X configuration paradigm, and a proposal

[Torgeir Veimo]

On Mon, 2004-11-08 at 17:29 -0400, Erik Harrison wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 09:54:06 -0500, Sean Middleditch

> > A far better solution could keep the exact same configuration format we
> > have now, but add an xorg.conf.d/ structure sort of mechanism that lets
> > installers drop video card, monitor, and input device specification
> > files (similar in nature to HAL FDI files - perhaps actually just use
> > HAL...) and then the distribution's already developed, tested, and
> > integrated configuration tools can use the information in those files.
> > X server auto-configuration could also scan the files for information
> > allowing it to select proper configurations for the present hardware if
> > things like DCC/EDID don't work correctly for the present hardware.
> 
> 
> Such a mechanism already exists in the server, in getconfig. It is
> however, murky at best from the documentation how it works, and it is
> dependent on Perl. I did some work on it a bit back that I lost when a
> HD crashed, but it wasn't particularly brilliant work anyway.

Maybe some use cases could be described that can help in improving the
configuration system.

For my own part, I often find myself swapping gfx card, but want to
retain every other aspect of the configuration. I then have to hand edit
xorg.conf to change eg. Driver "radeon" to Driver "mga". My point: It
would be good to only configure those things that diverge from the
default settings, such as specific mouse input settings and mode lines.

-- 
Torgeir Veimo <torgeir at pobox.com>