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'''Idabel''' is a city in [[McCurtain County, Oklahoma|McCurtain County]], [[Oklahoma]], [[United States]]. The population was 6,952 at the 2000 census. It is the [[county seat]] of [[McCurtain County, Oklahoma|McCurtain County]]{{GR|6}}.
[[Image:X logo.png|right|150px|X Window System logo]]
The city was first named Pernell, then renamed for the daughters, Ida and Belle, of a Choctaw citizen on whose land the town was built.
In [[computing]]<!-- it's a protocol, not just software-->, the '''X Window System''' (commonly '''X11''' or '''X''') is a [[windowing system]] for [[raster graphics|bitmap]] displays<!-- which may or may not actually be attached to a computer-->. It is the standard toolkit and protocol to build [[graphical user interface]]s on [[Unix]], [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s and [[OpenVMS]], and is available for almost all modern operating systems.
==Geography==
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving [[window (computing)|window]]s on the [[display device|screen]] and interacting with a [[computer mouse|mouse]] and [[computer keyboard|keyboard]]. X does not mandate the [[user interface]] — this is handled by individual programs. As such, the visual styling of X-based environments varies greatly; different programs may present radically different interfaces.
[[Image:OKMap-doton-Idabel.PNG|right|Location of Idabel, Oklahoma]]
Idabel is located at {{coor dms|33|53|47|N|94|49|45|W|city}} (33.896299, -94.829238){{GR|1}}.
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the city has a total area of 41.3 [[km²]] (15.9 [[square mile|mi²]]). 41.3 km² (15.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.06% is water.
X features [[network transparency]]: the machine where application programs (the ''client'' applications) run need not be the user's local machine (the display ''server''). X's usage of the terms "[[client (computing)|client]]" and "[[server]]" is the reverse of what people often expect, in that the "server" is the user's local display rather than the remote machine.
==Demographics==
X originated at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] in [[1984]]. The current protocol version, X11, was released in September [[1987]]. The project is led by the [[X.Org Foundation]]; the current [[reference implementation]] is version 11 release 6.8.2 and is [[free software]] under the [[MIT License]] and similar permissive licenses.
As of the [[census]]{{GR|2}} of 2000, there were 6,952 people, 2,735 households, and 1,785 families residing in the city. The [[population density]] was 168.5/km² (436.3/mi²). There were 3,129 housing units at an average density of 75.8/km² (196.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 56.99% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 24.45% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 10.44% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.30% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.01% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 3.37% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 4.43% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 4.96% of the population.
There were 2,735 households out of which 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.6% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 21.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.08.
{|border=0 align=right
|[[Image:Kde34screenshot.png|thumb|right|200px|[[KDE]] 3.4]]
|-
|[[Image:GNOME 2.10.0 on Ubuntu 5.04.png|thumb|right|200px|[[GNOME]] 2.10.0]]
|}
==The X client-server model and network transparency==
:''Main article: [[X Window System protocols and architecture]]''
In the city the population was spread out with 29.5% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 85.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.0 males.
X is based on a [[client-server]] model. An ''X server'' communicates with various ''client'' programs. The server accepts requests for graphical output (windows) and sends back user input (keyboard, mouse, touchscreen). The server may be an application displaying to a window of another display system, it may be a system program controlling the video output of a PC or it may be a dedicated piece of hardware.
The median income for a household in the city was $20,496, and the median income for a family was $24,189. Males had a median income of $24,182 versus $16,958 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the city was $12,241. About 28.7% of families and 31.3% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 42.5% of those under age 18 and 18.4% of those age 65 or over.
This client-server terminology — your terminal is the "server", the remote applications are the "clients" — often confuses new X users, because the terms appear reversed. But X takes the perspective of the program, rather than the end-user or the hardware: the local X display provides display services to programs, so it is acting as a server; the remote program uses these services, thus it acts as a client.
==External links==
[[Image:X client server example.png|frame|In this example, the X server takes input from a keyboard and mouse and displays to a screen. A [[web browser]] and a [[terminal emulator]] run on the user's workstation, and a system updater runs on a remote server but is controlled from the user's machine. Note that the remote application runs just as it would locally.]]
