2. Summary of new features in X11R7.1

This is a sampling of the new features in X11R7.1. A more complete list of changes can be found in the ChangeLog file that is part of the X source tree.

• EXA enhancements The new EXA acceleration architecture, introduced in 7.0, has seen many updates for correctness and performance. It is still considered a work in progress; please report bugs in Bugzilla.
• kdrive integration The kdrive DDX has been integrated. This provides numerous low-footprint X servers for embedded systems, as well as several utility servers like Xephyr (an Xnest-like client) and Xsdl.
• Accelerated indirect GLX Indirect GLX clients can now take advantage of hardware acceleration using the DRI infrastructure. This allows for several exciting possibilities, including accelerated 3D display walls using Xdmx, and high-performance integration with compositing managers for modern desktop effects.
• New GLX extension: GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap This extension allows GLX clients to efficiently bind pixmaps - such as those provided by the Composite extension for redirected drawing - to OpenGL textures. This enables the compositing manager to bring the full force of OpenGL to bear on the problem of rendering the desktop.
• Other extension updates:
  • Fixes: New requests to show and hide the cursor
  • Composite: Added an overlay window to fix clipping issues
  • Screensaver: New request to reliably block screensaver activation
  • Xv: Initial support for redirecting video to offscreen surfaces, for eventual Composite integration
• OS support enhancements for Linux, Solaris, and most of the *BSD family
• Platform support enhancements for sparc64, ia64, x86, and amd64
• ... and the usual assortment of correctness and crash fixes.

2.1. Updated keyboard mappings

The requirement for XKB data can, in the modular tree, be satisfied either by the traditional data set (the 'xkbdata' module), or by the dataset from the xkeyboard-config project (the 'xkbdesc' module). xkbdesc has numerous improvements relative to xkbdata: layouts have been cleaned up for consistency and universal multi-layout support, some new layouts have added, and some layouts have changed names to be more straightforward and ISO compliant. Some setups will need adjustments in order to use xkbdesc. It is now strongly encouraged for all distributions to migrate to xkbdesc.

2.2. Video driver enhancements

Please see the ChangeLog files for individual drivers; there are far too many updates to list here.