[Xorg] The big multiconsole nasty

[Keith Packard]

Around 13 o'clock on Jul 6, Egbert Eich wrote:

> When you are talking about kernel partition you tie yourself to a single
> OS - not necessarily a single architecture. This is what worries me a little
> bit.

Which is why I'd like to see some experimentation in this area. We've 
discovered several places where the current 'everything in user mode' just 
can't work (interrupt routing, PCI reconfiguration among others).  The 
question is precisely where the boundary should be drawn and how the 
kernel interfaces should be designed.  

I'm not sure we know the right answer yet, so providing a mechanism for
experimentation from which the X server remains aloof will allow various
techniques to be explored without affecting the overall system
architecture.

We can also design the kernel interfaces in such a way as to improve 
portability across operating systems; the DRI system requires kernel 
support and yet runs on BSD and Linux (at least).

Let's keep our options open, let developers experiment and see what 
happens.

-keith


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