*[http://www.idabel.lib.ok.us/ Idabel Public Library]
The [[communication protocol]] between server and client operates [[computer network|network]]-transparently: the client and server may run on the same machine or on different ones, possibly with different [[computer architecture|architectures]] and [[operating system]]s, but they run the same in either case. A client and server can even communicate [[computer security|secure]]ly over the [[Internet]] by [[tunneling]] the connection over an [[encrypted]] connection.
{{Mapit-US-cityscale|33.896299|-94.829238}}
To start a remote client program displaying to a local server, the user will typically open a [[terminal emulator|terminal window]] and [[telnet]] or [[secure shell|ssh]] to the remote machine, tell it to display to the user's machine (''e.g.'' <tt>export DISPLAY=</tt>''[user's machine]''<tt>:0</tt> on a remote machine running [[bash]]) then start the client. The client will then connect to the local server and the remote application will display to the local screen and be controlled by the local input devices. Alternately, the local machine may run a small helper program to connect to a remote machine and start the desired client application there.
Practical examples of remote clients include: administering a remote machine graphically; running a computationally intensive simulation on a remote Unix machine and displaying the results on a local Windows desktop machine; running graphical software on several machines at once, controlled by a single display, keyboard and mouse.
==Design principles of X==
In [[1984]], [[Bob Scheifler]] and [[Jim Gettys]] set out the early principles of X:
*''Do not add new functionality unless an implementor cannot complete a real application without it.''
*''It is as important to decide what a system is not as to decide what it is. Do not serve all the world's needs; rather, make the system extensible so that additional needs can be met in an upwardly compatible fashion.''
*''The only thing worse than generalizing from one example is generalizing from no examples at all.''
*''If a problem is not completely understood, it is probably best to provide no solution at all.''
*'' If you can get 90 percent of the desired effect for 10 percent of the work, use the simpler solution.'' (See also [[Worse is better]].)
*'' Isolate complexity as much as possible.''
*''Provide mechanism rather than policy. In particular, place user interface policy in the clients' hands.''
The first principle was modified during the design of X11 to: ''"Do not add new functionality unless you know of some real application that will require it."'' X has largely kept to these principles since. The reference implementation is developed with a view to extension and improvement of the implementation, whilst remaining almost entirely compatible with the original 1987 protocol.
==User interfaces==
{|border=0 align=left
|[[Image:Solaris8-cde.png|thumb|200px|[[Common Desktop Environment|CDE]] on [[UNIX]] ([[Solaris Operating Environment|Solaris]] 8)]]
|-
|[[Image:DECwindows-openvms-v7.3-1.png|thumb|200px|DECwindows CDE on [[OpenVMS]] 7.3-1]]
|}
X deliberately contains no specification as to application [[user interface]], such as [[button (computing)|button]]s, [[menu (computing)|menu]]s, window [[title bar]]s and so on. These are provided by user software, such as [[window manager]]s, GUI [[widget toolkit]]s and [[desktop environment]]s, or application-specific GUIs, such as [[point of sale]]. As such, the "typical" X interface has varied tremendously over the years.
A [[window manager]] is used to control the placement and appearance of application windows. This may have an interface akin to that of Microsoft Windows or the Macintosh (''e.g.'' [[Kwin]] in KDE or [[Metacity]] in GNOME) or have radically different controls (''e.g.'' [[twm]], the basic window manager supplied with X). The window manager may be bare-bones (''e.g.'' twm) or offer functionality verging on that of a full desktop environment (''e.g.'' [[Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment]]).
Most users use X with a full [[desktop environment]], which includes a window manager, various applications and a consistent interface. The most popular are [[GNOME]] and [[KDE]]. The [[Single UNIX Specification|Unix standard]] environment is the [[Common Desktop Environment]] (CDE). The [[freedesktop.org]] initiative addresses interoperability between desktops and the components needed for a competitive X desktop.
==Implementations==
The [[canonical]] implementation of X is the X.Org [[reference implementation]]. Due to the liberal [[software license|licensing]], a number of variations, both [[free software|free]] and [[proprietary software|proprietary]], have appeared. Commercial UNIX vendors have tended to take the reference implementation and adapt it for their hardware, usually customising it heavily and adding proprietary extensions.
