The X Strike Force Roadmap For Lenny

The X.org X server is undergoing major changes for the 7.3 release. These include input and output hotplugging, both of which will enable dynamic automatic configuration. The current Debian packaging setup relies on a set of shell scripts driven by debconf prompts to configure the X server. This system is brittle and is completely inappropriate for dealing with the forthcoming changes to the server. Furthermore, this system was written during a time when the XFree86 project was the upstream provider of Debian's X Window System. Our current X.org upstream is is founded on a more open structure, which facilitates a radically different approach for Debian packaging and maintainance. This paper will describe the Debian X Strike Force's roadmap for the Lenny release, which takes in to account these changes. Instead of relying on custom software to configure the X server on a Debian system we will rely on the in-server capabilities provided by upstream to ensure a more consistent experience among different Linux distributions. This approach is critically dependant on the open structure of the X.org project.