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Interesting to see the origins of X. Were there really 10 versions before it got to X11 and why did the version stop there?
by shmerl 5y ago
Interesting to see the origins of X. Were there really 10 versions before it got to X11 and why did the version stop there?
- paulrouget 5y ago11 is the protocol version. With multiple implementations. I think once extensions were introduced, they probably didn't need to extend the protocol.
- bboreham 5y agoYes. 11 is the version of the protocol, which didn’t change fundamentally after X11, so they moved to X11R2, R3, etc., and adding extensions.
- indeyets 5y agoIt happened really fast. X1 happened in may 1984, x6 in 1985 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System#Origin_and_early_development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System#Origin_and_ear...
- djur 5y agoYes. There were a number of rapidly developed versions up to X10 in 1986, which was the first one released under a free license (and thus the first one widely adopted). X11 was an overhaul of X10 intended to increase portability/compatibility, and also the first version developed as a community open source project rather than internally to MIT. That came out in 1987. As for why X11 was the last major version: the protocol has remained backwards compatible since then. Clients created decades ago can still operate with modern X servers. It's pretty cool! http://www.theresistornetwork.com/2013/12/a-testament-to-x11-backwards.html http://www.theresistornetwork.com/2013/12/a-testament-to-x11...
- peter303 5y agoSimilar to HTML: a lot of early evolution in the early releases. Then a long wait for version 5. Version 4 had a lot of neat stuff like math typesetting. Html balkanized during the commercial browser wars. Tim made a valiant effort to hold it together these past decades.