{|border=0 align=right
|[[Image:X11_mac_gimp_app.jpg|thumb|200px|left|X11.app running rootless on [[Mac OS X]]. The screen shows [[GIMP]] running within the X window system.]]
|-
|[[Image:Wfm cygwinx rootless.png|thumb|200px|right|[[Cygwin/X]] running rootless on Microsoft [[Windows XP]]. The screen shows X applications (xeyes, xclock, [[xterm]]) sharing the screen with native Windows applications (Date and Time, Calculator).]]
|}
Up to [[2004]], the most common X variant on free [[UNIX-like]] systems was [[XFree86]], which started as a [[porting|port]] of X for [[Intel 80386|386]]-compatible PCs and, by the end of the 1990s, had become the greatest source of technical innovation in X and the ''de facto'' steward of X development. As of 2004, the most popular open source X server is the current [[X.Org Server|X.Org reference implementation]], a [[fork (software)|fork]] of XFree86.
While X is most often associated with Unix, X servers also exist natively within other graphical environments. [[Hewlett-Packard]]'s [[OpenVMS]] operating system includes a version of X with [[CDE]], known as [[DECwindows]], as its standard desktop environment. [[Apple Computer|Apple]]'s [[Mac OS X v10.3]] (Panther) includes [[Apple X11]], based on XFree86 4.3 and X11R6.6, with better [[Mac OS X]] integration.
[[Microsoft Windows]] does not come with support for X, but there are many third party implementations available, both [[free software]] such as [[Cygwin/X]], [[Xming]], WeirdMind [http://www.tam.cornell.edu/Computer.old/remoteaccess/weirdmind/] and [[WeirdX]] and proprietary products such as [[WiredX]], [[Exceed]] and [[X-Win32]]. They are normally used to control X windows applications remotely.
When X is hosted on another windowing system (such as those of Microsoft Windows or Mac OS) the X system is generally "rootless", meaning the host windowing environment is responsible for the root window (the background and associated menus) and for managing the geometry of the hosted X windows — although some servers, such as Exceed, do create the root window for the remote clients to display to as a separate window in the host system.
===X terminals===
An ''X terminal'' is a piece of dedicated hardware running an X server as a [[thin client]]. This architecture became popular for building inexpensive terminal parks for many users to simultaneously use the same large server. This use very much aligns with the original intention of the MIT project.
X terminals explore the network (the local [[broadcast ___domain]]) using the [[XDMCP|X Display Manager Control Protocol]] to generate a list of available hosts that they can run clients from. The initial host needs to be running an [[X display manager]].
Dedicated (hardware) X terminals are no longer common; the same functionality is typically provided at a lower cost with a [[Personal Computer|PC]] with an X server.
==Common criticisms of X==
The device independence and separation of client and server does incur an overhead. X's network transparency requires the clients and server to operate separately. In the early days, this gave a significant performance penalty on a standalone system compared to [[Microsoft Windows]] or [[Mac OS]] (versions 1 to 9), where windowing was deeply embedded in the operating system. 4 to 8[[megabyte|MB]] of [[RAM]] was recommended for reasonable performance; until the mid-[[1990s]], this was regarded as bloated compared to Mac OS or Windows. In the present day, Windows and [[Mac OS X]] [[Quartz (graphics layer)|Quartz]] have internal subsystem separation similar to the client/server divide in X and comparable performance and resource usage to X with [[KDE]] or [[GNOME]].
X deliberately contains no specification as to user interface or most inter-application communication. The result was several vastly different interfaces, and applications that did not quite work together. The [[Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual|ICCCM]], a specification for client interoperability, is notoriously difficult to implement correctly. Further standards efforts such as [[Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif]] and [[CDE]] did not remedy matters. This has long been a source of great frustration to users and programmers [http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/1996/11/msg00637.html]. Consistency of application [[look and feel]] and communication is now generally addressed by programming to a desktop environment, which also avoids having to deal directly with the ICCCM.
