X.org Server Clears Out Remnants for Supporting Old Compilers

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

X.Org Server’s recent cleanup of legacy code and support for obsolete compilers highlights how little active maintenance the non-XWayland parts of the X11 stack now receive, even as a few new contributors try to modernize it. Commenters debate whether such drive-by refactoring and style cleanups are helpful or a net burden on stretched maintainers, raising broader questions about how open-source projects should handle high-volume but low-impact contributions. The thread also situates this work in the larger shift toward Wayland, noting that most toolkit and driver development is moving away from X11, which many see as inevitable unless new maintainers step up.

Ad experience on the article site

  • Several commenters complain about auto‑play video ads with sound.
  • Others suggest ad blockers (e.g., uBlock and mobile options) as the practical remedy.

Trigger for the X.Org cleanups

  • A new contributor appeared on the X.Org mailing list, asking many questions and submitting cleanup patches.
  • Some see this as opportunistic or cosmetic work, not necessarily indicating a broader X.Org revival.
  • One patch removed a large block of unused code sitting around for 16 years.

Contributor behavior and OSS maintainability

  • Multiple comments describe experiences with this contributor across projects: many patches, frequent refactors, limited discussion beforehand.
  • Maintainers say this created code churn and extra review work for minor benefits.
  • Debate emerges: some criticize “backbiting” and argue such energy should be welcomed and mentored; maintainers counter that time and patience are limited and some contributors can be a net negative.

Maildir, mbox, IMAP, and Thunderbird

  • Long subthread on why a GUI client should support maildir directly.
  • Pro‑maildir: better for multiple readers, safer concurrency, easier use of CLI tools (e.g., grep), avoids huge monolithic mbox files.
  • Counterpoints: modern clients should rely on metadata databases; maildir‑first workflows are niche and old‑fashioned; running a local IMAP server over maildir is a good compromise.
  • Some frustration that Thunderbird’s maildir support is partial and buggy, which feels like an unfinished feature.

X.Org vs Wayland and project future

  • Some users prefer X11, saying every Wayland migration breaks small but important workflows (primary selection, drag‑and‑drop, cursor warping, certain tiling WMs).
  • Others note X.Org is effectively in maintenance mode: few active maintainers, toolkits gradually shifting focus to Wayland backends.
  • Argument that supporting both stacks costs time and money; given consensus that Wayland is architecturally better, X11 is seen by some as technical debt serving a shrinking audience.
  • Critics of this stance feel the Wayland camp is more interested in replacing X than in matching its feature set, and resent useful tools losing support.

Logo and branding tangent (Twitter’s “X”)

  • Brief side discussion mocking the rebranded social network’s “X” logo as uninspired and possibly derived from a simple Unicode character.

Old compilers and education

  • Anecdotes about an old Sun C++ compiler: non‑standard behavior, poor diagnostics, and strict grading around warnings allegedly caused many students to struggle or drop CS.