortAttributes
function has been added as well as support for XvImages.  XvImages are XIm-
ages in alternate color spaces such as YUV and can be passed to the server
through shared memory segments.  This allows clients to display YUV data with
high quality hardware scaling and filtering.

4.11  X Rendering Extension (Render)

The X Rendering extension provides a 2D rendering model that more closely
matches application demands and hardware capabilities.  It provides a render-
ing model derived from Plan 9 based on Porter/Duff image composition rather
than binary raster operations.

Using simple compositing operators provided by most hardware, Render can draw
anti-aliased text and geometric objects as well as perform translucent image
overlays and other image operations not possible with the core X rendering
system.

Unlike the core protocol, Render provides no font support for applications,
rather it allows applications to upload glyphs for display on the screen.
This allows the client greater control over text rendering and complete
access to the available font information while still providing hardware
acceleration.  The Xft library provides font access for Render applications.

4.11.1  The Xft Library

On the client side, the Xft library provides access to fonts for applications
using the FreeType library, version 2.  One important thing to note is that
Xft uses the vertical size of the monitor to compute accurate pixel sizes for
provided point sizes; if your monitor doesn't provide accurate information
via DDC, you may want to add that information to xorg.conf.

To allow a graceful transition for applications moving from core text render-
ing to the Render extension, Xft can use either the core rendering requests
or the Render extension for text.  See the section on FreeType support in Xft
for instructions on configuring X11R6.8.1 to use an existing FreeType instal-
lation.

The Xft library uses configuration files, /etc/fonts/fonts.conf and
/etc/fonts/local.conf, which contains information about which directories
contain font files and also provides a sophisticated font aliasing mechanism.
Documentation for that file is included in the Xft(3) man page.

4.11.2  Application Support For Anti-Aliased Text

Only four applications have been modified in X11R6.8.1 to work with the Ren-
der extension and the Xft and FreeType libraries to provide anti-aliased
text: xterm, xditview, x11perf and xclock.  Migration of other applications
may occur in future releases.

By default, xterm uses core fonts through the standard core API.  It has a
command line option and associated resource to direct it to use Xft instead:

   o -fa family / .VT100.faceName: family.  Selects the font family to use.

Xditview will use Xft instead of the core API by default.  X11perf includes
tests to measure the performance of text rendered in three ways, anti-
aliased, anti-aliased with sub-pixel sampling and regular chunky text, but
through the Render extension, a path which is currently somewhat slower than
core text.

Xclock uses the Render extension to draw the analog face and shares the -fa
option and faceName resources with xterm to select a font for the digital
mode.

4.12  Other extensions

The XFree86-Misc extension has not been fully ported to the new server archi-
tecture yet.  This should be completed in a future release.

The XFree86-VidModeExtension extension has been updated, and mostly ported to
the new server architecture.  The area of mode validation needs further work,
and the extension should be used with care.  This extension has support for
changing the gamma setting at run-time, for modes where this is possible.
The xgamma utility makes use of this feature.  Compatibility with the 3.3.x
version of the extension is provided.  The missing parts of this extension
and some new features should be completed in a future release.

4.13  xedit

Xedit has several new features, including:

   o An embedded lisp interpreter that allows easier extension of the editor.

   o Several new syntax highlight modes, and indentation rules for C and
     Lisp.

   o Flexible search/replace interface that allows regex matches.

   o Please refer to xedit(1) for more details.

   o XPrint support.

4.14  Font support

Details about the font support in X11R6.8.1.x can be found in the
README.fonts document.

4.15  TrueType support

X11R6.7 came with two TrueType backends.  The functionality from the `X-True-
Type' backend has been integrated into the `FreeType' backend which is
designed to transparently support all of the functionality from the `X-True-
Type' backend with the exception of the font encoding libraries; the
`FreeType' backend uses only the fontenc-based encoding system .

4.16  CID font support

Support for CID-keyed fonts is included in X11R6.8.1 The CID-keyed font for-
mat was designed by Adobe Systems <URL:http://www.adobe.com> for fonts with
large character sets.  The CID-keyed font support in X11R6.8.1 was donated by
SGI <URL:http://www.sgi.com>.  See the LICENSE document for a copy of the CID
Font Code Public License.

4.17  Internationalisation of the scalable font backends

X11R6.8.1 has a ``fontenc'' layer to allow the scalable font backends to use
a common method of font re-encoding.  This re-encoding makes it possible to
uses fonts in encodings other than their their native encoding.  This layer
is used by the Type1, Speedo and FreeType backends.