Hardware support remains a problem. The performance edge for graphical computing is now in the most advanced graphics functions, which are typically implemented in proprietary drivers written by the manufacturers, and generally for Windows (the largest consumer market) first.
The X server usually manipulates the video hardware directly. This originated with the X developers not always having had access to the operating system [[kernel (computer science)|kernel]]. If the server crashes, this can leave the video hardware in an unusable state.
X does not include good network-transparent sound. As users increasingly expect sound, this has led to various incompatible sound subsystems. Most programmers in the past chose to ignore the network issue and simply use local, OS-specific sound [[API]]s. The first generation of client-server sound systems included [[rplay]] and [[Network Audio System]]. More recent efforts have produced [[Enlightened Sound Daemon|EsounD]] (GNOME) and [[ARts]] (KDE), although these are by no means standard. Another system, [[Media Application Server]], is in development.
Until recently, X did not include a good solution to print what you see on the screen. Many X clients print to [[PostScript]] entirely separately from what they send to the server. [[Xprint]] was first included in X11R6.3; the client side was good, but many server side implementations were not. The versions from X11R6.8 on are of good quality [http://xprint.mozdev.org/docs/Xprint_FAQ.html#contra_xprint] and are gaining [[widget toolkit|toolkit]] support.
An X client or session cannot be detached from one server and reattached to another, as with [[Virtual Network Computing|VNC]]. Work is under way to add this facility to X. There are also workarounds to make the current X server screen available via VNC.
The ''[[UNIX-HATERS Handbook]]'' devoted an entire chapter, "The X Windows Disaster" [http://catalog.com/hopkins/unix-haters/x-windows/disaster.html], to the problems of X in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
==Competitors to X==
X is the near-universal system for graphics on [[Unix-like]] systems. <!-- redundant with first sentence: Since it has lasted so long, it is used by all Unix-based graphical software, making it difficult to replace.--> Nevertheless, some people have attempted writing alternatives to and replacements for X. Historical alternatives include [[Sun Microsystems|Sun]]'s [[NeWS]], which failed in the market, and [[NeXT]]'s [[Display PostScript]], which was eventually turned into [[Apple Computer|Apple]]'s [[Quartz (graphics layer)|Quartz]] for [[Mac OS X]].
Modern attempts to address criticisms of X by replacing it completely include Berlin/[[Fresco (computing)|Fresco]] and the [[Y Window System]]. These alternatives have seen negligible adoption, however, and the viability of any replacement that is not backwards-compatible with X is widely doubted.
Other competitors attempt to avoid the overhead of X by working directly with the hardware. Such projects include [[DirectFB]] and the very small [[FBUI]]. These efforts may be made superfluous by the [[Direct Rendering Infrastructure]], which aims to provide a reliable kernel-level interface to the frame buffer.
Other attempts to achieve network transparency in the form of graphical terminal services include [[VNC]] (a very low-level system which sends compressed bitmaps across the network; the Unix implementation includes an X server), [[Citrix MetaFrame]] (an X-like product for Windows), [[Tarantella, Inc.|Tarantella]] (which provides a Java client for use in web browsers) and [[NX technology]] (a bandwidth-saving protocol for remote display).
==History==
===Predecessors===
There were several bitmap display systems before X. From [[Xerox]] came the [[Xerox Alto|Alto]] (1973) and the [[Xerox Star|Star]] (1981). From [[Apple Computer|Apple]] came the [[Apple Lisa|Lisa]] (1983) and the [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] (1984). In the [[Unix|UNIX]] world there was the [[Andrew Project]] (1982) and [[Rob Pike]]'s [[Blit (computer terminal)|Blit]] terminal (1984).
X derives its name as a successor to a pre-1983 window system called [[W Window System|W]] (the letter X directly following W in the [[Latin alphabet]]). [[W Window System|W]] ran under the [[V (operating system)|V]] [[operating system]]. W used a network protocol supporting terminal and graphics windows, the server maintaining display lists.
