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Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

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Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#441
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wayland is approximately correct in this case and Windows and Mac are behind the security curve for bincompat reasons; window titles certainly leak PII. There should be a way to do it, but it is sensitive information.

Is there any documented attack on macOS or Windows that utilized window title information?

Never in history. If you have software running on your system attacking you then you have so many more issues than the adversary knowing your window titles.

Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is at least one area where both macos and windows suck - handling window focus. MacOS is regularly having trouble with tracking focus across multiple monitors and multi-window apps, making it unusable with keyboard only. And Windows just loves to steal focus in the most inappropriate moments.

> making it unusable with keyboard only oh no

"Oh no" is what you'd say after getting yourself some nice RSI and discovering that your hands hurt due to mouse or trackpad usage.

Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#443
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use a Mac, but have you ever used Windows? I mean, maybe you have, but if you are not fussy then at worst MacOS is quirky and Windows and Linux are identical and merely have different icons. If you pay a little bit of attention you will notice that on linux things seem more flexible and intuitive. If you are very finnicky, there is nothing that comes close to X11 window managers when it comes to window manage…

> I don't use a Mac, but have you ever used Windows? I have > I mean, maybe you have, but if you are not fussy then at worst MacOS is quirky and Windows and Linux are identical and merely have different icons. Neither have keybindings that make any sense. The other failures are secondary > If you pay a little bit of attention you will notice that on linux things seem more flexible and intuitive. Only for windows refu…

> Neither have keybindings that make any sense.

I can agree on Windows, but there is no such thing as "keybindings that don't make sense" on a proper Linux WM given that you can literally make up any keybindings you want. I mean this strictly from a window management perspective, yes applications running in those windows have often got their own idea of what good UX is, and this clashes. That's just a trade-off of Linux and to a lesser extent Windows not being complete walled gardens.

> that have never used Mac OSX

I have _used_ Mac OSX. It was and continues to be a confusing experience every time. I'm not saying that this would be the case if I bothered to learn it, but in all the times I have used it, I have failed to see any feature which would make me want to switch to it over i3 or which I feel like is missing in i3. Really it doesn't seem like there is any way of making it act remotely close to i3. Tiling as an option on top of whatever Mac OSX has is just as appealing to me as tiling on top of what Windows has.

> Unless you want to copy and paste, or have consistent key bindings cross applications, or take screenshots. Sure

I've never had copy and paste fail on Linux. The only issues I've had is with more modern applications not implementing the selection properly which is a feature you don't have on windows in the first place. No idea about Macs.

Screenshots have always and will continue to work (the way I want them to) because I can, as mentioned, bind any key to any action.

Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why someone decided title bar management is optional to window manager? Are you implying title bars should be mandatory in all WMs? I'm using DWM on X and I love that I have no title bars. If a program tries to force one on me I disable it or use something else if that's not possible.

It should be mandatory wherein the title bar is expected/desired by the user and not inherently the responsibility of each individual app by default. The wm should have the capability of drawing a titlebar for each app and do so by default unless the app opts to draw its own OR the user configures the system to not do so.

Yes, and that's how it's handled by the desktop environments I've used. Many programs have the option to use the system, program or no title bar. But should it be mandatory for every DE/WM or can the user choose one that satisfies whatever preferences the user has?

This way people like me still have the option to use window managers that don't have title bars. Title bars are useless for power users that know what program they're in and don't need them. To me they're in the way.

Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#445
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can perhaps install various weird third party things, but it does not come with it by default. A Window Manager and Window Server don't come by default with Linux... It's always an install-time option on the major distros. > even in the early 2000s, windows was so hilariously crappy that you had to make floppy disks to even get to install the thing. Windows in the early 2000s installed just fine without a flopp…

> Windows in the early 2000s installed just fine without a floppy directly from CD or PXE booting. when was it sata became the norm? im thinking circa 2001-ish, and what windows was latest here? im thinking windows xp. lets try remember, did windows xp include sata drivers on the installation medium?? oh wait, it didnt. There wasnt even ahci at the time, and windows xp didnt include a single sata driver for any of th…

The first iteration of SATA was announced in 2000 and released in 2003.

> desktop distributions generally come with a desktop environment default selected

You missed the point. "Linux", the kernel, does not come with a WS/WM.

Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#446
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can perhaps install various weird third party things, but it does not come with it by default. A Window Manager and Window Server don't come by default with Linux... It's always an install-time option on the major distros. > even in the early 2000s, windows was so hilariously crappy that you had to make floppy disks to even get to install the thing. Windows in the early 2000s installed just fine without a flopp…

Windows in early 2000s didn't even detect your early 2000s SATA drive Windows in early 2023 didn't even detect the network card it needed to download network card drivers. After changing mobos I needed to boot into linux to download network drivers for windows... Windows in early 2025 still uses SCSI emulation to talk with NVMe and only now the server part got a proper driver Windows in early 2025s still need virtio…

> Windows in early 2025 still uses SCSI emulation to talk with NVMe and only now the server part got a proper driver

You can enable this in Win 11 25H2. I have it enabled on my box. Doesn't seem to make that much of a difference, so it's more or less a moot point that it has been using SCSI emulation.

> Windows in early 2025s still need virtio driver injection to boot properly as a VM without IDE emulation

Interesting, in Hyper-V that's a non-issue.

Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#447
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people who absolutely have to have X11 this looks like a better plan than XLibre.

Long term if x11 starts having issues then probably https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayback/wayback will be it

IMO this is the real future of Wayland. It should always have been "mere plumbing" for X; the few processes that really need the isolation and security (e.g. screen lock) can be native, everything else should just keep using X, and the "in between" programs can mostly be X programs and implement some wayland protocols for the extra bits they need. Best of both worlds, no compat break.

Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#448
post #11

Pretty interesting approach to make an X server that is essentially "Wayland-like" (merging display server/compositor by default, isolated apps by default, no remoting of GLX, dropping legacy protocol features to the point of breaking compat with the core protocol, etc.). Not sure who this is for, but by itself it looks like a fairly reasonable set of choices.

Funny, the other day I started writing an X server of my own. While I appreciate and welcome this work, I still use and write software that makes use of old X draw calls, which I intended to incorporate into my server, unlike the author of this work. So I'm glad to see my efforts have not been made largely redundant!

Is it written in C? If it is and you open-sourced it, someone might port it to Plan 9.

Re: Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig

#450
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Here's two complaints: it's a security theater, and it's horribly balkanized by design. On X, I can run tools like xmacro or xdotool to automate the desktop to my heart's content. On Wayland, this isn't supported "for my security" and my remaining options boil down to either using a tool that works one level of abstraction lower (requires root and/or a daemon), or a tool made exclusively for my DE if one even exists.…

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