Re: Betr: Re: xfs install on RedHat machine
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003, Eamon Walsh wrote: Anyway, the check for /usr/X11R6/bin/X to determine wether or not to start xfs has been removed for quite a while now, as it makes it difficult for people to start xfs, who don't run an X server on the same machine and just want to use xfs for network font serving. It seems like the best way to do it would be to still do the check for /usr/X11R6/bin/X, but only if TCP is disabled. TCP is disabled on all installations by default, and requires a user who very much knows what they're doing in order to enable it. The level of complexity that all this checking this and that requires mixed with the matrix of actual users usage patterns is quite complex. You'd have to grep the configuration file to find this out, though. Don't know if that's worth it. It isn't worth it. The school of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) reigns supreme here IMHO. Our X installation uses xfs by default for better or worse, and probably always will do so, so we require xfs to be installed if you install X at all. Our config tools configure X to use xfs for font serving also, and expect it to be there. Again - for better or worse, that is the way it's been for a long time, and there's no major beneficial reason to change that now, especially with the overwhelming majority of all new applications using fontconfig/Xft for font handling. I'm leary of making any major changes to our core fonts handling nowadays, as it would risk breaking a known working system that we have now for little to no real major gain. So, following the KISS principle, if a user installs xfs - it gets started at boot time by default period, because we need to have a default, and the default is chosen based on what is easiest for the general non-technical user out there. Someone who even knows xfs exists, is generally in a position to disable and/or uninstall it if they don't need it and know they don't need it. The general end user isn't necessarily tuned in enough to know what xfs is, or that they need it though. Any amount of AI to determine wether or not xfs should start at boot time would be invalidated in 10 minutes by some user with an obscure startup need out there. The way it is now, it is simple. It starts unconditionally and if you don't want/need it - you know that, and you have the technical skill most likely to disable it easily enough and get your $0.0001 worth of memory wastage back. ;o) -- Mike A. Harris ___ Devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/devel
Re: Betr: Re: xfs install on RedHat machine
On Thu, 2003-10-16 at 13:24, Mike A. Harris wrote: Anyway, the check for /usr/X11R6/bin/X to determine wether or not to start xfs has been removed for quite a while now, as it makes it difficult for people to start xfs, who don't run an X server on the same machine and just want to use xfs for network font serving. It seems like the best way to do it would be to still do the check for /usr/X11R6/bin/X, but only if TCP is disabled. You'd have to grep the configuration file to find this out, though. Don't know if that's worth it. Yes, this will probably upset the people out there who don't want xfs to start up if they're not using an X server. As I said above though, people can't have it both ways as we can't read people's minds. The initscript can be disabled like any other system service, so people who install xfs from now on, will have it enabled by default (and it has TCP disabled also by default), and those who don't actually want to use it or need it, can disable it themselves as an end user configuration customization. I feel this makes life the easiest for the largest amount of users out there, and that's one of our goals. ;o) -- Eamon Walsh [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/devel
Re: Betr: Re: xfs install on RedHat machine
On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well in the end the answer was much simpler than expected. I am creating a RH kickstart CD and was playing with the packages I should include. I did include xfs but didn't include X. A message from the ini.d/xfs file would have been nice indeed as xfs doesn't start when there is no /usr/X11R6/bin/X. Well, people can't have it both ways. You complain that xfs didn't start, someone else complains that xfs starts and they don't need/want/use it. We have to choose one single thing and everyone gets it. Anyway, the check for /usr/X11R6/bin/X to determine wether or not to start xfs has been removed for quite a while now, as it makes it difficult for people to start xfs, who don't run an X server on the same machine and just want to use xfs for network font serving. Yes, this will probably upset the people out there who don't want xfs to start up if they're not using an X server. As I said above though, people can't have it both ways as we can't read people's minds. The initscript can be disabled like any other system service, so people who install xfs from now on, will have it enabled by default (and it has TCP disabled also by default), and those who don't actually want to use it or need it, can disable it themselves as an end user configuration customization. I feel this makes life the easiest for the largest amount of users out there, and that's one of our goals. ;o) -- Mike A. Harris ___ Devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/devel
