Subject: XFree86 3.1.2F plans?

From: Erik B Andersen <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 22:14:09 -0600

XFree86 3.1.2F is out, according to http://www.xfree86.org.  I am
wondering if a
Debian package of this beta software will be made available.  Anyone
have any
plans to make this available???
 -Erik
-- 
Erik B. Andersen                 Web:   
http://www.et.byu.edu/~andersee/ 
2485 South State St.             email:  [email-masked]
Springville, Ut 84663            phone:  (801) 489-1231
--This message was written using 73% post-consumer electrons--

---

From: Sebastian Kuzminsky <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 09:22:48 -0600

Erik B Andersen <[email-masked]> wrote:
] XFree86 3.1.2F is out, according to http://www.xfree86.org.  I am
] wondering if a
] Debian package of this beta software will be made available.  Anyone
] have any
] plans to make this available???

   I would really appreciate this as well.

   I use a card based on the S3 765 (not the 764), and this chip breaks
all the 3.1.2's prior to beta release "E".  Release "E" works well, i
havent tested "F".

Sebastian

---

From: David Gaudine <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 11:37:07 -0400 (EDT)

> plans to make this available???

I sure hope so; doesn't 3.1.2E expire Monday?

---

From: Michael Alan Dorman <[email-masked]>
Date: 29 Aug 1996 20:15:51 -0400

If one needs a server that is not included (or the version included is
inadequate) in the current non-Beta XFree86, you need only get the
_server_ (not the support files), unpack it into /usr/local, and
modify the first line in /etc/X11/Xserver to point to it.

X11 is a big package, and it seems a waste of time for the maintainer
to create packages for executables that are going to expire.  Better
to let him save his energy for the next release.

Mike.
--
Michael Alan Dorman                                   Head of Systems
[email-masked]            Louis Calder Memorial Library
(305) 243-5530                 University of Miami School of Medicine

---

From: "Randall Shutt" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 08:34:59 -0400

On Aug 29,  8:15pm, Michael Alan Dorman wrote:
> Subject: Re: XFree86 3.1.2F plans?

     Well, what of those that want to try the whole beta?  Its so radically
different, everything that I had in /etc/X11 got stomped on
my /etc/X11 is no more.  Alot of config stuff is different.  So what Im asking
is, how best could I have done this as to not completely fuck up the debian
package database (I was unable to dpkg -r alot of stuff due to fear of also
removing subsidiary packages that depended on X11).  So, now my main question
is, when they DO come out with a .deb or a .tar.gz with debian rules, how will
I best go about not totally stomping all over everything again, and also not
having unaccounted for files?  Thanks

-- 
                                            =======================
                                            Randall Shutt              
                                            RaveNet Systems, Inc.
                                            =======================

---

From: Shawn Asmussen <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 23:22:10 -0500 (CDT)

I agree. I would very much like to be running the F beta in its entirety,
and with Debian I do not know how to go about doing that and being
positive I am not breaking anything in the process. I realize that the
owner of this package does not plan to release any of the beta versions as
a Debian package while there is no source code, but I for one would VERY
much appreciate some sort of instruction on what all is neccessary in
order to take out the stock Debian XFree and replace it with one of the
beta versions without breaking anything in the process. I don't care if
the process is manual or automatic, I just want to be able to do it. Under
Slackware you just had to rip out the old and put in the new, and that was
basically it, but under Debian, with the Debianized XFree86, not even
knowing the extent really of how it differs from the standard XFree86, I
don't want to experiment with it. Perhaps just using dpkg to remove
XFree86 without removing any of the packages depend on it, and then
installing the beta version the normal way by just untarring it? That will
mean that the conf files and stuff will be in the non-debianized locations
and all, but what I don't know is whether or not this would break anything
else. Insight on this matter would be very much appreciated. Every time
I've brought this up in the past everybody just says to use the server
from the beta package, which I already am, but I would like to go beyond
that, and run the whole beta package. It seems like in this respect,
Debian is limiting my possibilities instead of making it easier to do what
I want with my system.

							Shawn Asmussen

---

From: "David C. Winters" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 11:22:28 -0400 (EDT)

On Fri, 30 Aug 1996, Shawn Asmussen wrote:
> beta versions without breaking anything in the process. 

	Okay.  Here's how I got X 3.1.2[D|E|F] running.  The background:
The machines I was given to work with have Mach64 chipsets and the 
hardware appears to be so blasted _new_ I couldn't get the .deb X to 
work.  Ditto the X11R6 implementation of XFree86.  I _had_ to go with the 
betas, Debian or not.
	This might make some people cringe, but I didn't "take out" the
Debian XFree--I didn't want to be forcing overrides of (what the machines
thinks would be) dependency problems for the next n+1 months--with it 
installed but more than a little broken, I pulled the "D" beta stuff into 
/usr/X11R6 and installed it right on top of the Debian X.  Because it was 
after D's expiration date when I did this, I then I pulled down the "E" 
stuff and upgraded.  Yesterday and Thursday, I pulled the "F" beta stuff 
down and upgraded again.  I'll continue to do this with each successive 
beta, until the gamma is released.
	This worked, first time.  To date, every time.  Knock on monitor.
It's wildy wrong from the Debian package database's point of view, but
that's life.  It's as messy as hell, but dpkg's ability notwithstanding,
sooner or later, hacks must be perpetuated in order to get things to work
and messy things will be effected.
	Things are going to become INTERESTING when the .deb version of
X11R6.1 has been released and its time to install it.  Will I find files
that aren't accounted for by the .deb version?  Will I find other random
weirdness?  I'll deal with that when I run across it.  

	I realize that the question of "how do I install the betas without
making a mess of the package database" is as important as "how do I get the
betas running" to the last two or three people who've asked.  I also 
realize that this message doesn't even attempt to answer it, because I don't 
have experience with the next phase of it (installing the .deb over the 
betas), and I apologize for this.

David [email-masked]
Office: 3503 WeH, x86720
MTFBWY