XFree86 4.0 VidMode not binary compatible

SDL Development
1

Marc Aurele La France wrote:

So what do we do now? I think we need someone to assume “ownership” of
this code and redesign the extension from scratch, which makes 3.3.* <->
4.0 compatibility not impossible, but unlikely.

Well, for our purposes, all we need it for is to switch the server into
fullscreen modes, and it works quite well for that purpose. I haven’t
checked to see if DGA 2.0 will do this without root permissions, but
since the vidmode extension still mostly works, we’ve been pretty happy
with it.

As far as vidmode incompatibility, I think I jumped the gun on this
one. What had happened was I had compiled the code with XFree86 3
headers and then installed XFree86 4 and relinked. Of course, this
doesn’t work. When I compile and link with the same set of headers and
libraries, everything appears to work properly. My apologies.–
-Sam Lantinga, Lead Programmer, Loki Entertainment Software

2

Sam Lantinga wrote:

As far as vidmode incompatibility, I think I jumped the gun on this
one. What had happened was I had compiled the code with XFree86 3
headers and then installed XFree86 4 and relinked. Of course, this
doesn’t work. When I compile and link with the same set of headers and
libraries, everything appears to work properly. My apologies.

Could you clarify on this point?

If I compile an app with XF86-3 headers and libraries, will the VidMode
extension work with XF86-4? And XF86-4 headers/libraries with XF86-3?

I somehow doubt that the latter will work (it would need to make up for
the improvements somehow, maybe by return error codes that could make
some unsuspecting application freak out), but if the former works, we
could keep around the header and the static library until 3.x becomes
outdated.–
Pierre Phaneuf
Systems Exorcist

3

Could you clarify on this point?

Sure.

If I compile an app with XF86-3 headers and libraries, will the VidMode
extension work with XF86-4?

Yes.

And XF86-4 headers/libraries with XF86-3?

No, the application will hang when querying the current video mode.

See ya!
-Sam Lantinga, Lead Programmer, Loki Entertainment Software

4

4.0a contains some DGA fixes that at least made ‘Heros III’ work; they’re
not perfect, but at least we can see what other apps might work now.

-keith