                            README for X11R6.8.1

                            The X.Org Foundation

                              17 September 2004

                                  Abstract

     X11R6.8.1 is an Open Source version of the X Window System that
     supports many UNIX(R) and UNIX-like operating systems (such as
     Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Solaris x86) on Intel and other
     platforms.  This version is compatible with X11R6.8 and other X
     window system implementations which support the X11R6 standard.

1.  What is X11R6.8.1?

X11R6.8.1 is the eighth full release in the X11R6 series.

X11R6.8.1 is the current X.Org Foundation release series.  The core of
X11R6.8.1 is a modular X server.  The 6.8.1 version is a new release that
includes additional hardware support, functional enhancements and bug fixes.
Specific release enhancements can be viewed in the Release Notes.

Most modern PC video hardware is supported in X11R6.8.1, and most PC video
hardware that isn't supported explicitly can be used with the "vesa" driver.
The Release Notes has a table showing the drivers provided with X11R6.8.1,
and links to related documentation.

The X.Org Foundation X releases are produced by the X.Org Foundation.  The
X.Org Foundation has been formed as a Delaware corporation organized to oper-
ate as a scientific charity under IRS code 501(c)(3) to chartered to develop
and execute effective strategies which provide world-wide stewardship of the
X Window System technology and standards. Membership in the X.Org Foundation
is free to all participants.  Applications for Membership are now being
accepted, and active participants in the further development of the X Window
Technology are invited to complete a membership application
<URL:http://www.x.org/XOrg_Foundation_Membership.html>.  The X11R6.8.1 code-
base forms the second X window system release since the formation of the
X.org foundataion and includes code from the X Consortium, the Open Group and
the XFree86[tm] project.  This release is dedicated to the greater X commu-
nity, developers and users alike.

2.  Licensing

X Window System source code is covered by many licenses.  All of these
licenses have in common the fact that they do not impose significant condi-
tions on the modification or redistribution or either source code or binaries
beyond requiring one or more of the following:

  1.  Copyright and/or license notices are left intact.

  2.  Copyright and/or license notices are reproduced verbatim in documenta-
      tion accompanying binary distributions.

  3.  Attributions are included with documentation accompanying binaries.

Most of these licenses are based on the MIT, X Consortium, or BSD (original
and revised) licenses.  All of them are consistent with the Open Source Defi-
nition, and most are consistent with the Free Software Foundation's Free
Software Definition.

Copyright and Licensing information for X, including the reproduction of
copyright and/or license notices and attributions required by some of the
licenses for binary distributions, can be found in the License Document.  If
you find any omissions in that document, please contact us with details at
<xf_board@x.org>.  While the current licenses are all open source licenses,
the X.Org Foundation is attempting, with time, to bring as much as possible
of the code's licenses in the distribution into compliance with the Debian
Free Software Guidelines.

3.  Pointers to additional information

The documentation for this release can be found online at the X.Org web site
<URL:http://wiki.x.org/>.  Information about binary distributions and the
attendant installation instructions can be found in the Installation Docu-
ment.

The X11 version numbering system (including historical information) can be
found in the Versions Document.

Additional information may be available at the X.Org Foundation Wiki
<URL:http://wiki.x.org/>.

4.  The Public Mailing Lists

Current information about the X.Org Foundation public mailing lists is avail-
able on the X.Org mailing list page <URL:http://www.x.org/XOrg_Founda-
tion_Join_OpenLists.html> and related desktop technology mailing lists can be
found on Freedesktop.org's mailing list page <URL:http://freedesk-
top.org/mailman/listinfo>.

5.  Contributing to the X.Org Foundation's X efforts.

If you have any new work or enhancements/bug fixes for existing work, please
send them to <xorg@freedesktop.org> or to our bug tracking system
<URL:http://bugzilla.freedesktop.org/> using the xorg component.  This will
ensure that they are included in future releases.

6.  How to get X11R6.8.1

X11R6.8.1 can be found from the X.Org Foundation wiki at
<URL:http://wiki.x.org>, and at mirrors of this server.  Information about
obtaining and installing binary distributions of this release can be found in
the Installation Document.  Information about obtaining the release in source
form is given below.

The source for version 6.8.1 is split into seven tarballs:

     X11R6.8.1-src1.tar.gz
     X11R6.8.1-src2.tar.gz
     X11R6.8.1-src3.tar.gz
     X11R6.8.1-src4.tar.gz
     X11R6.8.1-src5.tar.gz
     X11R6.8.1-src6.tar.gz
     X11R6.8.1-src7.tar.gz

The first three contain everything except the fonts and general X11 documen-
tation.  Those three are sufficient for building X11R6.8.1 if you already
have a set of fonts.  The fourth and fifth contain the fonts.  The sixth con-
tains the source for the general X11 documentation.  The seventh contains the
general X11 documentation in hardcopy format.

To format the X11R6.8.1 documentation use the latest version of our doctools
package available from the Xorg CVS repository's "doctools" module.

The X source code for this and all releases/snapshots as well as development
versions can also be accessed via the Freedesktop.org CVS repository.  It's
also possible to browse the freedesktop CVS repository
<URL:http://cvs.freedesktop.org/>.  The CVS tag for this version is
"XORG-6_8_1".  The CVS tag for the stable branch for this release is
"XORG-6_8-branch".  To check out the latest development version, don't spec-
ify any tag.

7.  Reporting Bugs

Bugs should be reported to bug tracking system <URL:http://bugzilla.freedesk-
top.org/> using the xorg compoent.   Before reporting bugs, please check the
server log file, which can be found at /var/log/Xorg.0.log on most platforms.
If you can't resolve the problem yourself, send the entire log file with your
bug report but not the operating system core dump.  Do not edit  the log file
as our developers use it to reproduce and debug your problem.  Please attach
it to your bug report.

     $Id$.


$XdotOrg: xc/README,v 1.3.2.2 2004/09/17 15:38:17 kem Exp $
