What To Expect From X Input 2.1; Multi-Touch Is Delayed

While there has been an X.Org multi-touch implementation for X Input 2.1 dating back about a year, there's still no formal X Input 2.1 release (X Input 2.0 came in 2009). When X Input 2.1 is released, likely as part of X.Org Server 1.12, it won't even offer up the multi-touch support. Here's some of what you can expect to see from X Input 2.1 and then the X Input 2.2 milestone.

X.Org input expert Peter Hutterer has begun to blog about what's new in X Input 2.1 (Xi2.1) and a bit about X Input 2.2. "Some minor changes may still come to X Input 2.1, but this release isn't going to be exciting. XI 2.1 is a small incremental change with two bugfixes and one new feature. These are uncontroversial and more importantly, they are ready now. So XI 2.1 is released as a small change, with bigger changes coming for XI 2.2." The plan is to have X Input 2.2 in X.Org Server 1.12, which will be released in early 2012. Don't be surprised though if it's delayed to X.Org Server 1.13, which would mean it's still about a year away. (X.Org Server 1.11 was released one week ago.)

The X Input 2.1 changes include new raw events behavior, smooth scrolling, and XI2 defines. Smooth scrolling for X.Org is talked about in this article. Lacking is multi-touch support, even after the multi-touch support fell apart and then came back together back in December with several revisions. Canonical has been the one interested in this and they were the ones who originally envisioned an X.Org Gestures Extension. For now Canonical has been patching their xorg-server with their own input support.

Those wishing to learn more about X Input 2.1, Peter's blog series begins here and the second part is already available and it's about X Input 2.1 defines. Peter (and Daniel Stone) will also be at XDC2011 Chicago to talk about the future of X.Org input support.