[ANNOUNCE] A Build System For X.Org Modular

[Egbert Eich]

Donnie Berkholz writes:
 > Luca Dionisi wrote:
 > > I think this is really a great thing.
 > > It seems to me that providing a easier way to
 > > build the whole thing to distro-maintainers and
 > > also to intrepid-end-users was indeed needed.
 > > 
 > > I think this could result in more feedback from
 > > users, especially for drivers bits.
 > > It also could result in more time for distro-builders
 > > to go and test all of the many new features in
 > > x.org.
 > 
 > Distro maintainers likely use the same packaging system they push out to 
 > end users. You won't find me using jhbuild or anything else for XOrg 
 > stuff. One-offs like testing a single new driver are trivial and don't 
 > require an XOrg-specific package manager.

This is only true if the driver you want to build uses the same
API as the installed server.
If that's not the case you need to build the server and possibly
other pieces.
For testing a single driver it's probably a little overkill.

 > 
 > I guess I only see a reason for this if your distribution flavor of 
 > choice cannot keep X current (e.g., Debian stable). Are there others 
 > that I don't see?
 > 

It helps me to build different versions on different branches and
test them on the same system without having to change any of the
installed bits every time or having to worry if things fit or not.

This is not only the case for the server/drivers but also for 
libraries (for example Xlib with and without xcb support).

The information in the dependency file could be used to verify if
the package dependencies are still correct.

Also a while ago there was a big flamewar which partly talked
about 'building X is a PITA'. This toolset may help to solve
some of the complains.

Cheers,
	Egbert.