Bug 9462 - Modern config.
Summary: Modern config.
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: xorg
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Server/General (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All Linux (All)
: high enhancement
Assignee: Xorg Project Team
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Reported: 2006-12-27 06:09 UTC by Olivier LAHAYE
Modified: 2006-12-28 07:57 UTC (History)
0 users

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Description Olivier LAHAYE 2006-12-27 06:09:04 UTC
Please could you enhance Xorg config with auto_probed secontions.        
        
I mean: now, you have to configure devices, monitors, inbut in a monolitic        
config file which is more than archaic compared to other GUIs (OsX /        
Windows / ...)        
        
It's a shame to have to start X -probeonly, parse the log and discover that        
the LCD panel of a laptop is 1400x900, and then put that mode in the config        
file in order to have X start.        
Even worse, sometimes, the config file has bad config regarding modes and fail        
to start while it has detected things that could allow some display (common        
example is the refresh rate incompatible with monitor). The most upsetting        
thing is when you have a correct mode defined, a monitor capable to handle        
this resolution, but the monitor section is wrong. The X probes the monitor,        
but drops the mode because it is incompatible with the section in the config        
file!!!        
        
Instead of putting fixed values why not probe things and use values if probe        
fails!        
Example of config file could be:        
===========================        
Section "Module"       
    Profile "Multimedia"       
    DontLoad "glx"       
EndSection       
       
Section "InputDevice"       
    Probe "all" # Arg could be: keyboards, mice, touchpads, ...)       
    Option "DefaultXkbLayout" "en_US" # Some USB kbd provides language, use      
this if language cannot be probbed.      
EndSection      
      
Section "Monitor"      
    Probe "all" # where to probe for screen. could be "dvi, vga, hdmi, svideo,   
internal external, ...   
    Subsection "default" # Used if no monitor detected      
        Identifier "Default"      
        VendorName "Generic"      
        ModelName "17inch CRT"      
        HorizSync 24.0-80.0      
        VertRefresh 56.0-85.0      
    EndSubsection     
EndSection     
     
Section "Device"     
    Probe "all" # arg could be: pci, agp, pcix, usb (yes there are usb vga     
cards), ...     
    Subsection "R128" # gfx board type (chipset name)  
        Driver "radeon" # force radeon driver instead of prefered ati for R128    
chipsets    
    EndSubsection    
EndSection    
    
Section "Screen"    
    Probe "all" # Could be vga, dvi, internal, external, ...    
    DefaultColorDepth 24    
    DefaultMode "best" # could be failsafe, vga, svga. Best would set to lcd    
panel resolution if detected monitor is an LCD or would chose best fitted    
resolution for a CRT screen (eg: 1280x1024 on 19 inche CRT).    
EndSection  
  
Section "ServerLayout"  
    Screen "IVM,4698" primary # Manufacturer,model number: if available, use 
it as main display (where xdm appears). 
    Screen "Seiko,DFP-0" RightOf "IVM,4698" # If IVM 4898 present, then place 
Internal flat panel right of the external screen, else use it as primary 
display. 
    InputDevice "Mices" "all" # use all, could be a list of detected mices 
    InputDevice "Keyboards" "all" # use all, could be a list of detected 
keyboards. 
EndSection 
=========================== 
In all above sections, Identifier would be generated from what was probed. 
Identifier for an usb mouse could be "Logitech,Optical Mouse" or "Generic PS2, 
3buttons" 
 
Of course this is a basic example, but the idea is here: having a default 
configuration that simply works by default using probing whenever possible. 
 
Most if not all detections routines are here. 
 
Even better would be to have one file per section. 
 
Having xdm read user preferences and apply them at login would be a must as 
well (screen layout, screen orientation, ...)
Comment 1 Daniel Stone 2006-12-27 08:10:27 UTC
yes, we have actually thought about this ... xorg-server 1.2.0 (from the 7.2
release) starts and works just fine without a config file.
Comment 2 Olivier LAHAYE 2006-12-28 07:57:54 UTC
You're great guys. This is wonderfull news (from my sysadmin point of view at 
least ;-) ). 
 
Xorg fork from XFree is one of the best fork I've ever seen (IMHO). 
 
Continue your great work, Xorg rocks :-) 


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