path: root/xc/RELNOTES

                     Release Notes for XFree86[tm] 4.1.0

                          The XFree86 Project, Inc

                              17 December 2000

                                  Abstract

     This document contains some information about the features present
     in XFree86 4.1.0 and their status.

1.  Introduction to the 4.x Release Series

XFree86 4.0 was the first official release of the new XFree86 4 series.  The
current release (4.1.0) is the latest in that series.  XFree86 4 represents a
significant redesign of the XFree86 X server.  Not all of the hardware
drivers from 3.3.x have been ported to 4.x yet, but conversely, 4.x has some
hardware support not present in 3.3.x.  Our Driver Status document summarizes
how the hardware driver support compares between 3.3.6 and 4.1.0.  Please
check there first before downloading 4.1.0.

The 4.0.1 release introduced a new graphical configuration tool, "xf86cfg",
and a text mode interface was added to it for the 4.0.2 release.  It is work
in progress, but definitely worth trying out.  The trusty old text-based tool
"xf86config" can also be used for generating X server config files.  In addi-
tion to these tools, we've been working on a configuration tool that is
built-in to the X server.  It is included in the release, and it works well
for some hardware.  To try it out, just run (as root) "XFree86 -configure".
Each of these configuration options will give you a reasonable starting point
for a suitable configuration file.  We've put some effort into documenting
the 4.1.0 config file format, and you can find that information in the
XF86Config manual page. Check that, the driver manual pages and the related
documentation for further information.

Before you go to download and install the binary distributions for this
release, please have a quick read through the Installation Document.  It may
save you some time and help you figure out which of the binary releases you
need.

The next section describes what is new in the latest version (4.1.0).  The
other sections below describe some of the new features and changes between
3.3.x and 4.0.  There are lot's of new features, and we definitely don't have
enough space to cover them all here.

2.  Summary of new features in 4.1.0.

2.1  Card drivers enhancements

   o  more drivers converted to use the 'fb' layer and render extension (and
     thus supporting anti-aliased TT fonts)

   o  big endian support for the mga and tdfx drivers

   o  ATI Radeon on alpha (Linux)

   o  vmware driver for use by X servers running under a VMWare guest OS

   o  matrox G450 support

   o  support for Trident CyberBladeXP and CyberBladeXPm

   o  support for NVidia GeForce 3

   o  XvImage support for GeForce 3 chips

   o  add 1400x1050 builtin modes

   o  savage driver updates

   o  GLINT driver updates, including support for the SGI 1600SW flat panel

   o  cirrus driver updates

   o  DRI driver for Radeon

   o  acceleration for Trident Cyber9388

2.2  Miscelaneous X Server / Extensions updates

   o  Mesa 3.4.2

   o  FreeType 2.0.2

   o  UCS versions of most bitmap fonts

   o  more locale/international keyboards support

   o  initial DPS extension support

   o  support several 'internet' keyboards additional keys

   o  X11R6.5.1 merge

   o  lots of int10 support bug fixes

   o  add XvMC extension (an experimental, not yet finished video accelera-
     tion extension)

   o  fix a crash in Shape extension

   o  XFree86-VidModeExtension now allows setting of gamma ramps rather than
     just gamma values

2.3  New clients - updates to existing clients

   o  add glxgears

   o  add libXmuu (Xmu version that don't rely on Xt/Xaw)

   o  add libGLU

   o  security problem in XAsyncReply

   o  make xdm xinerama-aware (avoid the split login widget)

2.4  Os support

   o  support for DRI on Linux/ppc

   o  i810 and i815 support on FreeBSD

   o  lots for XDarwin updates

   o  lots of Cygwin support updates

2.5  Build updates

   o  new distclean make target

   o  makedepend scripts updates

3.  Summary of new features in 4.0.3.

3.1  X server

   o Darwin/Mac OS X is now supported on PowerPC and Intel/x86.  The X server
     runs from the console or in cooperation with the Mac OS X Aqua GUI.  The
     X server for this platform is called "XDarwin", and its installation and
     configuration is different from the "XFree86" server used on other plat-
     forms.  Please read the XFree86 on Darwin and Mac OS X document for fur-
     ther information.

   o Mesa has been updated to the 3.4 stable release.

   o A driver for ATI Radeon adapters has been added.

   o ATI driver support for multi-head configurations and non-Intel platforms
     has been improved.

   o The ATI driver has been changed to invoke the appropriate driver for any
     Rage 128 and Radeon adapters that it finds in the system.

   o A driver (i128) for Number Nine chipsets has been added.

   o A driver (savage) for S3 Savage chipsets has been added.

   o A driver (siliconmotion) for some Silicon Motion chipsets has been
     added.

   o The driver (ark) for Ark Logic chips has been ported to 4.x.

   o A VESA driver has been added.

   o A driver for SGI newport cards has been added (Linux/mips).

   o The trident driver has lots of fixes to the CyberBlade/Blade support,
     XVideo support for the Image/Blade series (although scaling doesn't work
     yet on the Image series).

   o The s3virge driver has stabilized ViRGE GX2 support, includes ViRGE DX
     and ViRGE support for XVideo YUV images, and various fixes.

   o The 3Dlabs (glint) driver now has Permedia3 support.

   o The SiS driver has had many updates, and XVideo support for the 630 is
     included.

