An upgrade to xorg-server-1.5.3_1,1/libxcb-1.1.93

[Robert Noland]

On Sun, 2009-01-25 at 21:54 -0500, Alex Goncharov wrote:
> I upgraded my X Window system today, with these instructions in mind:
> 
>   # /usr/ports/UPDATING 
>   20090124:
>     sysutils/hal has been updated and should now properly detect
>     mice for use in Xorg.  Use of AllowEmptyInput should no longer
>     be needed for most users and moused should now work fine.
>   
>   20090123:
>     Server 1.5.3 also really wants to configure its input devices
>     via hald.  This is causing some issues with moused and
>     /dev/sysmouse.  
> 
> My system is 7.1-STABLE, and I did a full rebuild of relevant ports;
> my window manager is `twm'.
> 
> Based on my experience, I have a few questions:
> 
> 1. Up until this upgrade, I have always avoided using HAL, setting
>    "WITHOUT_HAL = yes" in my /etc/make.conf file.
>    
>    Today's rebuild with this setting resulted in the mouse (and I
>    think keyboard, too) not working in X.  Following the 20090123
>    note, I commented out the WITHOUT_HAL option in /etc/make.conf and
>    rebuild everything again, modified `etc/rc.conf' appropriately --
>    and the X input is working fine again.
> 
>    So, is HAL a mandatory component (from the X11 perspective) now?

Xorg is moving more in that direction... Using hal for device
configuration is now the default.  However, you can still statically
configure devices.  See xorg.conf(5), AllowEmptyInput, AutoAddDevices,
AutoEnableDevices.

So, yes you can still configure it without HAL support, it just isn't
the preferred method.

>    If so, these lines in `x11-servers/xorg-server/Makefile' don't
>    really make sense:
>    
>       OPTIONS= HAL "Compile with HAL config support"...
>       .if !defined(WITHOUT_HAL)
> 
>    (not having HAL is not an option) -- right? 

It is still an option.

> 2. As soon as my new X was up, I started to notice consistent
>    appearances of garbage in my `xterm's -- the garbage that is easily
>    removed by redrawing a window.
> 
>    More than a year ago, I switched my workstation (not this computer)
>    from Debian to FreeBSD, where my primary motivation was to try to
>    get rid of the sporadic and quite often garbage in the work windows
>    -- after I switched to FreeBSD, I have never seen that garbage
>    again.
> 
>    The essential point here is that Debian used HAL, and FreeBSD
>    didn't.
> 
>    Does anybody know if HAL can be a plausible cause of this
>    annoyance?

I'm pretty confident that HAL can not be blamed for this...

robert.

> It would be great if it were possible to switch to the new X without
> bringing in HAL, at least for some time -- too many variables changed
> in this transition and I am not sure what configuration variation to
> try next to identify the source of the garbage.
> 
> -- Alex -- alex-goncharov at comcast.net --
> 
> /*
>  * There are no emotional victims, only volunteers.
>  */
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