Ubuntu's BulletProofX To Be Canned?

BulletProofX was a less-exposed feature that was introduced with Ubuntu 7.10 as a fail-safe mode when X.Org wasn't able to properly start -- generally caused by improperly installing the ATI/NVIDIA proprietary driver or by incorrectly configuring the xorg.conf. The BulletProofX mode just sets the X server to run at 800 x 600 with 256 colors while showing Ubuntu's displayconfig-gtk utility (another Ubuntu 7.10 feature). While it leads to an easy experience for novice end-users, it impedes the process for experienced users of being able to easily debug the problem by viewing the failed log and then dropping to a terminal to address the problem manually. Fortunately, it looks like BulletProofX may be disabled by default within the forthcoming Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" release.

In a message on the ubuntu-devel mailing list, Bryce Harrington who serves as "Ubuntu's X guy" has expressed the current problems with BulletProofX and other X-related plans for Ubuntu 8.10. BulletProofX is starting to have a number of un-addressed bugs, displayconfig-gtk losing ground due to its lack of RandR 1.2 support, and KDE deprecating one of the back-end technologies needed for this feature to function on the K Desktop Environment. As a result, BulletProofX may be reaching its end of life.

Further eliminating the need for BulletProofX, there is interest within the Debian community to build an exception-handling feature directly into the X Server. Bryce is now pondering whether to just disable the BulletProofX mode.

In addition, Bryce noted that with Ubuntu 8.10 the NVIDIA and ATI binary drivers will be moved out of the Linux Restricted Manager and into standalone packages.