   o The NVIDIA (nv) driver has been updated to include support for the
     GeForce2, and line acceleration has been added.  Also, DDC support has
     been improved, and support added for Alpha platforms (dense only).

   o The neomagic driver has had various bug fixes and extended acceleration
     support.  DGA support has also been added.

   o The Chips and Technologies driver (chips) has initial support for the
     69030.

   o The tseng driver has multi-head fixes and DGA support has been added.

   o Most video drivers have been converted to use the integrated "fb" frame-
     buffer code instead of the old "cfb" code.

   o DRI support has been updated for the Rage 128, 3Dfx Voodoo3 and Voodoo5,
     Intel i810/i815 and Matrox G400.  DRI support for SiS and Sun Creator3D
     is available.  The DRI is now also available on Alpha platforms.

   o An input driver (citron) for Citron Infrared Touch devices has been
     added.

   o An input driver (penmount) for PenMount devices has been added.

   o An input driver (digitaledge) for DigitalEdge devices has been added.

   o Big endian problems in Xinerama have been fixed.

   o The new "render" extension has been added (see below (section 5.11, page
     1)).  The design has been extended in the following ways:

        o A new FillRectangles request was added.

        o The 'mask' operand was changed to allow per-channel alphas.

     Server implementation:

        o Implemented remaining code for client clip lists.

        o Fixed plenty of bugs related to text rendering.

        o Complete compositing code, except for separate alpha.

     Todo:

        o Polygons

        o Image scaling

        o Separate alpha channels

        o Support for visuals other than TrueColor.

     Drivers with render extension support include: i128, glint, ati (r128
     and radeon), chips, cirrus, mga, neomagic, nv, tdfx, trident, tseng,
     vesa, s3virge.

     Acceleration for the render extension:

        o XAA infrastructure for acceleration.

        o Experimental MGA acceleration using XAA

        o kdrive (TinyX) infrastructure

        o Experimental TinyX Trident 9525DVD acceleration

     Xft library:

        o New font naming/access library.

        o Abstraction for core/Render text.

        o Uses FreeType2 rasterizer.

        o Allows anti-aliased/subpixel sampled text.

        o Gracefully falls back to core rendering.

        o Complicated font matching mechanism.

        o Uses server DPI to convert point sizes to pixel sizes, even for
          core fonts.

     xterm:

        o Can use Xft, by default uses core fonts.

        o Uses new options '-fa' for family name and '-fs' for font size (in
          points).

     x11perf:

        o Add tests for anti-aliased, subpixel sampled and aliased fonts
          using the Xft library.

     xditview:

        o When the Xft library is build, uses Xft for all font access.

     Qt, Gtk, twm:

        o Qt changes available here <URL:http://XFree86.org/~keithp/down-
          load/qtkernel.tar.bz2>.

        o Gtk changes in process.

        o twm hacks should never see the light of day.

   o xf86cfg, a new graphical configuration tool for XFree86 4.x, and can be
     used to either write the initial configuration or make customisations to
     the current configuration.  xf86cfg is a work in progress, and allows
     configuration of:

        o Specific setup of monitors, cards, keyboards and mice, as well as
          adding or removing them.

        o Server layout setup, allowing complex configuration of physical
          monitor positions, default color depth and/or rotated monitors.

        o Mode line editor that can be used to configure multiple monitors,
          and allows adding a modeline specific to a monitor directly to the
          configuration file.

        o AccessX configuration interface, that provides an interface to easy
          setup of most AccessX options, including:

             o Timeout to reset controls.

             o StickyKeys, for people with disabilities that cannot press two
               keys at the same time.

             o MouseKeys, mouse control only with the keyboard.

             o RepeatKeys, repeat rate and repeat delay.

             o SlowKeys, to avoid pressing keys accidentally, they're only
               accepted if pressed for some specific amount of time.

             o BounceKeys, helps avoiding multiple key presses by only
               accepting a key if it is pressed only once and not pressed
               again in a specific amount of time.

     New configuration options are being worked on, as well as correcting
     some of the bugs in the current options.  A protocol for plugging in
     external modules is also planned.

3.2  X libraries and clients.

   o Significant updates to the internationalisation support in Xlib (see
     below (section 3.3, page 1)).

   o Some xfs updates, including font path verification, and new options.

   o XTerm updates.

   o New "xvinfo" client for querying the XVideo extension.

3.3  Fonts and Internationalisation

   o Many of the "misc" bdf fonts have been updated and extended, and a wider
     range of ISO-8859 subsets have been added.  These are now auto-generated
     from ISO-10646 encoded master fonts.

   o The ClearlyU ISO-10646 encoded fonts have been updated.

   o Functions to read keyboard input in locale independent UTF-8 encoding
     have been added to libX11: Xutf8LookupString, Xutf8ResetIC.

   o Functions to output strings in locale independent UTF-8 encoding have
     been added to libX11: Xutf8DrawString, Xutf8DrawImageString, Xutf8Tex-
     tEscapement, Xutf8TextExtents, Xutf8TextPerCharExtents, Xutf8DrawText.

   o Functions to convert between Compound Text or locale dependent encoding
     and UTF-8 have been added to libX11: Xutf8TextListToTextProperty,
     Xutf8TextPropertyToTextList. The converter between Compound Text and
     UTF-8 in Xlib has been improved; a round-trip conversion now correctly
     converts all graphic Unicode characters back and forth.

   o libXaw now offers selected text using both selection targets,
     UTF8_STRING and COMPOUND_TEXT.

   o Locales with UTF-8 encodings are now supported; but the UTF-8 displaying
     facilities are not adequate yet.

   o XKB keyboard definitions have been added and updated for some countries.