===Origin and early development===
X was initially conceived at MIT in [[1984]] as a collaboration between [[Jim Gettys]] of [[Project Athena]] and [[Bob Scheifler]] of the [[MIT Laboratory for Computer Science]]. Scheifler needed a usable display environment for debugging the [[Argus system]]. Project Athena, a joint project between [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] (DEC), MIT and [[IBM]] to provide easy access to computing resources for all students needed a platform-independent graphics system to link together its heterogeneous multiple-vendor systems; the window system being developed in [[Carnegie Mellon University|CMU]]'s [[Andrew Project]] was not available for licensing and no alternatives were available.
The project solved this by creating a protocol that could run local applications and was able to call on remote resources. An initial Unix port of W in mid-[[1983]] ran at one-fifth the speed under V; in May [[1984]], Scheifler replaced the [[synchronous]] [[protocol (computing)|protocol]] of W with an [[asynchronous]] protocol and the display lists with immediate mode graphics to make X version 1. X was the first window system environment that was truly hardware and vendor independent.
Scheifler, Gettys and [[Ron Newman (computer programmer)|Ron Newman]] set to work and X progressed rapidly. Version 6 was released in January [[1985]]. DEC was preparing to release its first [[Ultrix]] workstation, and X was the only windowing system likely to be ready in time. X6 was ported to DEC's QVSS display on [[MicroVAX]].
Color support was added in Q2 1985 to support the DEC [[VAXstation]]-II/GPX, forming what became version 9. Although MIT had licensed X6 to some outside groups for a fee, it was decided at this time to license X9 and future versions under what became known as the [[MIT License]]. X9 was released in September [[1985]].
A group at [[Brown University]] ported version 9 to the [[IBM]] [[RT/PC]], but problems with reading unaligned data on the RT forced an incompatible protocol change, leading to version 10 in late 1985. By [[1986]], outside organizations were asking for X. X10R2 was released in [[January]] [[1986]]. X10R3 was released in [[February]] [[1986]] and was the first version to achieve wide deployment, with both DEC and [[Hewlett-Packard]] releasing products based on it. Other groups ported X10 to [[Apollo Computers|Apollo]] or [[Sun Microsystems|Sun]] workstations and even the IBM [[PC/AT]]. The first commercial application for X (a mechanical computer-aided engineering system that ran on VAXes and displayed on PCs running an X Server) was demonstrated at the Autofact trade show at that time. X10R4 was the last version of X10, released in December [[1986]].
Although X10 was interesting and powerful, it had become obvious that a more hardware-neutral redesign of the X protocol was desirable before it was too widely deployed; but the scale of such a complete redesign was beyond the resources available at MIT alone. As it happened, DEC's [[Western Software Laboratory]] was between projects. [[Smokey Wallace]] of DEC WSL and Jim Gettys proposed that X11 be built at DEC WSL and made freely available under the same terms as X9 and X10. It was started in May [[1986]]. The protocol was finalised in August. Alpha testing of the software started in February [[1987]], beta testing in May and X11 was finally released on [[September 15]], [[1987]].
The X11 protocol design was led by Scheifler and extensively discussed on open mailing lists on the nascent [[Internet]]. X therefore represents one of the first very large scale open source software projects.
===The MIT X Consortium and the X Consortium, Inc.===
In [[1987]], with the success of X11 becoming apparent, MIT wished to relinquish the stewardship of X, but at a June 1987 meeting with nine vendors, the vendors told them they believed that a neutral party was required to keep X from fragmenting in the marketplace. In January [[1988]], the ''MIT X Consortium'' was formed as a non-profit vendor group, with Scheifler as director, to direct the future development of X in a neutral atmosphere inclusive of commercial and educational interests. Jim Fulton joined in January 1988 and [[Keith Packard]] in March 1988 as senior [[programmers|developers]], with Jim focusing on Xlib, fonts, window managers, and utilities and Keith reimplementing the server. Donna Converse and Chris Peterson joined later that year focusing on toolkits and widget sets, working closely with Ralph Swick of MIT Project Athena. The MIT X Consortium produced several significant revisions to X11, the first being Release 2 (X11R2) in February 1988.
In 1993, the X Consortium, Inc. (a nonprofit corporation) was formed as the successor to the MIT X Consortium. It released X11R6 on [[May 16]], [[1994]]. In [[1995]], it took over stewardship of the [[Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif]] toolkit and the [[Common Desktop Environment]] for Unix systems. The X Consortium dissolved at the end of [[1996]], producing a final revision, X11R6.3.
