The First X Server 1.8 Snapshot Released

A month ago there were proposed development changes to the X Server to utilize more feature branches in Git, a three-stage development process, and to deliver predictable time-based releases. A version of this proposal has been agreed upon by key X.Org developers and it's already being applied towards the X Server 1.8 work. X Server 1.7 was released less than a month ago and X.Org 7.5 isn't even out yet, but the first development snapshot for X Server 1.8 is now available.

Keith Packard, who is the release manager for the X Server 1.8 branch and in control of the X Server Git master branch for the next six months per this new release process, declared xorg-server 1.7.99.1 this morning. This first development snapshot has 137 changes from 28 different developers. While no major features have yet to be merged for X Server 1.8, some of the key changes in this first snapshot include fixed D-Trace support on Mac OS X, XSELinux and XACE updates, GLX 1.4 enabled on DRI2, many XQuartz changes, EXA fixes, and even a fix for the Hurd operating system.

The release announcement with source download links for this X Server 1.8 snapshot and the change-log can be found on the xorg mailing list.

The X Server 1.8 release schedule puts the official 1.8.0 version out in March of next year. Among the expected features are XKB2, improved EXA performance, X Input 2 updates, and other new features.