Mike A. Harris wrote: >On Wed, 5 Jun 2002, Thomas Dodd wrote: > > >I've had a few reports of this now for S3 hardware. There are a >few different issues here I believe. One, is that XFree86 4.2.0 >contains a new S3 driver which supports hardware previously >unsupported by 3.3.6. After discussing it with the author of >this new driver, I changed the default server to 4.2.0 for the >hardware that he (Ani Joshi) claimed was supported, after >confirming it by examining the driver source code. > > >Here is a deeper problem to solve: >There was never any intention of shipping XFree86 3.3.6 >indefinitely. It was only done, so that hopefully, as time moved >on, XFree86 4.x would mature enough to support more hardware, and >eventually 3.3.6 would become irrelevant because either: > > This needs to be documented. In the release notes. In the man pages. In the help system. And espicially in the configuration tools. When doing an upgrade/install mention a file on the CD, and ways to access it, so when a user has trouble with the new Xserver/driver they know where to look for help. The file(s) should mention any know problems, like some S3 cards don't work with the new 4.0 driver, some solutions (get a different card, use the 3.3.x server, or use the SVGA driver), and a place to look for updates to the file(@redhat.com). This helps for the windows converts who are accustomed to reboot, reinstall to fix problems. The installer can detect that the current version is already installed, and offer solutions instead of reinstalling. >The absolute best thing that any user experiencing problems can >do, is to report the problem directly to XFree86.org both via >their bug submission address, as well as to join their mailing >list and post the problem there (driver issues, etc.). > >Bug reports to: xfree86@xfree86.org >Mailing list: xpert@free86.org > > Mention this first in the help files. include a line like: If you cannot use the driver, report that to xfree86@xfree86.org and http://bugzilla.redhat.com. If you workaround the driver, report how, so it can be adressed in future releases. >Another thing I'm planning on doing is writing an XFree86 >troubleshooting and debugging HOWTO. A lot of display corruption > This is a good start. Just make it very visible, and maintained. If the documentation isn't visible/known it's useless. -Thomas