4.18  Large font optimisation

The glyph metrics array, which all the X clients using a particular font have
access to, is placed in shared memory, so as to reduce redundant memory con-
sumption.  For non-local clients, the glyph metrics array is transmitted in a
compressed format.

4.19  Unicode/ISO 10646 support

What is included in X11R6.8.1

   o All ``-misc-fixed-*'' BDF fonts are now available in the ISO10646-1
     encoding and cover at least the 614 characters found in ISO
     8859-{1-5,7-10,14,15}, CP1252, and MES-1. The non-bold fonts also cover
     all Windows Glyph List 4 (WGL4) characters, including those found in all
     8-bit MS-DOS/Windows code pages. The 8-bit variants of the ``-misc-
     fixed-*'' BDF fonts (ISO8859-1, ISO8859-2, KOI8-R, etc.) have all been
     automatically generated from the new ISO10646-1 master fonts.

   o Some ``-misc-fixed-*'' BDF ISO10646-1 fonts now cover a comprehensive
     Unicode repertoire of over 3000 characters including all Latin, Greek,
     Cyrillic, Armenian, Gregorian, Hebrew, IPA, and APL characters, plus
     numerous scientific, typographic, technical, and backwards-compatibility
     symbols. Some of these fonts also cover Arabic, Ethiopian, Thai,
     Han/Kanji, Hangul, full ISO 8859, and more. For the 6x13 font there is
     now a 12x13ja Kanji extension and for the 9x18 font there is a 18x18ja
     Kanji/Han/Hangul extension, which covers all ISO-2022-JP-2 (RFC 1554)
     characters. The 9x18 font can also be used to implement simple combining
     characters by accent overstriking. For more information, read Markus
     Kuhn's UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ <URL:http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/uni-
     code.html>.

   o Mark Leisher's ClearlyU proportional font (similar to Computer Modern).

   o ISO 10646/Unicode UTF-8 Level 1 support added to xterm (enabled with the
     -u8 option).

   o The Freetype backend (the "freetype" module) supports Unicode-encoded
     fonts.

4.20  Xlib Compose file support and extensions

A more flexible Compose file processing system was added to Xlib in
X11R6.8.1.  The compose file is searched for in the following order:

  1.  If the environment variable $XCOMPOSEFILE is set, its value is used as
      the name of the Compose file.

  2.  If the user's home directory has a file named ".XCompose", it is used
      as the Compose file.

  3.  The old method is used, and the compose file is "<xlocaledir>/<locale-
      name>/Compose".

Compose files can now use an "include" instruction.  This allows local modi-
fications to be made to existing compose files without including all of the
content directly.  For example, the system's iso8859-1 compose file can be
included with a line like this:

     include "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/iso8859-1/Compose"

There are two substitutions that can be made in the file name of the include
instruction.  %H expands to the user's home directory (the $HOME environment
variable), and %L expands to the name of the locale specific Compose file
(i.e., "<xlocaledir>/<localename>/Compose").

For example, you can include in your compose file the default Compose file by
using:

     include "%L"

and then rewrite only the few rules that you need to change.  New compose
rules can be added, and previous ones replaced.

Finally, it is no longer necessary to specify in the right part of a rule a
locale encoded string in addition to the keysym name.  If the string is omit-
ted, Xlib figures it out from the keysym according to the current locale.
I.e., if a rule looks like:

     <dead_grave> <A> : "\300" Agrave

the result of the composition is always the letter with the "\300" code.  But
if the rule is:

     <dead_grave> <A> : Agrave

the result depends on how Agrave is mapped in the current locale.

4.21  Bitstream Vera fonts

X11R6.8.1 includes the Bitstream Vera family of typefaces in TrueType format.
This family includes the ``Bitstream Vera Sans'', ``Bitstream Vera Sans
Mono'' and ``Bitstream Vera Serif'' in Roman and Bold varients as well as the
``Bitstream Vera Sans'' and ``Bitstream Vera Sans Mono'' in Oblique and Bold
Oblique.  These fonts include all of the glyphs needed for ISO  8859 parts 1
9 and 15.

The license terms for the Vera fonts are inclued in the file COPYRIGHT.Vera>.

4.22  Luxi fonts from Bigelow and Holmes

The X distribution includes the ``Luxi'' family of Type 1 fonts and TrueType
fonts.  This family consists of the fonts ``Luxi Serif'', ``Luxi Sans'' and
``Luxi Mono'' in Roman, oblique, bold and bold oblique variants.  The True-
Type version have glyphs covering the basic ASCII Unicode range, the Latin 1
range, as well as the Extended Latin range and some additional punctuation
characters.  In particular, these fonts include all the glyphs needed for
ISO 8859 parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 13 and 15, as well as all the glyphs in the
Adobe Standard encoding and the Windows 3.1  character set.