3.4  Platforms

   o Darwin/Mac OS X.

   o Greatly improved IA-64 support.

   o Improved Linux/mips support.

   o Support has been added for more Alpha platforms under Linux.  This now
     includes all platforms that require sparse memory mapping.

4.  Drivers

4.1  Video Drivers

XFree86 4.1.0 includes the following video drivers:

+--------------+--------------------------+----------------------------------+
|Driver Name   | Description              | Further Information              |
+--------------+--------------------------+----------------------------------+
|apm           | Alliance Pro Motion      | README.apm                       |
|ark           | Ark Logic                |                                  |
|ati           | ATI                      | README.ati, README.r128, r128(4) |
|chips         | Chips & Technologies     | README.chips, chips(4)           |
|cirrus        | Cirrus Logic             |                                  |
|cyrix (*)     | Cyrix MediaGX            | README.cyrix                     |
|fbdev         | Linux fbdev              | fbdev(4)                         |
|glide         | Glide2x (3Dfx)           | glide(4)                         |
|glint         | 3Dlabs, TI               | glint(4)                         |
|i128          | Number Nine              | README.I128, i128(4)             |
|i740          | Intel i740               | README.i740                      |
|i810          | Intel i810               | README.i810, i810(4)             |
|imstt         | Integrated Micro Solns   |                                  |
|mga           | Matrox                   | mga(4)                           |
|neomagic      | NeoMagic                 | neomagic(4)                      |
|newport (-)   | SGI Newport              | README.newport, newport(4)       |
|nv            | NVIDIA                   | nv(4)                            |
|rendition     | Rendition                | README.rendition, rendition(4)   |
|s3virge       | S3 ViRGE                 | README.s3virge, s3virge(4)       |
|savage        | S3 Savage                | savage(4)                        |
|siliconmotion | Silicon Motion           | siliconmotion(4)                 |
|sis           | SiS                      | README.SiS                       |
|sunbw2 (+)    | Sun bw2                  |                                  |
|suncg14 (+)   | Sun cg14                 |                                  |
|suncg3 (+)    | Sun cg3                  |                                  |
|suncg6 (+)    | Sun GX and Turbo GX      |                                  |
|sunffb (+)    | Sun Creator/3D, Elite 3D |                                  |
|sunleo (+)    | Sun Leo (ZX)             |                                  |
|suntcx (+)    | Sun TCX                  |                                  |
|tdfx          | 3Dfx                     |                                  |
|tga           | DEC TGA                  | README.DECtga                    |
|trident       | Trident                  | trident(4)                       |
|tseng         | Tseng Labs               |                                  |
|vesa          | VESA                     | vesa(4)                          |
|vga           | Generic VGA              | vga(4)                           |
|vmware        | VMWare guest OS          | vmware(4)                        |
+--------------+--------------------------+----------------------------------+

Drivers marked with (*) are present in a preliminary form in this release,
but are not complete and/or stable yet.

Drivers marked with (+) are for Linux/Sparc only.

Drivers marked with (-) are for Linux/mips only.

Darwin/Mac OS X uses IOKit drivers and does not use the module loader drivers
listed above. Further information can be found in README.Darwin.

XFree86 4.1.0 includes the following input drivers:

4.2  Input Drivers

          +------------+--------------------+---------------------+
          |Driver Name | Description        | Further Information |
          +------------+--------------------+---------------------+
          |acecad      | AceCad             |                     |
          |citron      | Citron             | citron(4)           |
          |digitaledge | DigitalEdge        |                     |
          |dynapro     | Dynapro            |                     |
          |elographics | EloGraphics        |                     |
          |keyboard    | generic keyboards  | keyboard(4)         |
          |microtouch  | MicroTouch         |                     |
          |mouse       | most mouse devices | mouse(4)            |
          |mutouch     | MicroTouch         |                     |
          |penmount    | PenMount           |                     |
          |spaceorb    | SpaceOrb           |                     |
          |summa       | SummaGraphics      |                     |
          |void        | dummy device       | void(4)             |
          |wacom       | Wacom tablets      | wacom(4)            |
          +------------+--------------------+---------------------+

5.  Summary of XFree86 4.

Unlike XFree86 3.3.x where there are multiple X server binaries, each of
which drive different hardware, XFree86 4.1.0 has a single X server binary
called XFree86.  This binary can either have one or more video drivers linked
in statically, or, more usually, dynamically load the video drivers and other
modules that are needed.

XFree86 4.1.0 has X server support for most UNIX(R) and UNIX-like operating
systems on Intel/x86 platforms, plus support for Linux on Alpha, PowerPC,
IA-64, Sparc, and Mips platforms, and for Darwin on PowerPC.  Work on support
for additional architectures and operating systems is in progress, and is
planned for future releases.

5.1  Loader and Modules

The XFree86 X server has a built-in run-time loader, donated by Metro Link
<URL:http://www.metrolink.com>.  This loader can load normal object files and
libraries in most of the commonly used formats.  Since the loader doesn't
rely on an operating system's native dynamic loader support, it works on
platforms that don't provide this feature, and makes it possible for the mod-
ules to be operating system independent (although not, of course, independent
of CPU architecture).  This means that a module compiled on Linux/x86 can be
loaded by an X server running on Solaris/x86, or FreeBSD, or even OS/2.

