Logan Shaw

Casper H.S. Dik wrote:
> (The Xserver could in theory support changing resolutions it would
> confuse some clients but that would be all; changing color depths is
> a different matter entirely; there it would be nice if we could have
> 8 and 24 bit coexist in all X servers and do some form of "compatibility
> mode" for clients which don't play ball. (Some clients just plain refuse
> to work if the first visual is not the proper one)

This seems to me like one of those times where a compatibility issue
holds the software back, even though there is actually a straightforward
way of solving it. You just add a call to the libX that a client can
make; this call says "you're not going to confuse me if you offer
8-bit and 24-bit visuals at the same time or if you resize the screen,
so go ahead if you want to." Then newer apps which will not be
confused by this can make that call as part of startup, and compatibility
with older apps is maintained. (Though some emulation may be required:
if the screen has shrunk and a not-shrink-aware app is running, the
X server needs to pretend -- for that app only -- that the screen
size has not changed since when the app connected.)

Not that I am volunteering to do the work. I have looked at some
of the X11 code, and I was quickly frightened away. Just building
the thing is bad experience. :-)

- Logan