Re: CVS commit: src/etc/mtree

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>...
>>> I think I saw X11R7 before (some SuSE?  Fedora seems to have everything
>>> in /usr/{bin,lib}), but always coming along with a /usr/X11 symlink.  So
>>> /usr/X11 it may be.
>>> 
>>> My main point is:  X11R6 is wrong.
>>
>> I agree.
>
>So I guess consensus is against X11R6, and I yield on that -- I didn't
>feel too strongly to begin with.
>
>Right now, I'd say I lean towards "put in /usr/{bin,sbin,lib} etc,
>with symlink(s) from X11R6 to the new locations for one release". I
>don't know how others feel about that.
>
>Here is my reasoning:
>
>1) I'd like to keep a symlink for one release or so to prevent paths
>and scripts from breaking.
>
>2) /usr/X11 (or whatever) itself seems like an onion -- it comes from
>the days when X was shipped separately from the OS and, lacking package
>management, the X consortium people felt it was better to put
>everything in one place for easy replacement etc. -- we don't need it
>any more, and simpler is better.
>
>...

        Regarding (2):

        These might be "good" guesses, but the reasonings above are quite
incorrect.  If any of you "had been there", you'd remember that each X11
release (i.e. R1 though R6) involved *incompatible* changes in either the
protocol implimentation and/or the server (e.g. the "-bc" flag for "bug
compatibility").  Also in many cases, X11 was required to run alongside
of X10 applications;  At least one 9 figure (US dollars) contract between
two Fortune100 companies depeneded on enhancing the X10toX11 translator
and upgrading the OS/360 (yes, "360", not "370") version of X10 so that a
large propietary CAD system could be run on workstations with X11 ("R2").

        Simply, there *were* many good reasons why X11 got packaged as
X11Rn (I have the one unreleased "X11"/"X11R0" tar balls on 9-track) and
it wasn't laziness or ignorance of "packaging", but primarily simple version
incompatabilities - i.e. X11R4 servers wouldn't run *lots* of X11R3 binaries
and libraries only rarely did NOT have large ABI changes until 'R5 (when
things finally began to stabilize).

        Still, all these reasons are gone.  For all practical purposes,
X11R6 == X11 (== "X" for those who don't know about X4, X5 or X10) and on
most modern systems, any names should be fine (do be wary of old Ultrix or
SunOS binaries - they many use ABIs dropped/changed before 'R6).

        Paul Shupak