One of the main benefits of this loader is that when modules are updated,
they do not need to be recompiled for every different operating system.  In
the future we plan to take advantage of this to provide more frequent driver
module updates in between major releases.

The loader in version 4.1.0 has support for Intel (x86), Alpha and PowerPC
platforms.  It also has preliminary support for Sparc platforms.

The X server makes use of modules for video drivers, X server extensions,
font rasterisers, input device drivers, framebuffer layers (like mfb, cfb,
etc), and internal components used by some drivers (like XAA),

The module interfaces (API and ABI) used in this release is still subject to
change without notice.  While we will attempt to provide backward compatibil-
ity for the module interfaces as of the 4.0 release (meaning that 4.0 modules
will work with future core X server binaries), we cannot guarantee this.

Note about module security

     The XFree86 X server runs with root privileges, i.e.  the X server
     loadable modules also run with these privileges.  For this reason
     we recommend that all users be careful to only use loadable modules
     from reliable sources,  otherwise the introduction of viruses and
     contaminated code can occur and wreak havoc on your system.  We
     hope to have a mechanism for signing/verifying the modules that we
     provide available in a future release.

5.2  Configuration File

The X server configuration file format has been extended to handle some of
the new functionality.  The xf86config utility can be used to generate a
basic config file, that may require some manual editing.  The X server also
has preliminary support for generating a basic config file.  This is done by
running (as root) "XFree86 -configure".  Alternatively, the sample config
file XF86Config.eg that is installed in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11 may be used as a
starting point.  The XF86Setup utility is currently not usable, but work is
continuing in this area.

The main changes are covered here, but please refer to the XF86Config manual
page for more comprehensive information:

   o The Module section is used to load server extension modules and font
     modules, but not XInput drivers.  The .so suffix should no longer be
     specified with module names.  Options may be supplied for modules by
     loading the module via a SubSection instead of the usual Load keyword.
     The bitmap module is the only font module that is loaded by default.  No
     server extensions are loaded by default, but some are built-in to the
     server.  It is strongly recommended that the extension module containing
     a range of small miscellaneous extensions (extmod) be loaded because
     some commonly used things won't work correctly without it.  The follow-
     ing example shows how to load all the server extensions plus the Type1
     and TrueType fonts support, and a commented example that shows how to
     pass options to an extension (this one is for loading the misc exten-
     sions (extmod) with the XFree86-VidModeExtension disabled):

               Section "Module"

                   Load "dbe"
                   Load "record"
                   Load "glx"
                   Load "pex5"
                   Load "xie"
                   Load "extmod"

                   Load "type1"
                   Load "freetype"

                 # SubSection "extmod"
                 #     Option "Omit XFree86-VidModeExtension"
                 # EndSubSection

               EndSection

   o Option flags have been extended and are now used more widely in the con-
     fig file.  Options flags come in two main types.  The first type is
     exactly like the old form:

                   Option "name"

     where the option just has a name specified.  The name is case insensi-
     tive, and white space and underscore characters are ignored.  The second
     type consists of a name and a value:

                   Option "name" "value"

     The value is passed transparently as a string to the code that uses the
     option.  Common value formats are integer, boolean, real, string and
     frequency.  The following boolean option values are recognised as mean-
     ing TRUE: "true", "yes", "on", "1", and no value.  The values recognised
     as FALSE are "false", "no", "off", "0".  In addition to this, "no" may
     be prepended to the name of a boolean option to indicate that it is
     false.  Frequency options can have the strings Hz, kHz, or MHz appended
     to the numerical value specified.

     Note: the value must always be enclosed in double quotes ("), even when
     it is numerical.

   o The ServerFlags section now accepts its parameters as Options instead of
     as special keywords.  The older keyword format is still recognised for
     compatibility purposes, but is deprecated and support for it will likely
     be dropped in a future release.  The DPMS and screen save timeout values
     are now specified in the ServerFlags section rather than elsewhere
     (because they are global parameters, not screen-specific).  This example
     shows the defaults for these:

                   Option "blank time"    "10"
                   Option "standby time"  "20"
                   Option "suspend time"  "30"
                   Option "off time"      "40"

   o The Keyboard, Pointer and XInput sections have been replaced by a more
     general InputDevice section.  The old Keyboard and Pointer sections are
     still recognised for compatibility purposes, but they are discommended
     and support for them may be dropped in future releases.  The old XInput
     sections are no longer recognised.  The keywords from the old sections
     are expressed as Options in the InputDevice sections.  The following
     example shows typical InputDevice sections for the core mouse and key-
     board.

