I haven't really gone through X11 before, but the API really is terrible. How have we managed to hang onto this monstrosity for so long? I get people have a fondness for something that has held up for so long, but the huge complexity and difficulty of hardware acceleration means it's time to throw it out. http://magcius.github.io/xplain/article/x-basics.html Head over there and drag the kitten around to see why. Now…
> but the API really is terrible Then use a different one, like xcb. Or even abandon it altogether and use Wayland. > How have we managed to hang onto this monstrosity for so long? Because it (largely) works. And 99% of people don't ever have to come into contact with it. > Now your average Linux desktop builds a lot on X11 to get it to perform how it does now If you mean "builds a lot on" you mean "ignores the vast…
The problem is that it is difficult to use xcb with GLX. I just say glXChooseFBConfig. And I consider using Xlib for these API functions - as suggested on http://xcb.freedesktop.org/opengl/ as an even larger mess.