===The Open Group===
In mid-1997, the X Consortium passed stewardship of X to [[The Open Group]], a vendor group formed in early 1996 by the merger of the [[Open Software Foundation]] and [[X/Open]].
The Open Group released X11R6.4 in early [[1998]]. Controversially, X11R6.4 departed from the traditional liberal licensing terms, as the Open Group sought to assure funding for X's development [http://old.lwn.net/lwn/1998/0409/xstate.html]. The new terms would have prevented its adoption by many projects (such as [[XFree86]]) and even some commercial vendors. After XFree86 threatened a [[fork (software)|fork]] [http://www.cat.org.au/maffew/cat/xfree-dawes.html], X11R6.4 was relicensed under the traditional license in September 1998. [http://cbbrowne.com/info/x11r6.4.html] The Open Group's last release was X11R6.4 patch 3.
===X.Org and XFree86===
[[XFree86]] originated in [[1992]] from the X386 server for [[IBM PC compatible]]s included with X11R5 in 1991, written by Thomas Roell and Mark W. Snitily and donated to the MIT X Consortium by Snitily Graphics Consulting Services (SGCS). XFree86 evolved over time from being just one port of X to being the leading open source implementation.
In May [[1999]], the Open Group formed [[X.Org]]. X.Org supervised the release of versions X11R6.5.1 onward. X development at this time was moribund [http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/appdev/story/0,10801,67861,00.html]; most technical innovation since the X Consortium had dissolved had taken place in the XFree86 project [http://keithp.com/~keithp/talks/Xarchitecture/Talk.htm]. In [[1999]], XFree86 joined X.Org as an honorary (non-paying) member [http://xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/000418.html], encouraged by various hardware companies [http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/12/01/1342251] interested in its use with Linux and its status as the most popular version of X.
By [[2003]], while Linux's popularity, and hence the installed base of X, surged, X.Org was all but inactive [http://xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-April/003127.html] and active development was largely carried out by XFree86. However, there was considerable dissent within XFree86. It was perceived as far too [[The Cathedral and the Bazaar|cathedral]]-like in its development model; developers were unable to get [[Concurrent Versions System|CVS]] commit access [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/002018.html] and vendors had to maintain extensive [[patch (computing)|patch]]es [http://www.advogato.org/person/mharris/diary.html?start=5]. In March 2003, Keith Packard, who had joined XFree86 after the end of the original MIT X Consortium, was expelled with considerable ill-feeling [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/001997.html] [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/002165.html] [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-April/003016.html].
X.Org and XFree86 began discussing a reorganisation suited to properly nurturing the development of X [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/000554.html] [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/002415.html] [http://xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-April/003144.html]. Jim Gettys had been pushing strongly for an open development model since at least 2000 [http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/usenix2000/invitedtalks/gettys_html/Talk.htm]. Gettys, Packard and several others began discussing in detail what was needed for the effective governance of X with open development.
Finally, in an echo of the X11R6.4 licensing dispute, XFree86 released version 4.4 in [[February 2004]] under a more restricted license which many projects relying on X found unacceptable [http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/18/131223], particularly as it was held to be incompatible with the [[GNU General Public License]] [http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html#xfree86]. This caused great controversy, and many considered the time was ripe for a [[fork (software)|fork]] [http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=6157].
===The X.Org Foundation===
In early [[2004]], the [[X.Org Foundation]] was formed. This marked a radical change in the governance of X. Whereas the stewards of X since 1988 (including the previous X.Org) had been vendor organizations, the Foundation was led by software developers and used community development on the [[The Cathedral and the Bazaar|bazaar]] model, which relies on outside involvement. Membership was opened to individuals, with corporate membership being in the form of sponsorship. X.Org also started working very closely with [[freedesktop.org]].
The Foundation released X11R6.7 in [[April 2004]], based on XFree86 4.4RC2 with X11R6.6 changes merged. Gettys and Packard had taken the last version of XFree86 under the old license and, by making a point of an open development model and retaining GPL compatibility, brought many of the old XFree86 developers on board [http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html#xfree86].