The glyph coverage of the Type 1 versions is somewhat reduced, and only cov-
ers ISO 8859 parts 1, 2 and 15 as well as the Adobe Standard encoding.

The Luxi fonts are original designs by Kris Holmes and Charles Bigelow from
Bigelow and Holmes Inc., who developed the Luxi typeface designs in Ikarus
digital format.  URW++ Design and Development GmbH converted the Ikarus for-
mat fonts to TrueType and Type 1 font programs and implemented the grid-fit-
ting "hints" and kerning tables in the Luxi fonts.

The license terms for the Luxi fonts are included in the file `COPYRIGHT.BH',
as well as in the License document.  For further information, please contact
<design@bigelowandholmes.com> or <info@urwpp.de>, or consult the URW++ web
site <URL:http://www.urwpp.de>.

5.  Miscellaneous

This section describes other items of note for the X11R6.8.1 release.

5.1  Legacy keyboard driver phase-out

The legacy keyboard driver is no longer compiled into the X server by default
on certain platforms (including Linux).  The newer kbd driver replaces the
older built-in driver.  It is suggested that, if the X server says that it
cannot load the keyboard driver, then the xorg.conf file should be updated to
use the new kbd driver, which can be done by changing the Driver line in the
InputDevice section.  For example,

     Section "InputDevice"
             Identifier  "Keyboard0"
             Driver      "kbd"
     EndSection

Note that the driver name is case-sensitive.

5.2  Socket directory ownership and permissions

The socket directories created in /tmp are now required to be owned by root
and have their sticky-bit set.  If the premissions are not set correctly, the
component using this directory will print an error message and fail to start.
Common socket directories that are known to be affected include:

     /tmp/.font-unix
     /tmp/.ICE-unix
     /tmp/.X11-unix

These directories are used by the font server, xfs, applications using the
Inter-Client Exchange protocol (ICE) and the X server, respectively.

There are several solutions to the problem of when to create these directo-
ries.  They could be created at install time by the system's installer if the
/tmp dir is persistent.  They could be created at boot time by the system's
boot scripts (e.g., the init.d scripts).  Or, they could be created by PAM
modules at service startup or user login time.

The solution chosen is platform dependent, and the system administrator
should be able to handle creating those directories on any systems that do
not have the correct ownership or permissions.

5.3  Composite exposes extra visuals

When the Composite extension is enabled via xorg.conf or the command line, a
new visual is created.  This visual is different from the other visuals used
by X applications in that it includes an alpha component.  It is used by the
compositing manager and other Composite aware applications.

Most X applications ignore this visual since it is not useful to them; how-
ever some applications mistakenly try to use it, which will cause them to
fail.  An environment variable, XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS, was added to the X11
library to hide this visual from applications that mistakenly try to use it.
If an application fails only when the Composite is enabled, try setting this
environment variable before starting the application.

Since Composite is not enabled by default, it is not expected that this issue
will be visible to most users.

6.  Attributions/Acknowledgements/Credits

This section lists the credits for the X11R6.8.1 release.  For a more
detailed breakdown, refer to the ChangeLog file in the X.Org source tree, the
ChangeLog's in  or the 'cvs log' information for individual source files."

      These people contributed in some way to X11R6.8.1
            Paul Anderson, Eric Anholt, Daniel Berrange, Russ Blaine, Ryan
            Breen, Alan Coopersmith, Michel Daenzer, David Dawes, Alex
            Deucher, Stefan Dirsch, Egbert Eich, Rik Faith, Jim Gettys,
            Alexander Gottwald, Mike A. Harris, John Harper, John Heasley,
            Matthieu Herrb, Alan Hourihane, Kristian Høsberg, Harold L. Hunt
            II, Adam Jackson, Deron Johnson, Ivan Kokshaysky, Stuart Kreit-
            man, Peter Kunzman, Nolan Leake, Ryan Lortie, Andreas Luik, Tor-
            rey T. Lyons, Roland Mainz, Guy Martin, Kevin E. Martin, Keith
            Packard, Greg Parker, Aaron Plattner, Søren Sandmann, Ty Sarna,
            Yu Shao, Bryan Stine, Owen Taylor, Travis Tilley, Ryan Underwood,
            Ronny Vindenes, Chisato Yamauchi

The X Window System has been a collaborative effort from its inception.  Our
apologies for anyone or organization inadvertently overlooked.  Many individ-
uals (including major contributors) who worked on X are represented by their
employers in this list.

