X.Org Server 1.16 Delayed To Let In Non-PCI Graphics Support

X.Org Server 1.16 has been delayed. However, it's not been delayed like in some of the more notorious past releases due to outstanding bugs, etc, but over letting in a late feature to this latest revision of the X11 server.

There was a lot of developer interest and pressure to let non-PCI device support get merged for the 1.16 stable release. This non-PCI support is needed for allowing the NVIDIA Tegra (open-source) graphics driver to work properly in an easy manner since it's not exposed as a PCI VGA device. Thierry Reding at NVIDIA along with support from other developers worked out adding this non-PCI graphics support on the X.Org Server side.

The patches add a new OutputClass configuration section for the xorg.conf and xorg.conf.d. By using the OutputClass section, ouput devices can be matched to given attributes and to configure them appropriately -- i.e. matching a graphics device to a loaded kernel DRM driver name. With the current NVIDIA Tegra use-case, the tegra DRM driver can be detected and to then load the xf86-video-opentegra driver where as previously the matching would occur since there isn't any PCI identification. A few more details can be learned from the OutputClass commit.

Keith Packard pulled in this support today and decided to tag another release candidate prior to declaring the official xorg-server 1.16 build that should have happened at the beginning of July. The new release is X.Org Server 1.15.99.904. This new release was codenamed "Netarts Bay Oysters."

Keith wrote, "Several people have asked that I get the non-PCI device support stuff merged for 1.16. That was finally posted and reviewed late last week; just about the time 1.16 was supposed to actually ship...Instead of merging and shipping, I've gone ahead and merged those changes and built this "final" RC for testing. Unless something is terribly broken, this will be essentially 1.16 will be."

The new expected release date for X.Org Server 1.16 is now 16 July. X.Org Server 1.16 besides the last minute non-PCI device / OutputClass support includes over 1000+ compiler warning fixes, built-in GLAMOR support for 2D acceleration using OpenGL, handling for non-root support, improved Ultra HD 4K support, and initial XWayland support. X.Org Server 1.16 should be a fantastic release!