After three and a half years since the last significant release formed release the X.Org Server 21.1 . Starting with the presented branch, a new issue numbering scheme has been put into operation, allowing you to immediately see how long ago this or that version was published. By analogy with the Mesa project, the first number of the version reflects the year, the second number indicates the serial number of the significant release for the year, and the third number is used to flag corrective updates.
Major changes:
- Full support for the Meson build system is provided. The ability to build with autotools is retained for now, but will be removed in a future release.
- The Xvfb (X virtual framebuffer) X server adds support for the Glamor 2D acceleration architecture, which uses OpenGL to perform all rendering operations. The Xvfb X server does buffer output (emulates a framebuffer using virtual memory) and is capable of running on systems without screens or input devices.
- The DDX-driver modesetting supports the VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) mechanism, which allows you to adaptively change the refresh rate of the monitor to ensure smoothness and no tearing during games. The modesetting driver is not tied to specific types of video chips and in essence resembles the VESA driver, but works on top of the KMS interface, i.e. it can be used on any hardware that has a kernel-level DRM / KMS driver.
- Added support for the XInput 2.4 input system, which added the ability to use control gestures on touchpads.
- Removed the implementation of the DMX (Distributed Multihead X) mode, which allowed, when using Xinerama, to combine several X-servers into one virtual screen. The support was discontinued due to the lack of demand for technology and the presence of problems when using OpenGL.
- Improved DPI detection and provided correct display resolution information. The change may affect the rendering of applications that use their own high-pixel-density (hi-DPI) display mechanisms.
- The XWayland DDX component, which provides the launch of the X.Org Server for organizing the execution of X11 applications in Wayland-based environments, is now released as a separate package with its own development cycle, not tied to the X.Org server releases.
