Why X is needed (was: Re: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee It's Not 1970! (or is it?))

Steve Schveighoffer !spam at nospam.com
Fri Mar 17 05:32:55 PST 2000



"Robert W. Current" wrote:
> 
> Nicholas Petreley wrote:
> >
> > I suppose one could make the case that, if the ISV doesn't want to piss off
> > its customers, it should put something on the package like: "Runs on any LSB
> > compliant system. Requires XFree86 or an X server to use the GUI interface."
> > (Or something less geeky.)
> 
> Yup, that's my point.  They will still need to require something more
> than the LSB will deliver at that point.  And this could be avoided by
> just putting a "X compliant LSB" stamp on a full layer of X
> computability.

By that logic, you must say that for every app that requires a server:
"The ftp client included with Linux requires an ftp server to be useful"
"Netscape requires a web server to be useful"
"This mail client requires a mail server to be useful"

Their point is, there is a good reason to have JUST the X libraries, and
not the X server, on a machine.  At WPI, where I went to school, they
had things called X terminals.  These are thin clients that only have
enough memory to run an X server.  They booted from the network, so
there was no disk, and you ran the clients from another machine, that
DIDN'T have to have an X server installed on it.  These would be one
case where it would be useful to ONLY have the X libraries installed. 
Without the X libraries, the APP can't run.  With them, the app can, but
you still need an X server (on that or any other machine) to VIEW and
USE the app.

However, an X server is kind of a misnomer since the server has to be on
the machine the USER is using, and it is nice to have it on the same
machine.  I do not think it should be in the LSB, however, because there
are cases (like for instance, my example at WPI) where you don't need to
have an X server installed.

This discussion (about X being included, not the other points about
layers, which I think are good) is getting very annoying, and is
basically clogging up my email.  It's clear that Dr. Current is in the
minority, and I think that since there are so many good arguments why
the 2MB X libraries should be installed, can't we just say majority
rules?

-Steve



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