      This product includes software developed by:
            Paul Anderson, Michael Bax, Jehan Bing, Peter Breitenlohner, Alan
            Coopersmith, Egbert Eich, John Dennis, Fabrizio Gennari, Jim Get-
            tys, Alexander Gottwald, Ralf Habacker Mike Harris, Mattheiu
            Herrb Alan Hourihane, Harold L Hunt II, Elliot Lee, Jeremy Katz,
            Kaleb Keithley, Stuart Kreitman, Andreas Luik, Torrey Lyons,
            Roland Mainz, Kevin E. Martin, Takuma Murakami, Kensuke Mat-
            suzaki, Keith Packard, Ivan Pascal, Earle F. Philhower III, Ben-
            jamin Rienfenstahl, Leon Shiman, Toshimitsu Tanaka, Nicholas
            Wourms.

            2d3d Inc., Aaron Plattner, Adam de Boor, Adam Jackson, Adobe Sys-
            tems Inc., After X-TT Project, AGE Logic Inc., Alan Coopersmith,
            Alan Cox, Alan Hourihane, Alexander Gottwald, Alex Deucher,
            Andreas Luik, Andreas Monitzer, Andrew C Aitchison, Andy Ritger,
            Ani Joshi, Anton Zioviev, Apollo Computer Inc., Apple Computer
            Inc., Ares Software Corp., AT&T Inc., ATI Technologies Inc., Ben-
            jamin Rienfenstahl, Bigelow and Holmes, Bill Reynolds, Bitstream
            Inc., Bitstream, Inc, Brian Fundakowski Feldman, Brian Goines,
            Brian Paul, Bruno Haible, Bryan Stine, Charles Murcko, Chen
            Xiangyang, Chisato Yamauchi, Chris Constello, Christian Zietz,
            Cognition Corp., Compaq Computer Corporation, Concurrent Computer
            Corporation, Conectiva S.A., Corin Anderson, Craig Struble, Dae-
            woo Electronics Co. Ltd., Dale Schumacher, Damien Miller, Daniel
            Berrange, Daniel Stone, Daniver Limited, Daryll Strauss, Data
            General Corporation, David Bateman, David Dawes, David E. Wexel-
            blat, David Holland, David J. McKay, David McCullough, David Mos-
            berger-Tang, David S. Miller, Davor Matic, Deron Johnson, Digital
            Equipment Corporation, Dirk Hohndel, Doug Anson, Earle F. Phil-
            hower III, Edouard TISSERANT, Eduardo Horvath, Egbert Eich,
            Elliot Lee, Eric Anholt, Eric Fortune, Eric Sunshine, Erik For-
            tune, Erik Nygren, Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation, Fabio
            Massimo Di Nitto Fabrizio Gennari, Finn Thoegersen, Frederic Lep-
            ied, Free Software Foundation Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Open
            Systems Solutions Inc., Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd., Geert Uytterhoeven,
            Gerrit Jan Akkerman, Gerry Toll, Glenn G. Lai, GNOME Foundation,
            Go Watanabe, Gregory Mokhin, Greg Parker, GROUPE BULL, Guy Mar-
            tin, Hans Oey, Harald Koenig, Harm Hanemaayer, Harold L Hunt II,
            Harry Langenbacher, Henry A. Worth, Hewlett-Packard Company,
            Hitachi Ltd, Holger Veit, Howard Greenwell, Hummingbird Communi-
            cations Ltd., IBM Corporation, Intel Corporation, INTERACTIVE
            Systems Corporation, International Business Machines Corp., Itai
            Nahshon, Ivan Kokshaysky, Ivan Pascal, Jakub Jelinek, James Tsil-
            las, Jason Bacon, Jean-loup Gailly, Jeff Kirk, Jeffrey Hsu, Jehan
            Bing, Jeremy Katz, Jim Gettys, Jim Tsillas, J. Kean Johnston,
            John Dennis, John Harper, John Heasley, Jon Block, Jon Tombs,
            Jorge Delgado, Joseph Friedman, Joseph V. Moss, Juliusz
            Chroboczek, Jyunji Takagi, Kaleb Keithley, Kaleb S. Keithley,
            Kazushi (Jam) Marukawa, Kazuyuki (ikko-) Okamoto, Kean Johnston.
            Keith Packard, Keith Packard, Keith Whitwell, Kensuke Matsuzaki,
            Kristian Høgsberg, Larry Wall, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory,
            Lennart Augustsson, Leon Shiman, Lexmark International Inc.,
            Linus Torvalds, Luc Verhaegen, Machine Vision Holdings Inc., Man-
            fred Brands, Marc Aurele La France Mark Adler, Mark J. Kilgard,
            Mark Leisher, Mark Smulders, Mark Vojkovich, Massachusetts Insti-
            tute Of Technology, Matrox Graphics, Mattheiu Herrb Matthew
