X Window System, Version 11
Release 6.6
Release Notes
April 4, 2001
Copyright (C) 1999,2000,2001 Compaq Computer Corporation
Copyright (C) 1999,2000,2001 Hewlett-Packard Company
Copyright (C) 1999,2000,2001 IBM Corporation
Copyright (C) 1999,2000,2001 Hummingbird Communications Ltd.
Copyright (C) 1999,2000,2001 Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1999,2000,2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1999,2000,2001 The Open Group
All rights reserved.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Soft-
ware"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without
limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, provided that the above copyright
notice(s) and this permission notice appear in all copies of the Soft-
ware and that both the above copyright notice(s) and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABIL-
ITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY
RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR HOLDERS INCLUDED IN
THIS NOTICE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, OR ANY SPECIAL INDIRECT OR CONSE-
QUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE,
DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFOR-
MANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder shall
not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or
other dealings in this Software without prior written authorization of
the copyright holder.
X Window System is a trademark of The Open Group.
1. Introductory Note
This document is the release notes that were provided with X.Org's
X11R6.6 release. The XFree86-specific information in this document is
out of date. The XFree86-specific documentation can be found in the
xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc directory, and on-line at
http://www.xfree86.org/current/.
2. What Is X11
X11, or X, is a vendor-neutral, system-architecture neutral network-
transparent window system and user interface standard. In other words
it's windows for UNIX. But X is not just for UNIX -- X runs on a wide
range of computing and graphics machines including Macintosh, OS/2,
Microsoft's MS-Windows family of operating systems, and almost all of
the so-called Network Computers. X can use your network -- you may run
CPU-intensive programs on high powered workstations and display the user
interface (the windows) on inexpensive desktop machines.
3. What is Release 6.6
Release 6.6 (R6.6) is The X.Org Group's update to its Release 6.5.1
patch 1 and all prior releases. It is compatible with with all releases
going back to R1 at both the source and protocol levels.
The X Consortium was an independent, not-for-profit membership corpora-
tion formed in 1993 as the successor to the MIT X Consortium. It was
dissolved at the end of 1996 and all assets such as trademarks and copy-
rights were transferred to The Open Group. The Open Group's X Project
Team was formed to continue maintenance and development of X. The X
Project Team was disbanded after Release 6.4 patch 3.
X.Org has employed the services of a third party contractor to establish
a CVS repository of the source and a web-based interface for submit-
ting/viewing bug reports. The CVS repository and web-based interface are
available to X.Org members. The contractor has been chartered to pro-
vide quarterly update releases to the X source.
Membership information for X.Org may be found at:
http://www.x.org/members.htm.
This X.Org release addresses a portion of the backlog of bug reports
since Release 6.4 patch 3, along with additional fixes from the Xfree86
community.
Instructions for building and installing R6.6 can be found in the file
INSTALL.TXT (INSTALL-X.org), available separately and also contained in
the release.
4. Overview of the X.Org Release
Like all the releases that preceded it, R6.6 is a source code release.
In order to use the release it is necessary to first unpack the distri-
bution, compile it, and then install it. The source contains the follow-
ing items:
Documentation
Sample implementations
Fonts and bitmaps
Utility libraries
Programs
5. Supported Operating Systems
This release was built and tested on the following reference platforms:
Compaq Tru64 UNIX V5.0
HPUX 10.20
Solaris 7.0
6. Supported Graphics Devices
This release includes the necessary device-dependent support to build a
native X server for the following platforms:
HP-UX: Xhp
Compaq Tru64 UNIX: Xdec on DECstation 3000/400 (Alpha) with PMAG-B
SunOS/Solaris: Xsun -- see the Xsun man page for supported cards
XFree86: See the XF_* man pages for supported cards
In addition to the above, the Xvfb and Xnest servers can be built on all
platforms.
Native X servers are not built on AIX, Fujitsu UXP, IRIX, or Microsoft
Windows NT.
7. The Source Tree
The source is distributed in UNIX tar files. The source unpacks from the
tar files into a source tree, and the name of the base directory of the
source tree is xc. The name xc as the base of the source tree has been
retained from the X Consortium releases.
The general layout under xc/ is as follows:
config/ imake config files, imake, makedepend, etc.
doc/ all documentation other than per-program manual pages
fonts/ BDF, Speedo, Type1 fonts
include/ common include files
lib/ libraries
nls/ national language support files
programs/ all programs, including the X server and rgb,
util/ patch, compress, other utilities
bug-report bug reporting template
registry X Registry
8. X Registry
A registry of certain X-related items is maintained to aid in avoiding
conflicts and to aid in sharing of such items. The registry is in the
file xc/registry.