X11R6.8 was released in [[September 2004]]. It added significant new features, including preliminary support for translucent windows and other sophisticated visual effects, screen magnifiers and thumbnailers, and facilities to integrate with 3D immersive display systems such as Sun's [[Project Looking Glass]] and the [[Croquet project]]. Policy for the visual appearance is provided by external applications called ''compositing managers''.
==Future directions==
With the X.Org Foundation and freedesktop.org, X development is progressing rapidly once more. Present and future releases are intended as usable finished products, not merely a base for vendors to build a product upon.
Hardware manipulation is being moved to the kernel, the plan being for the video hardware to be accessed only via [[OpenGL]] ([[Mesa (OpenGL)|Mesa]] for systems without hardware OpenGL) and the [[Direct Rendering Infrastructure]] module, introduced in XFree86 version 4 and present in X11R6.7 and later [http://keithp.com/~keithp/talks/xserver_ols2004/].
The architecture of the reference implementation is also being separated into independent modules that can each be maintained as separate projects. X11R6.9 will be the monolithic [[source code]] and X11R7.0 the modular source code for the same set of features [http://wiki.x.org/wiki/ModularizationProposal]. This is tentatively scheduled for release in [[October 2005]] [http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/X11R6970ReleasePlan]. The Foundation plans to release X11R7.1 within six months of 7.0, with considerable feature improvements [http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/ChangesForX11R71].
<!-- much of the answers to criticisms should be shifted to this section, because Xorg is finally addressing them. Crib from and link to Gettys' late 2003 paper. -->
==Nomenclature==
"X Window System" is commonly shortened to "X11" or simply "X". The term "X Windows" (in the manner of "Microsoft Windows") is officially deprecated and generally considered incorrect, though it has been in common use since the inception of X and has been used deliberately for literary effect, for example in the ''[[Unix-Haters Handbook]]''.
==Release history==
{| {{prettytable}}
|- style="background:#ccf;"
! Version
! Release date
! Most important changes
|-
|X1
|June [[1984]]
|First time the software called X; fundamental changes were made that distinguished it from W.
|-
|X6
|January [[1985]]
|First version licensed to a handful of outside companies.
|-
|X9
|September [[1985]]
|Color. First release under [[MIT License]].
|-
|X10
|late [[1985]]
|IBM RT/PC, AT (running DOS), and others
|-
|X10R2
|January [[1986]]
|
|-
|X10R3
|February [[1986]]
|First release outside MIT.
|-
|X10R4
|December [[1986]]
|Last version of X10.
|-
|X11
|[[September 15]], [[1987]]
|First release of the current protocol.
|-
|X11R2
|February [[1988]]
|First X Consortium release. [http://www.linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/XWindow-User-HOWTO-2.html]
|-
|X11R3
|[[October 25]], [[1988]]
|
|-
|X11R4
|[[December 22]], [[1989]]
|Application improvements, new fonts, [[twm]] brought in as standard window manager.
|-
|X11R5
|[[September 5]], [[1991]]
|X386
|-
|X11R6
|[[May 16]], [[1994]]
|[[ICCCM]] v2.0; Inter-Client Exchange; X Session Management; X Synchronization extension; X Image extension; XTEST extension; X Input; X Big Requests; XC-MISC; XFree86 changes.
|-
|X11R6.1
|[[March 14]], [[1996]]
|X Double Buffer extension; X Keyboard extension; X Record extension.
|-
|X11R6.2<br>X11R6.3 (Broadway)
|[[December 23]], [[1996]]
|Web functionality, [[Low Bandwidth X|LBX]]. Last X Consortium release. X11R6.2 is the tag for a subset of X11R6.3 with the only new features over R6.1 being XPrint and the Xlib implementation of vertical writing and user-defined character support. [http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/RELNOTES1.html]
|-
|X11R6.4
|[[March 31]], [[1998]]
|[[Xinerama]]. [http://www.opengroup.org/tech/desktop/Press_Releases/x11r6.4ga.htm]
|-
|X11R6.5
|
|Internal X.org release; not made publicly available.
