Not to thread the X server [was: to thread the X server]

[Lukas Hejtmanek]

On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 11:52:14PM +0200, Juliusz Chroboczek wrote:
>> It will cause a lot of subtle bugs, and
>> I don't see what it will buy you.

> I'm still convinced that using threads in the X server is a bad idea.

Well, while the world is moving towards hundreds cores CPU, you would like to
stuck with old school single core Xserver just because the code itself is
a piece of crap.

And while Amiga in 1992 had completely smooth mouse pointer, we don't have it
in 2008. 

I think that Xserver should be highly multithreaded, mainly CPU consuming
parts should be done in parallel. I would like to see a thread pool that will
process requests in parallel. Also the driver of video card should be
reentrant and able to run in threads. If you realize that a graphic hw 
consists of multiple rendering units, the drawing software should also
consists of threads.

I think that it is absurd that virtual desktop switching is not fast enough to
instantly switch the desktops completely in vertical blank period so that user
does not see how parts of applications are exposed.

-- 
Lukáš Hejtmánek