9. Extensions Supported
Release 6.6 includes source for the following extensions: BIG-REQUESTS,
DOUBLE-BUFFER, DPMS, Extended-Visual-Information, LBX, MIT-SHM, MIT-
SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD, Multi-Buffering, RECORD, SECURITY, SHAPE, SYNC, TOG-
CUP, X3D-PEX, XC-APPGROUP, XC-MISC, XFree86-VidModeExtension, XIE (X
Image Extension), XINERAMA. XInputExtension, XKEYBOARD, XpExtension
(printing), XTEST, and XTestExtension1,
Not all of these extensions are standard; see the Standards manual page.
Some of these extensions may not be supported on every platform.
10. Implementation Dependent Parameters
Some of the specifications define some behavior as implementation-depen-
dent. Implementations must document how those parameters are imple-
mented.
The default values in this release of the implementation dependent
parameters are:
XFILESEARCHPATH default:
This default can be set at build time by setting the imake vari-
ables XFileSearchPathDefault, XAppLoadDir, XFileSearchPathBase, and
ProjectRoot in xc/config/cf/site.def. See xc/config/cf/README for
instructions and xc/config/cf/X11.tmpl for details of how these
configuration variables are used.
By default the imake variable ProjectRoot is /usr/X11R6.6 and
XFILESEARCHPATH has these components:
$ProjectRoot/lib/X11/%L/%T/%N%C%S
$ProjectRoot/lib/X11/%l/%T/%N%C%S
$ProjectRoot/lib/X11/%T/%N%C%S
$ProjectRoot/lib/X11/%L/%T/%N%S
$ProjectRoot/lib/X11/%l/%T/%N%S
$ProjectRoot/lib/X11/%T/%N%S
XUSERFILESEARCHPATH default:
If the environment variable XAPPLRESDIR is defined, the default
value of XUSERFILESEARCHPATH has the following components:
$XAPPLRESDIR/%L/%N%C
$XAPPLRESDIR/%l/%N%C
$XAPPLRESDIR/%N%C
$HOME/%N%C
$XAPPLRESDIR/%L/%N
$XAPPLRESDIR/%l/%N
$XAPPLRESDIR/%N
$HOME/%N
Otherwise it has these components:
$HOME/%L/%N%C
$HOME/%l/%N%C
$HOME/%N%C
$HOME/%L/%N
$HOME/%l/%N
$HOME/%N
XKEYSYMDB default:
Defaults to $ProjectRoot/lib/X11/XKeysymDB.
XCMSDB default:
Defaults to $ProjectRoot/lib/X11/Xcms.txt.
XLOCALEDIR default:
Defaults to the directory $ProjectRoot/lib/X11/locale. The XLO-
CALEDIR variable can contain multiple colon-separated pathnames.
XErrorDB location
The Xlib error database file is $ProjectRoot/lib/X11/XErrorDB.
XtErrorDB location
The Xt error database file is $ProjectRoot/lib/X11/XtErrorDB.
Supported Locales
Locales supported by this implementation are in xc/nls/locale.dir.
The mapping between various system locale names and X locale names
is in xc/nls/locale.alias. Both files are installed in the default
XLOCALEDIR directory, i.e. $ProjectRoot/lib/X11/locale/).
Supported Input Methods
This distribution does not include source for any input method
servers; however Xlib supplies a default built-in input method that
supports compose processing in 8-bit locales. Compose files are
provided for Latin-1 and Latin-2. The built-in input method can
support other locales, given suitable compose files. See
xc/nls/Compose/iso8859-* for the supported compositions.
The Input Method Server Development Kit (IMdkit) is at
ftp://ftp.x.org/pub/unsupported/lib/IMdkit/.
11. What is Unchanged in Release 6.6
As this is an update release, there is a great deal of stability in the
standards, libraries, and clients. No existing standards have changed in
a material way. All previous interfaces are unchanged.
12. New OS Support
The following table shows the versions of the operating systems that
were used to develop this and prior releases:
System R6 R6.1 R6.[23] R6.4 R6.5R6.6
AIX 3.2.5 4.1.4 4.2 4.2 - -
A/UX 3.0.1 - - - - -
BSD/386 1.0 - - - - -
Compaq Tru64 UNIX 1.0/1.3 3.2C 4.0A4.0A5.0
FreeBSD - 2.1.0 2.1.6 2.2.2 - -
Fujitsu UXP - - - V20L10 -
HP-UX 9.1 10.01 10.01 10.20 10.20 10.20
IRIX 5.2 5.3 6.2 6.2 - -
Linux (kernel)
Slackware 2.3 - 1.2.11 - - -
Slackware 3.1 - - 2.0 - -
S.u.S.E. 5.0 - - - 2.0.30 -
Mach 2.5 - - - - -
NEWS-OS 6.0 - - - - -
Solaris 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.5 7.0 7.0
SunOS 4.1.3 4.1.3 4.1.4 4.1.4 - -
Ultrix-32 4.3 4.4 - - - -
UNICOS 8.0 - - - - -
Unixware SVR4.2 1.0 2.02 2.02 - -
Windows NT 3.1 3.5 4.0 3.51 -
13. Easy Resource Configuration
Setting and changing resources in X applications can be difficult for
both the application programmer and the end user. Resource Configura-
tion Management (RCM) addresses this problem by changing the X Intrin-
sics to immediately modify a resource for a specified widget and each
child widget in the hierarchy. In this context, immediate means: no
sourcing of a resource file is required; the application does not need
to be restarted for the new resource values to take effect; and the
change occurs immediately.