               Section "InputDevice"
                   Identifier  "Keyboard 1"
                   Driver      "keyboard"
                   Option      "AutoRepeat" "500 5"
                   Option      "XkbModel"   "pc104"
                   Option      "XkbLayout"  "us"
               EndSection

               Section "InputDevice"
                   Identifier  "Mouse 1"
                   Driver      "mouse"
                   Option      "Protocol"   "PS/2"
                   Option      "Device"     "/dev/mouse"
                   Option     "SampleRate" "80"
               EndSection

   o The Monitor section is mostly unchanged.  The main difference is that a
     set of VESA modes is defined internally in the server, and so for most
     monitors, it isn't necessary to specify any modes explicitly in the Mon-
     itor section.  There is also a new Modes section that can be used to
     define a set of modes separately from the Monitor section, and the Moni-
     tor section may "include" them with the "UseModes" keyword.  The Monitor
     section may also include Options.  Options that are monitor-specific,
     like the "DPMS" and "Sync on Green" options are best specified in the
     Monitor sections.

   o The Device sections are mostly unchanged.  The main difference is the
     new (and mandatory) Driver keyword that specifies which video driver
     should be loaded to drive the video card.  Another difference is the
     BusID keyword that is used to specify which of possibly multiple video
     cards the Device section is for.  The following is an example for a
     Matrox card:

               Section "Device"
                   Identifier "MGA 1"
                   Driver     "mga"
                   BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"
               EndSection

   o The Screen sections are mostly unchanged.  The old Driver keyword is no
     longer used, and a mandatory Identifier keyword has been added.  The
     DefaultColorDepth keyword has been renamed to DefaultDepth.

   o A new section called ServerLayout has been added to allow the layout of
     the screens and the selection of input devices to be specified.  The
     ServerLayout sections may also include options that are normally found
     in the ServerFlags section.  Multiple ServerLayout sections may be pre-
     sent, and selected from the command line.  The following example shows a
     ServerLayout section for a dual-headed configuration with two Matrox
     cards, and two mice:

               Section "ServerLayout"
                   Identifier  "Layout 1"
                   Screen      "MGA 1"
                   Screen      "MGA 2" RightOf "MGA 1"
                   InputDevice "Keyboard 1" "CoreKeyboard"
                   InputDevice "Mouse 1"    "CorePointer"
                   InputDevice "Mouse 2"    "SendCoreEvents"
                   Option      "BlankTime"  "5"
               EndSection

     See the XF86Config man page for a more detailed explanation of the for-
     mat of the new ServerLayout section.

The config file search patch has been extended, with the directories /etc/X11
and /usr/X11R6/etc/X11 being added.  The full search path details are docu-
mented in the XF86Config manual page.

5.3  Command Line Options

The following new X server command line options have been added:

     -depth n

          This specifies the colour depth that the server is run-
          ning at.  The default is 8 for most drivers.  Most
          drivers support the values 8, 15, 16 and 24.  Some
          drivers also support the values 1 and 4.  Some drivers
          may also support other depths.  Note that the depth is
          different from the ``bpp'' that was specified with previ-
          ous versions.  The depth is the number of bits in each
          pixel that are significant in determining the pixel's
          value.  The bpp is the total size occupied by each pixel,
          including bits that are not used.  The old -bpp option is
          no longer recognised because it isn't a good way of spec-
          ifying the server behaviour.

     -fbbpp n

          This specifies the bpp format to use for the framebuffer.
          This may be used in 24-bit mode to force a framebuffer
          format that is different from what the driver chooses by
          default.  In most cases there should be no need to use
          this option.

     -pixmap24

          This specifies that the client-side pixmap format should
          be the packed 24-bit format that was often used by the
          3.3.x servers.  The default is the more common 32-bit
          format.  There should normally be no need to use this
          option.

     -pixmap32

          This specifies that the client-side pixmap format should
          be the sparse 32-bit format.  This is the default, so
          there should normally be no need to use this option.

     -layout name

          This specifies which ServerLayout section in the config
          file to use.  When this option is not specified, the
          first ServerLayout section is used.  When there is no
          ServerLayout section, the first Screen section is used.

     -screen name

          This specifies which Screen section in the config file to
          use.  When this option is not specified, the first
          ServerLayout section is used.  When there is no Server-
          Layout section, the first Screen section is used.

     -keyboard name

          This specifies which InputDevice section in the config
          file to use for the core keyboard.  This option may be
          used in conjunction with the -screen option.

     -pointer name

          This specifies which InputDevice section in the config
          file to use for the core pointer.  This option may be
          used in conjunction with the -screen option.

     -modulepath path

          This specifies the module search path.  The path should
          be a comma-separated list of absolute directory paths to
          search for server modules.  When specified here, it over-
          rides the value specified in the config file.  This
          option is only available when the server is started by
          the root user.

     -logfile file

          This specifies the log file name.  When specified here,
          it overrides the default value.  This option is only
          available when the server is started by the root user.

     -scanpci

          This specifies that the scanpci module should be loaded
          and executed.  This does a scan of the PCI bus.

     -logverbose [n]

          This options specifies the verbosity level to use for the
          log file.  The default is 3.

The following X server command line options have been changed since 3.3.x:

     -verbose [n]

          This option specifies the verbosity level to use for the
          server messages that get written to stderr.  It may be
          specified multiple times to increase the verbosity level
          (as with 3.3.x), or the verbosity level may be specified
          explicitly as a number.  The default verbosity level is
          1.

     -xf86config filename

          This option has been extended to allow non-root users to
          specify a relative config file name.  The config file
          search path will be used to locate the file in this case.
          This makes it possible for users to choose from multiple
          config files that the the sysadmin has provided.

5.4  XAA

The XFree86 Acceleration Architecture (XAA) has been completely rewritten
from scratch for XFree86 4.x.  Most drivers implement acceleration by making
use of the XAA module.

