On Nov 23, 2018, at 23:59, Fred Weinhaus wrote:
> I use Xquartz on my Mac OSX Sierra just fine. But I got it from
> https://www.xquartz.org. I do not think Apple supports X11 any longer, only
> Quartz.
Let's make sure we're not confusing terms. Your last sentence makes it sound
like X11 and Quartz are somehow related or equivalent things, but they have
nothing to do with one another. There have been some unfortunate naming
choices, however, which can lead to confusion.
"X11" is the X window system, a framework for creating GUI applications on
UNIX-like operating systems. Apple used to bundle a copy of X11 with macOS, but
hasn't done so for many years now. The extent to which Apple supports X11 on
those systems on which they bundled it probably amounts to verifying that it
launches, and maybe helping you reinstall it if you removed it. The extent to
which Apple supports X11 on systems it was not bundled with would be the same
as their support of any other non-bundled third-party application, which is to
say not at all. Whether or not Apple supports X11 or any other third-party
application has no bearing on whether or not it will work.
"Quartz" is a macOS API for drawing two-dimensional graphics. It's also known
as Core Graphics. Most any macOS app that draws anything on the screen will use
Quartz / Core Graphics at some point.
"XQuartz" is a standalone build of X11 for macOS by Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia,
an evolution of the X11 Apple used to bundle. (Jeremy is an Apple employee.) It
has nothing to do with Quartz, except to the extent that it uses the Quartz
graphics routines. It might have been less confusing if it had been called "X11
for macOS".
You can get the same software as in the XQuartz distribution by installing the
MacPorts xorg-server port (or the xorg-server-devel port, if you'd like a newer
development version rather than the latest stable version). In this case the
application will be called X11.app instead of XQuartz.app but it is the same
software. The MacPorts xorg ports are also maintained by Jeremy.
Many MacPorts ports that use X11 (or more precisely, ports that use GTK, which
usually uses X11) can be changed (by selecting the +quartz variant) so that
they use Quartz graphics directly, bypassing the X11 routines. This lets those
ports provide a mode macOS-native GUI experience and eliminates the need to
launch the separate X window environment.