|-
|X11R6.5.1
|[[August 20]], [[2000]]
|
|-
|X11R6.6
|[[April 4]], [[2001]]
|Bug fixes, XFree86 changes.
|-
|X11R6.7.0
|[[April 6]], [[2004]]
|First X.Org Foundation release, incorporating XFree86 4.4rc2. Full end-user distribution. Removal of XIE, PEX and libxml2. [http://lwn.net/Articles/79302/]
|-
|X11R6.8.0
|[[September 8]], [[2004]]
|Window translucency, XDamage, Distributed Multihead X, XFixes, Composite, XEvIE.
|-
|X11R6.8.1
|[[September 17]], [[2004]]
|Security fix in [[XPM (image format)|libxpm]].
|-
|'''X11R6.8.2'''
|[[February 10]], [[2005]]
|Bug fixes, driver updates.
|-
|X11R6.9<br>X11R7.0
|[[October 2005]] (tentative) [http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/X11R6970ReleasePlan]
|Driver improvements, minor features, major source code refactoring [http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/ChangesSince68]. 7.0 is to be the modular version and 6.9 the monolithic version of the same source code.
|-
|X11R7.1
|[[2006]]
|Larger changes not included in 6.9/7.0 [http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/ChangesForX11R71].
|}
==See also==
* [[History of the graphical user interface]]
* [[X11 color names]]
==References==
*Robert W. Scheifler and James Gettys: ''X Window System: Core and extension protocols: X version 11, releases 6 and 6.1'', Digital Press 1996, ISBN 1-55558-148-X
*[http://keithp.com/~keithp/talks/Xarchitecture/Talk.htm The Evolution of the X Server Architecture] ([[Keith Packard]], 1999)
*[http://www.cat.org.au/maffew/cat/xfree-dawes.html The means to an X for Linux: an interview with David Dawes from XFree86.org] (Matthew Arnison, CAT TV, June 1999)
*[http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/usenix2000/invitedtalks/gettys_html/Talk.htm Lessons Learned about Open Source] ([[Jim Gettys]], [[USENIX]] 2000 talk on the history of X)
*[http://cbbrowne.com/info/xbloat.html On the Thesis that X is Big/Bloated/Obsolete and Should Be Replaced] (Christopher B. Browne)
*[http://freedesktop.org/~jg/roadmap.html Open Source Desktop Technology Road Map] (Jim Gettys, 09 Dec 2003)
*[http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=6157 X Marks the Spot: Looking back at X11 Developments of Past Year] (Oscar Boykin, ''OSNews'', 25 Feb 2004)
*[http://keithp.com/~keithp/talks/xserver_ols2004/ Getting X Off The Hardware] (Keith Packard, July 2004 [[Ottawa Linux Symposium]] talk)
*[http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=75257&cid=6734612 Why Apple didn't use X for the window system] (Mike Paquette, Apple Computer)
*[http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html#xfree86 The Cautionary Tale of XFree86] (from ''Make Your Open Source Software GPL-Compatible. Or Else.'' by [[David A. Wheeler]], 16 Feb 2005)
==External links==
*[http://www.x.org/ X.Org Foundation] (official home page)
*[http://catalog.com/hopkins/unix-haters/x-windows/disaster.html The X Windows Disaster] (''[[UNIX-HATERS Handbook]]'')
*[http://dri.freedesktop.org/~jonsmirl/graphics.html The State of Linux Graphics] (Jon Smirl, 30 August 2005)
*[http://h30097.www3.hp.com/docs/dev_doc/DOCUMENTATION/HTML/AR5NHATE/TOC.HTM Writing a Graphics Device Driver and DDX for the DIGITAL UNIX X Server]
{{Oklahoma}}
===Notable implementations===
*[http://xorg.freedesktop.org XOrg Foundation Open Source Public Implementation of X11] — the official reference implementation
*[http://www.xfree86.org XFree86] — for many years the most popular version, particularly on the open-source Unix-like platforms
*[http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/ X11 for Mac OS X] — [[Apple X11]], closely integrated with Mac OS X
[[Category:XCities Windowin System|*Oklahoma]]
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