X11

[Digby Tarvin digbyt@acm.org]

>    From: Nigel Roles <ngr@symbionics.co.uk>
>
>    Sounds fine, so long as it isn't compulsory to run it.....
>
>i can't imagine why the x proponents would want to run all those horrible
>x programs.  plan 9 doesn't have or need x.  it's a _feature_.
>
Well, personally, I am not desperate to make my plan9 screen look
like an X terminal. I am more looking to make my 21" 1600x1200
X terminal a plan9 console.... (and not have to sit next to a (YECH)
PC with a 14" display and vga resolution..)

And there are some X applications which I currently have to reboot
with Unix in order to run, which a server on plan9 could allow
to run without changeing os. Granted, a rewrite to use the Plan 9
native graphics would be nicer, but not always practical.

Perhaps we should distinguish between
1.	Providing a filesystem which maps graphics requests to
	the X network protocol, allowing plan9 apps to be run on an external
	X display.

2.	Providing an Xlib port (and maybe  Xaw etc) libraries, allowing
	X sources to be ported to plan9. This should be straight
	forward using APE and the berkely sockets libs. (shouldn't it?)
	Probably not too useful on its own, though.

3.	Write a verssion of the Xlib libraries that produces graphics
	according to the plan9 conventions. This would allow ported X
	applications to run on native plan9. This might be hard, although
	if it is possible to write an X server, it should be possible
	as a worst case to build an image in memory and then write it
	to a plan9 window periodically.

4.	The X server program running in a plan9 window, allowing
	external X based applications to be run from a plan9
	console. With option 2, we also get to run ported X apps
	on a standalone plan 9.

I have to admit, though, that I havn't learnt enough about plan9
graphics to say how feasible all these things are.

And yes, I know writing everything from scratch for plan9 would
be better. It is just that I don't see that happening in the short
term.

Regards,
DigbyT
-- 
Digby R. S. Tarvin                                              digbyt@acm.org
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~cthulhu/