The main difference between RCM and the Editres protocol is that the RCM
customizing hooks reside in the Intrinsics and thus are linked with
other toolkits such as Motif and the Athena widgets. However, the
EditRes protocol requires the application to link with the EditRes rou-
tines in the Xmu library and Xmu is not used by all applications that
use Motif.
Easy Resource Configuration is not a standard part of the X Toolkit
Intrinsics (libXt). It is neither an X Consortium standard nor an X Pro-
ject Team specification.
14. ANSIfication
R6.1 was officially the last release that supported traditional K&R C.
Like all releases since R6.3, R6.6 assumes a Standard C compiler and
environment. We have not intentionally removed any K&R C support from
old code, and most of the release will continue to build on platforms
without an ANSI C compiler.
15. VSW5
We have tested this release with VSW5 version 5.1.1A. This release
passes all tests in VSW5 with the following exceptions:
o tests for which a permanent waiver has been granted.
o tests for which a temporary waiver have been granted.
o tests where a defect in the test has been identified and reported.
VSW licensees may obtain a list of waivers granted from
http://www.rdg.opengroup.org/interpretations/database/.
16. XtAppPeekEvent() behavior - Environment variable no longer needed
XtAppPeekEvent() has been modified in R6.5.1 to behave as it is docu-
mented in the Xt spec. Certain applications, including Netscape, did
not work properly with these modifications, so the routine was changed
so that users could set the XTAPPPEEKEVENT_SKIPTIMER environment vari-
able in order to make XtAppPeekEvent() behave as it did prior to R6.5.1.
In R6.6, the routine has been changed so that there is no need to set
the environment variable. Timers are handled as specified by the spec,
but Netscape and other applications now work properly without the envi-
ronment variable. In R6.6, the XTAPPPEEKEVENT_SKIPTIMER variable is
ignored, and users may unset it if they were using it in R6.5.1.
17. Year 2000 (Y2K) Compliance
For a statement of compliance see http://www.camb.open-
group.org/tech/desktop/faq/y2k.htm
18. Security Considerations
On UNIX and similar operating systems there are serious security impli-
cations associated with running suid-root programs.
By default the xterm terminal emulation program is installed suid-root
in order to be able to update utmp or utmpx entries. All the known (as
of this writing) exploitable security holes in the X libraries have been
eliminated -- making it theoretically safe for xterm to be suid-root.
For additional security you may install xterm without suid-root; however
if you do, xterm will not be able to make utmp or utmpx entries.
On many Intel-based machines the X server must have root privileges in
order to access the graphics card and open other devices. The easiest
way to grant the requisite privileges is to use xdm to run your X
server. Some people, who prefer not to use xdm, often work around the
need for the X server to run with root privileges by making their X
server a suid-root program. While all the known (as of this writing)
exploitable security holes in the server have been eliminated, it is
still recommended that you not make your X server suid-root. There are
safe suid-root wrapper programs available (but not in this release) that
you can use to start your server if you don't want to use xdm.
19. Filing Bug Reports
If you find a reproducible bug in software built from the source in this
distribution or find bugs in its documentation, please complete a bug-
report using the form in the file xc/bug-report and send it to:
mailto:xbugs@x.org
Please try to provide all of the information requested on the form if it
is applicable; the little extra time you spend on the report will make
it much easier for someone to reproduce, find, and fix the bug.
Bugs in the contributed software that is available on the net are not
handled on any official basis. Consult the documentation for the indi-
vidual software to see where (if anywhere) to report the bug.
20. Acknowledgements
The following individuals served as X.Org representatives for their
respective companies. These companies are Executive Members of X.Org.
Paul Anderson of Hewlett-Packard.
Heather Lanigan of Compaq.
Danny Masci of Hummingbird.
Dan McNichol of IBM.
Richard Offer of SGI.
Steve Swales of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
The following individuals contributed significantly to the development
of X11R6.6, in the form of code, testing, and support.
Stuart Anderson of Metro Link, Inc.
Robert W. Boone of Metro Link, Inc.
Alan Coopersmith of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Glen Cornell of Metro Link, Inc.
Ernie Coskrey of Metro Link, Inc.
Gudrun Enger of Metro Link, Inc.
Gemma Exton of Adacel Technologies Limited.
Jay Hobson of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Steve McClure of Metro Link, Inc.
Scott McDonald of Metro Link, Inc.
Andrew Miller of Marconi Corporation.
Quentin Neill of Metro Link, Inc.
Keith Packard of The XFree86 Project.
Simon Pickup of Adacel Technologies Limited.
Paul Shearer of IBM.
Hidetoshi Tajima of Sun Microsystems, Inc.