5.5  Multi-head

Some multi-head configurations are supported in XFree86 4.x, primarily with
multiple PCI/AGP cards.  However, this is an area that is still being worked
on, and we expect that the range of configurations for which it works well
will increase in future releases.  A configuration that is known to work well
in most cases is multiple (supported) Matrox cards.

One of the main problems is with drivers not sufficiently initialising cards
that were not initialised at boot time.  This has been improved somewhat with
the INT10 support that is used by most drivers (which allows secondary card
to be "soft-booted", but in some cases there are other issues that still need
to be resolved.  Some combinations can be made to work better by changing
which card is the primary card (either by using a different PCI slot, or by
changing the system BIOS's preference for the primary card).

5.6  Xinerama

Xinerama is an X server extension that allows multiple physical screens to
behave as a single screen.  With traditional multi-head in X11, windows can-
not span or cross physical screens.  Xinerama removes this limitation.  Xin-
erama does, however, require that the physical screens all have the same root
depth, so it isn't possible, for example, to use an 8-bit screen together
with a 16-bit screen in Xinerama mode.

Xinerama is not enabled by default, and can be enabled with the +xinerama
command line option for the X server.

Xinerama was included with X11R6.4.  The version included in XFree86 4.x was
completely rewritten for improved performance and correctness.

Known problems:

   o Most window managers are not Xinerama-aware, and so some operations like
     window placement and resizing might not behave in an ideal way.  This is
     an issue that needs to be dealt with in the individual window managers,
     and isn't specifically an XFree86 problem.

5.7  DGA version 2

DGA 2.0 is included in 4.1.0, but is not implemented by all drivers.  Prelim-
inary documentation for the client libraries can be found in the README.DGA
document.  A good degree of backwards compatibility with version 1.0 is pro-
vided.

5.8  DDC

The VESA(R) Display Data Channel (DDC[tm]) standard allows the monitor to
tell the video card (or on some cases the computer directly) about itself;
particularly the supported screen resolutions and refresh rates.

Partial or complete DDC support is available in most of the video drivers.
DDC is enabled by default, but can be disabled with a "Device" section entry:
Option "NoDDC".  We have support for DDC versions 1 and 2; these can be dis-
abled independently with Option "NoDDC1" and Option "NoDDC2".

At startup the server prints out DDC information from the display, but it
does not yet use it the determine modelines.  For some drivers, the X
server's new -configure option uses the DDC information when generating the
config file.

Changed behavior caused by DDC. Several drivers uses DDC information to set
the screen size and pitch.  This can be overridden by explicitly resetting it
to the and non-DDC default value 75 with the -dpi 75 command line option for
the X server, or by specifying appropriate screen dimensions with the "Dis-
playSize" keyword in the "Monitor" section of the config file.

5.9  GLX and the Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI)

Precision Insight <URL:http://www.precisioninsight.com> (now part of the Pro-
fessional Services group at VA Linux Systems <URL:http://www.valinux.com>)
was provided with funding and support from Red Hat <URL:http://www.red-
hat.com>, SGI <URL:http://www.sgi.com>, 3Dfx <URL:http://www.3dfx.com>, Intel
<URL:http://www.intel.com>, ATI <URL:http://www.ati.com>, and Matrox
<URL:http://www.matrox.com> to integrate the GLX extension for 3D rendering
in an X11 window.  The 3D core rendering component is the Mesa
<URL:http://www.mesa3d.org> library.  SGI has released the sources to the GLX
extension framework under an open license, which essentially provides the
glue between the 3D library and this windowing system.  Precision Insight has
integrated these components into the XFree86 X Server and added a Direct Ren-
dering Infrastructure (DRI).  Direct Rendering provides a highly optimized
path for sending 3D data directly to the graphics hardware.  This release
provides a complete implementation of direct rendering support for the 3Dfx
Banshee, Voodoo3 and Voodoo5 graphics cards, as well as the Intel i810/i815
cards, ATI Rage 128, and Matrox G400.  Updated information on DRI compatible
drivers can be found at the DRI Project <URL:http://dri.sourceforge.net> on
SourceForge <URL:http://www.sourceforge.net>.

5.10  XVideo Extension (Xv)

The XVideo extension is supported in XFree86 4.x.  An XvQueryPortAttributes
function has been added as well as support for XvImages.  XvImages are XIm-
ages in alternate color spaces such as YUV and can be passed to the server
through shared memory segments.  This allows clients to display YUV data with
high quality hardware scaling and filtering.

5.11  X Rendering Extension (Render)

The X Rendering extension provides a 2D rendering model that more closely
matches application demands and hardware capabilities.  It provides a render-
ing model derived from Plan 9 based on Porter/Duff image composition rather
than binary raster operations.

Using simple compositing operators provided by most hardware, Render can draw
anti-aliased text and geometric objects as well as perform translucent image
overlays and other image operations not possible with the core X rendering
system.

XFree86 4.1.0 provides a partial implementation of Render sufficient for
drawing anti-aliased text and image composition.  Still to be implemented are
geometric primitives and affine transformation of images.

Unlike the core protocol, Render provides no font support for applications,
rather it allows applications to upload glyphs for display on the screen.
This allows the client greater control over text rendering and complete
access to the available font information while still providing hardware
acceleration.  The Xft library provides font access for Render applications.

