X.Org Server 21.1 Released With Variable Rate Refresh In Modesetting Driver, Other Work

X.Org Server 21.1 is now officially available as this first xorg-server update in three years and what began development as X.Org Server 1.21 prior to the versioning change.

X.Org Server 21.1 brings GLAMOR acceleration for the Xvfb, Variable Rate Refresh (VRR / FreeSync / Adaptive-Sync) support within the generic xf86-video-modesetting driver assuming the underlying DRM/KMS kernel driver supports VRR, much better Meson build system support, X Input 2.4 is integrated that adds support for touchpad gestures, the DMX DDX (Distributed Multihead X) code has been removed, improved display DPI reporting, and a wide variety of other minor improvements and bug fixes.

With XWayland having been spun out for its own standalone XWayland releases, that code is no longer included in these tagged X.Org Server releases but is distributed separately. It's on the XWayland side where most of the interesting X.Org happenings have been in recent times.

X.Org Server 21.1 has taken more than three years to surface due to lack of interest from upstream developers in managing a new release with most Linux desktops transitioning to Wayland-based desktops by default and thus caring only about XWayland. It is thanks to developer Povilas Kanapickas for stepping up and making this X.Org Server 21.1 release come together over the past few months.

The brief X.Org Server 21.1 release announcement can be read on the xorg mailing list.