[Xorg] Xfree86 4.4 vs Xorg Wrap-up

[Harold L Hunt II]

Francois,

There is nothing to discuss.

XFree86 has not and is not working with developers that want to 
contribute to the project.  You're going to have a really hard time 
convincing the 20 people involved in the XOrg release that they should 
drop everything and beg and plead to be allowed to work on XFree86; it 
just doesn't make sense and isn't going to happen.

There will really be no confusion by distributors: I don't know of a 
single one that is going to ship XFree86 4.4.0.

Please, if you don't have a vested interest in this topic, don't bring 
it up since you can't possibly know the whole story about what has 
happened and what is happening.  All of the players know exactly what 
has happened and what is happening and we don't need to continue to 
explain this out to people that aren't really directly involved.

Harold

Francois Isabelle wrote:

> - sorry for the noise, I'm not sure if I send this on the right lists.
> 
> Hi,
>    I know that some diggup would probably tell me everything I want to
> know, but I'm not sure if past posts still represent the current
> positions and I want a clear picture of the *actual* situation.
> 
> 
> Is that what's happening ?
> 1 - XFree86 changed licensing, which introduced some GPL compatibility
> issues and some deviations to debian DFSG(debian free software
> guidelines).
> 2 - Some are arguing that the new licensing is NOT GPL incompatible, but
> nobody argues that it is not deviating from DFSG
> 3 - Xorg forked XFree86 due to these licensing considerations
> 4 - Debian will NOT include XFree86 4.4 components 
> 5 - Other Linux's distributions MIGTH include Xfree86 4.4
> 6 - Other Linux's distributions WILL include Xorg
> 7 - Debian MIGHT include Xorg, MIGHT include XFree86 4.4 in non-free or
> similar
> 
> 8 - End users / developpers / distribution packagers WILL end up
> confused, free software activist will end up frustrated and I WILL NOT
> understand why this FORK took place anyway.
> 
> I see some mail traffic, stating that Xorg will replace XFree86 ( not
> necessarily *official* lists ) , I don't know, I don't like this fork.
> 
> Especially, 
> 	- I'm not sure they have sufficient resources to provide the quality
> level we've come to expect from the XFree86 team.
> 	- I think a FORK is a really bad thing especially on projects
> that large, how can contributors enhance BOTH projects... wasted work I
> beleive.
> 	- Even if free software is taking up over proprietary stuff, there are
> external forces that are hitting free software day after day, why MUST
> the free software community hit itself from the INSIDE ?
> 
> Please, correct me if I'm wrong. But don't spend too much time on point
> '8' , I know I'm right about this one.
> 
> 
> Thank you
> 
> 
> 
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