5.11.1  The Xft Library

On the client side, the Xft library provides access to fonts for applications
using the FreeType library, version 2.  FreeType currently supports Type1 and
TrueType font files, a future release is expected to support BDF and PCF
files as well, so Render applications will have access to the complete range
of fonts available to core applications.  One important thing to note is that
Xft uses the vertical size of the monitor to compute accurate pixel sizes for
provided point sizes; if your monitor doesn't provide accurate information
via DDC, you may want to add that information to XF86Config.

To allow a graceful transition for applications moving from core text render-
ing to the Render extension, Xft can use either core fonts or FreeType and
the Render extension for text.  By default, Xft is configured to support both
core fonts and FreeType fonts using the supplied version of FreeType 2.  See
the section on FreeType support in Xft for instructions on configuring
XFree86 to use an existing FreeType installation.

The Xft library uses a configuration file, XftConfig, which contains informa-
tion about which directories contain font files and also provides a sophisti-
cated font aliasing mechanism.  Documentation for that file is included in
the Xft man page.

5.11.2  FreeType support in Xft

XFree86 4.1.0 includes sources for FreeType version 2.0.1, and, by default,
they are built and installed automatically.

If you prefer, you can configure XFree86 4.1.0 to use an existing Freetype2
installation by telling XFree86 not to build the internal copy and indicating
where that external version has been installed. Edit (or create) con-
fig/cf/host.def to include:

   o #define BuildFreetype2Library NO

   o #define Freetype2Dir /usr/local

Note that XFree86 assumes you'll be using a release FreeType no older than
version 2.0.1.  Early FreeType version 2 releases used a different header
file installation and aren't compatible with XFree86. Instructions for build-
ing and installing FreeType can be found in the INSTALL file included with
the FreeType release.

5.11.3  Application Support For Anti-Aliased Text

Only three applications have been modified in XFree86 4.1.0 to work with the
Render extension and the Xft and FreeType libraries to provide anti-aliased
text.  Xterm, xditview and x11perf.  Migration of other applications may
occur in future releases.

By default, xterm uses core fonts through the standard core API.  It has two
command line options and associated resources to direct it to use Xft
instead:

   o -fa family / .VT100.faceName: family.  Selects the font family to use.

   o -fs pointsize / .VT100.faceSize: pointsize.  Selects the pointsize.

Xditview will use Xft instead of the core API by default.  X11perf includes
tests to measure the performance of text rendered in three ways, anti-
aliased, anti-aliased with sub-pixel sampling and regular chunky text, but
through the Render extension, a path which is currently somewhat slower than
core text.

5.12  Other extensions

The XFree86-Misc extension has not been fully ported to the new server archi-
tecture yet.  This should be completed in a future release.

The XFree86-VidModeExtension extension has been updated, and mostly ported to
the new server architecture.  The area of mode validation needs further work,
and the extension should be used with care.  This extension has support for
changing the gamma setting at run-time, for modes where this is possible.
The new xgamma utility makes use of this feature.  Compatibility with the
3.3.x version of the extension is provided.  The missing parts of this exten-
sion and some new features should be completed in a future release.

5.13  Xaw

Two versions of the Xaw library are provided with XFree86 4.x. A version with
bug fixes and a few binary compatible improvements and a new version with
several new features.

New features:

   o A displayList resource is available to all Xaw widgets. It basically
     consists of a list of drawing commands, fully described in the Xaw(3)
     manual page, that enables a integration of Xaw programs with the new
     window/desktop managers that allows for configurable themes.

   o Some new actions were added to all Xaw widgets, to allow more config-
     urable control of the widgets, and to allow setting resources at run
     time.

   o Since Xpm was integrated into XFree86, programs linked with the new Xaw
     library     will also link with Xpm. This allows for color background
     pixmaps, and also for shaped widgets.

   o The text widget is the widget that will present more changes. These
     include:

        o Block cursor.

        o Compile time limit of 16384 undo/redo levels (that will automati-
          cally grow if the text is not saved when this mark is reached).

        o Overwrite mode.

        o Text killed is inserted in a kill ring list, this text is not for-
          gotten, pressing M-y allows traversing the kill ring list.

        o International support for latin languages is available even if the
          international resource is not set. Users will need to properly set
          the locale environment to make complete use of this feature.

        o A better multiply interface is provided. Pressing C-u,<number>
          (where number can be negative) allows passing parameters for text
          actions.

        o Text can be formatted to have left, right, center or full justifi-
          cation.

        o Text indentation support is also available.

Bug fixes:

   o The simple menu widget geometry management code was improved to solve
     problems with menu entries not visible in the screen.

   o The form widget geometry code was changed to solve problems with integer
     round problems in the child widgets geometry when resizing the parent
     form widget.

   o Several bugs were fixed in the text code, while some code was rewritten
     from scratch.

5.14  Xpm

Version 3.4k of the Xpm (X pixmap) library is now integrated into XFree86.

