some closure on the xorg updates issue

Kevin Kofler kevin.kofler at chello.at
Fri Aug 11 12:04:34 UTC 2006


The decision is probably set in stone now anyway, but just my 2 cents:

Max Spevack <mspevack <at> redhat.com> writes:
> 1) The xorg update is of benefit to Fedora users who do not depend on 
> proprietary drivers for their video cards.

Indeed.

> 2) As such, this update would be bad for users who do rely on proprietary 
> drivers, mainly because those proprietary drivers are not updated to 
> function properly with the new xorg code.  Users who upgrade will be in a 
> tough spot until their proprietary software vendors relese updates.

ATI has already updated their driver, if NVidia won't do the same, that's 
really their problem.

> 3) The Fedora Project does not support any sort of proprietary software. 
> "Once free, always free".

Indeed.

> In short, it's a major change with only modest benefit, and a better 
> solution is coming soon.

And what IS that "better solution"?

> Therefore, holding off on a non-security update in order to not break 
> users' systems, to me, is a reasonable decision to make in this situation, 
> especially when we are focusing our efforts entirely on Fedora Core 6 at 
> this point, which will include the most up to date Xorg software anyway.

:-(

IMHO, this sets a really bad precedent. Do we really want Fedora to become the 
next Debian Stable? Many users on the list have indicated they are running 
Fedora precisely because they want current software, not obsolete crap which 
happens to cooperate well with proprietary software, which as you say is not 
even supported. I must say I'm one of these people. For those who don't want 
version upgrades, there are plenty of other distros available (e.g. that U word 
everyone gets spammed with these days ;-) but there are others too).

If I'm not mistaken, the new X.Org brings support for some Intel chipsets which 
are only currently supported by generic VESA drivers. Do we really want their 
users to suffer because of NVidia? It could also help free some users from 
having to use proprietary drivers (think r300 improvements...).  (If it had 
been out earlier, before the ATI driver got upgraded, it might even have FORCED 
some people to switch to r300, which could have either shown them how well it 
works already or helped getting it in shape, depending on how well it would 
have worked for them. But it's too late for that now.)

</rant>,
        Kevin Kofler




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