The efforts that have gone into binary snapshots have been a good thing.
They have enabled a broader user base by allowing users access to 3D
drivers that didn't have them before, getting us feedback from a larger
testing base, and exposing backwards compatability issues with our
binary interfaces.
Thank you to those that have contributed so far, especially Jose who has
been building nightly snapshots, and Alan who has written and maintained
the DRI packaging scripts.
It would be wonderful if the driver release process could evolve to the
point where it sets an example to IHV's for how binary only driver
packages should be created that are compatabible with XFree86 and play
nice with other driver packages. To reach that point, we need to make
some improvements in how device independent vs. device specific
components are managed.
Here's a list of areas that need improvement if anybody is interested in
working on this aspect of the DRI project.
1) Users need one simple package. If device independent files need to
be included in a driver package, that should be done with care to ensure
that packages installed from other vendors aren't broken. One way to
achieve this level of compatability is to provide a mechanism that would
allow installation scripts to query the version of device independent
files at install time. Then, device independent files would only be
updated if they came directly from open source releases on the XFree86
or the DRI projects and their version number indicated they were newer
(and compatabile) with the current file installed on the system.
2) The kernel AGP GART module is one monolithic driver. IHV's need some
way of releasing AGP GART updates without stepping on one another.
3) Many users don't build their own kernels. Providing a means for
prebuilt kernel modules on few popolar flavors of kernel would be very
useful. The number of actual kernels supported may vary, it's the means
for supporting prebuilt modules that would be useful to the packaging
effort.
4) A method for more people to get involved in providing nightly
snapshots for different flavors of HW architectures, operating systems
and compilers as well as a means for users to provide feedback on which
ones are working well at any given time.
This is not a definitive list. I'd like to get more feedback from IHV
binary only package developers, open source package developers and
nightly snapshot builders.
Regards,
Jens
--
/\
Jens Owen / \/\ _
[EMAIL PROTECTED] / \ \ \ Steamboat Springs, Colorado
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