5.15  xedit

Xedit have been changed to use most of the new features added to the new ver-
sion of the Xaw library, and some xedit only features were added. Emacs users
will find that several of the emacs key bindings work with the new version of
xedit. These include:

   o File name tab completion. Including a Emacs dired like window, that will
     be shown when there are more than one match, when C-x,d is pressed, or
     when a directory name is specified.

   o An unlimited number of files can be edited at the same time. Including
     multiple views of the same or different files.

   o The line number of the cursor position is always visible. It can also be
     customized to show the column number, the position offset and the cur-
     rent size of the file.

   o There is an autoReplace resource, that enables automatic text replace-
     ment at the time text is typed. This feature is useful to create simple
     macros, or to correct common spelling errors.

   o A fully featured ispell interface is also available. This interface is
     expected to provide most of the features of the terminal interface of
     the ispell program, with some extra features that include:

        o A compile time limit of 16 undo levels.

        o Terse mode switch.

        o Dictionary change.

        o The interface also checks for repeated words.

   o A first tentative to add programming modes was done. Currently, there is
     one mode:

        o C-mode: this mode is expected to be stable, and fully usable.

5.16  Font support

Details about the font support in XFree86 4.x can be found in the
README.fonts document.

5.17  TrueType support

XFree86 4.x comes with two TrueType backends, known as `xfsft' (the
"freetype" module) and `X-TrueType' (the "xtt" module).  Both of these back-
ends are based on the FreeType library.

5.18  CID font support

Support for CID-keyed fonts is included in XFree86 4.x.  The CID-keyed font
format was designed by Adobe Systems <URL:http://www.adobe.com> for fonts
with large character sets.  The CID-keyed font support in XFree86 was donated
by SGI <URL:http://www.sgi.com>.  See the LICENSE document for a copy of the
CID Font Code Public License.

5.19  Internationalisation of the scalable font backends

XFree86 4.x has a ``fontenc'' layer to allow the scalable font backends to
use a common method of font re-encoding.  This re-encoding makes it possible
to uses fonts in encodings other than their their native encoding.  This
layer is used by the Type1 and Speedo backends and the `xfsft' version of the
TrueType backend.  The `X-TrueType' version of the TrueType backend uses a
different re-encoding method based on loadable encoding modules.

5.20  Large font optimisation

The glyph metrics array, which all the X clients using a particular font have
access to, is now placed in shared memory, so as to reduce redundant memory
consumption.  For non-local clients, the glyph metrics array is transmitted
in a compressed format.

5.21  Unicode/ISO 10646 support

What is included in 4.x:

   o All ``-misc-fixed-*'' BDF fonts are now available in the ISO10646-1
     encoding and cover at least the 614 characters found in ISO
     8859-{1-5,7-10,14,15}, CP1252, and MES-1. The non-bold fonts also cover
     all Windows Glyph List 4 (WGL4) characters, including those found in all
     8-bit MS-DOS/Windows code pages. The 8-bit variants of the ``-misc-
     fixed-*'' BDF fonts (ISO8859-1, ISO8859-2, KOI8-R, etc.) have all been
     automatically generated from the new ISO10646-1 master fonts.

   o Some ``-misc-fixed-*'' BDF ISO10646-1 fonts now cover a comprehensive
     Unicode repertoire of over 3000 characters including all Latin, Greek,
     Cyrillic, Armenian, Gregorian, Hebrew, IPA, and APL characters, plus
     numerous scientific, typographic, technical, and backwards-compatibility
     symbols. Some of these fonts also cover Arabic, Ethiopian, Thai,
     Han/Kanji, Hangul, full ISO 8859, and more. For the 6x13 font there is
     now a 12x13ja Kanji extension and for the 9x18 font there is a 18x18ja
     Kanji/Han/Hangul extension, which covers all ISO-2022-JP-2 (RFC 1554)
     characters. The 9x18 font can also be used to implement simple combining
     characters by accent overstriking. For more information, read Markus
     Kuhn's UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ <URL:http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/uni-
     code.html>.

   o Mark Leisher's ClearlyU proportional font (similar to Computer Modern).

   o ISO 10646/Unicode UTF-8 Level 1 support added to xterm (enabled with the
     -u8 option).

   o Both the xfsft (the "freetype" module) and the X-TrueType (the "xtt"
     module) TrueType font backends support Unicode-encoded fonts.

5.22  Lucidux fonts from Bigelow and Holmes

XFree86 now includes the ``Lucidux'' family of professionally hinted Type 1
fonts.  This family consists of the fonts ``Lucidux Serif'', ``Lucidux Sans''
and ``Lucidux Mono'' in Roman and oblique variants, and includes over 370
glyphs in each font covering among others the glyphs needed for ISO 8859-1,
2, 3, 4, 9 and 15.  Bold variants will be included in a future release.  The
design and font outlines were donated by Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes from
Bigelow and Holmes Inc., and the hinting was donated by Berthold Horn and
Blenda Horn from Y&Y, Inc.  For more information, please contact
<design@bigelowandholmes.com> or <sales@yandy.com>, or consult Y&Y's web site
<URL:http://www.yandy.com>.

5.23  Directory rearrangements

Some changes to the installed XFree86 directory structure have been imple-
mented for 4.x.  One important change is a modified search path for the X
server's XF86Config file.  The details of this can be found in the XF86Config
manual page.  The other main change is moving most of the run-time configura-
tion files to /etc/X11, with symbolic links in the old /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
location pointing to the new location.  Some run-time generated files are now
located under the appropriate subdirectories of /var, again with the relevant
symbolic links in the old location.

     Generated from XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/sgml/RELNOTES.sgml,v 1.61 2001/06/04 19:01:21 herrb Exp $


$XFree86: xc/RELNOTES,v 1.3 2001/06/04 19:07:04 herrb Exp $