            Grossman, Matthieu Herrb, Metro Link Inc., Michael Bax, Michael
            H. Schimek, Michael P. Marking, Michael Schimek, Michael Smith,
            Michel Daenzer, Mike A. Harris, Mike Harris, Ming Yu, MIPS Com-
            puter Systems Inc., National Semiconductor, NCR Corporation Inc.,
            Netscape Communications Corporation, Network Computing Devices
            Inc., Nicholas Wourms, Noah Levitt, Nolan Leake, Novell Inc.,
            Nozomi YTOW, NTT Software Corporation, Number Nine Computer
            Corp., Number Nine Visual Technologies, NVIDIA Corp., Oivier
            Danet, Oki Technosystems Laboratory Inc., OMRON Corporation, Open
            Software Foundation, Orest Zborowski, Owen Taylor, Pablo Saratx-
            aga, Panacea Inc., Panagiotis Tsirigotis, Paolo Severini, Pascal
            Haible, Patrick Lecoanet, Patrick Lerda, Paul Anderson, Paul
            Elliott, Peter Breitenlohner, Peter Kunzmann, Peter Trattler,
            Philip Homburg, Precision Insight Inc., Prentice Hall, Quarter-
            deck Office Systems, Ralf Habacker Randy Hendry, Ranier Keller,
            Red Hat Inc., Regents of the University of California, Regis
            Cridlig, Rene Cougnenc, Richard A. Hecker, Richard Burdick, Rich
            Murphey, Rickard E. Faith, Rik Faith, Robert Baron, Robert
            Chesler, Robert Millan. Robert V. Baron, Robin Cutshaw, Roland
            Mainz, Ronny Vindenes, Russ Blaine, Ryan Breen, Ryan Lortie, Ryan
            Underwood, S3 Graphics Inc., Sam Leffler, SciTech Software, Scott
            Laird, Sebastien Marineau, Shigehiro Nomura, ShoGraphics Inc.,
            Shunsuke Akiyama, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems Inc., Silicon
            Integrated Systems Corp Inc., Silicon Motion Inc., Simon P.
            Cooper, Snitily Graphics Consulting Services, Sony Corporation,
            Søren Sandmann, SRI, Stanislav Brabec, Stefan Dirsch, Stephan
            Dirsch, Stephan Lang, Steven Lang, Stuart Kreitman, Sun Microsys-
            tems Inc., SunSoft Inc., SuSE Inc, Sven Luther, Takis Psarogian-
            nakopoulos, Takuma Murakami, Takuya SHIOZAKI, Tektronix Inc., The
            DOS-EMU-Development-Team, The Institute of Software Academia
            Sinica, The NetBSD Foundation, Theo de Raadt, Theodore Ts'o, The
            Open Group, The Open Software Foundation, The Regents of the Uni-
            versity of California, The Santa Cruz Operation Inc., The Weather
            Channel Inc., The X Consortium, The XFree86 Project Inc., Thomas
            E. Dickey, Thomas G. Lane, Thomas Hellström, Thomas Mueller,
            Thomas Roell, Thomas Thanner, Thomas Winischhofer, Thomas Wol-
            fram, Thorsten.Ohl, Tiago Gons, Todd C. Miller, Tomohiro KUBOTA,
            Torrey Lyons, Torrey T. Lyons, TOSHIBA Corp., Toshimitsu Tanaka,
            Travis Tilley, Tungsten Graphics Inc., Ty Sarna, UCHIYAMA
            Yasushi, Unicode Inc., UniSoft Group Limited, University of Utah,
            UNIX System Laboratories Inc., URW++ GmbH, VA Linux Systems, VIA
            Technologies Inc., Video Electronics Standard, VMware Inc., Vrije
            Universiteit, Wittawat Yamwong, Wyse Technology Inc., X Consor-
            tium, Xi Graphics Inc., X-Oz Technologies, X-TrueType Server Pro-
            ject and their contributors, Yu Shao,

            This product includes software developed by The XFree86 Project,
            Inc (http://www.xfree86.org/) and its contributors.

            This produce includes software that is based in part of the work
            of the FreeType Team (http://www.freetype.org).

            This product includes software developed by the University of
            California, Berkeley and its contributors.

            This product includes software developed by Christopher G.
            Demetriou.

            This product includes software developed by the NetBSD Founda-
            tion, Inc. and its contributors.

            This product includes software developed by the X-Oz Technologies
            and its contributors.


$XdotOrg: $
