[3682] in Release_7.7_team
Re: I want XFree86 v4.3 in the IAP Patch release.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mitchell E Berger)
Fri Jan 10 22:29:03 2003
Message-Id: <200301110329.WAA12016@gorf.mit.edu>
To: wdc@MIT.EDU
cc: release-team@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 22:29:00 -0500
From: Mitchell E Berger <mitchb@MIT.EDU>
I'm sorry; I must have skipped checking discuss meetings yesterday, but
I should have chimed in and replied to this message sooner...
To clarify some things, there are two problems that XFree86 4.2.99
fixes, and they are distinct:
1) The Dell Latitude C840 will work. This is due to the new version of
the "nv" driver supporting the NVidia GeForce4 440 Go chipset.
2) We can stop hand-tooling the XF86Config-4 file on IBM EPro machines
that have the Matrox foo-mumble card. This is due to the new version
of the "mga" driver, or possibly due to better autoprobing support.
We cannot just pull in updates for the drivers, unfortunately (I initially
tried to do so with the Latitude and the nv driver), because the XFree86
ABI changes from version 0.5 to version 0.6 when we hit XF86 v4.3 (or
v4.2.99). XFree86 v4.2 will reject and unload the new "nv" and "mga"
modules. In other words, we have three options:
- Upgrade all of XFree86
- Backport the fixes for "nv" and/or "mga" to the 0.5 ABI and maintain
those modified driers locally until the summer
- Lose
I think if we put out 4.2.99 to the dev cell approximately now, we'd have
enough time to test it if we could put out 9.1.23 closer to the end of the
month, but I don't think we want to put a beta X server in production. I
don't think we'll have enough time to test the real 4.3 confidently before
the term starts. I don't think we have the resources or desire to backport
and maintain the drivers locally. So I think we lose.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Mitch
>I want XFree86 v4.3 in the field in time for the beginning of the term.
>Unfortunately, that exact thing is impossible, because XFree86-4.3 will
>not be released until 23 January.
>
>What we have determined is that the new X server, "nv" that is being
>beta tested in Red Hat 8.1 and which is currently in XFree86-4.2.99
>works with the Dell Latitude C840, and eliminates the need for the
>hand-tooling we've been doing on the IBM Systems in XF86Config-4.
>
>What I want to be able to do is say, "On the first day of the term, the
>previously unsupported Dell Latitude C840 is now supported, because
>Athena has taken an early update of the X server."
>
>Can we pull up nv, and then slide XFree86-4.3 in as patch release at the
>appropriate time in the future?
