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diff --git a/nx-X11/programs/Xserver/hw/dmx/doc/dmx.sgml b/nx-X11/programs/Xserver/hw/dmx/doc/dmx.sgml deleted file mode 100644 index ef66d1195..000000000 --- a/nx-X11/programs/Xserver/hw/dmx/doc/dmx.sgml +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2778 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE linuxdoc PUBLIC "-//XFree86//DTD linuxdoc//EN"> - <article> - - <!-- Title information --> - <title>Distributed Multihead X design - <author>Kevin E. Martin, David H. Dawes, and Rickard E. Faith - <date>29 June 2004 (created 25 July 2001) - <abstract> - This document covers the motivation, background, design, and - implementation of the distributed multihead X (DMX) system. It - is a living document and describes the current design and - implementation details of the DMX system. As the project - progresses, this document will be continually updated to reflect - the changes in the code and/or design. <it>Copyright 2001 by VA - Linux Systems, Inc., Fremont, California. Copyright 2001-2004 - by Red Hat, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina</it> - </abstract> - - <!-- Table of contents --> - <toc> - -<!-- Begin the document --> -<sect>Introduction - -<sect1>The Distributed Multihead X Server - -<p>Current Open Source multihead solutions are limited to a single -physical machine. A single X server controls multiple display devices, -which can be arranged as independent heads or unified into a single -desktop (with Xinerama). These solutions are limited to the number of -physical devices that can co-exist in a single machine (e.g., due to the -number of AGP/PCI slots available for graphics cards). Thus, large -tiled displays are not currently possible. The work described in this -paper will eliminate the requirement that the display devices reside in -the same physical machine. This will be accomplished by developing a -front-end proxy X server that will control multiple back-end X servers -that make up the large display. - -<p>The overall structure of the distributed multihead X (DMX) project is -as follows: A single front-end X server will act as a proxy to a set of -back-end X servers, which handle all of the visible rendering. X -clients will connect to the front-end server just as they normally would -to a regular X server. The front-end server will present an abstracted -view to the client of a single large display. This will ensure that all -standard X clients will continue to operate without modification -(limited, as always, by the visuals and extensions provided by the X -server). Clients that are DMX-aware will be able to use an extension to -obtain information about the back-end servers (e.g., for placement of -pop-up windows, window alignments by the window manager, etc.). - -<p>The architecture of the DMX server is divided into two main sections: -input (e.g., mouse and keyboard events) and output (e.g., rendering and -windowing requests). Each of these are describe briefly below, and the -rest of this design document will describe them in greater detail. - -<p>The DMX server can receive input from three general types of input -devices: "local" devices that are physically attached to the machine on -which DMX is running, "backend" devices that are physically attached to -one or more of the back-end X servers (and that generate events via the -X protocol stream from the backend), and "console" devices that can be -abstracted from any non-back-end X server. Backend and console devices -are treated differently because the pointer device on the back-end X -server also controls the location of the hardware X cursor. Full -support for XInput extension devices is provided. - -<p>Rendering requests will be accepted by the front-end server; however, -rendering to visible windows will be broken down as needed and sent to -the appropriate back-end server(s) via X11 library calls for actual -rendering. The basic framework will follow a Xnest-style approach. GC -state will be managed in the front-end server and sent to the -appropriate back-end server(s) as required. Pixmap rendering will (at -least initially) be handled by the front-end X server. Windowing -requests (e.g., ordering, mapping, moving, etc.) will handled in the -front-end server. If the request requires a visible change, the -windowing operation will be translated into requests for the appropriate -back-end server(s). Window state will be mirrored in the back-end -server(s) as needed. - -<sect1>Layout of Paper - -<p>The next section describes the general development plan that was -actually used for implementation. The final section discusses -outstanding issues at the conclusion of development. The first appendix -provides low-level technical detail that may be of interest to those -intimately familiar with the X server architecture. The final appendix -describes the four phases of development that were performed during the -first two years of development. - -<p>The final year of work was divided into 9 tasks that are not -described in specific sections of this document. The major tasks during -that time were the enhancement of the reconfiguration ability added in -Phase IV, addition of support for a dynamic number of back-end displays -(instead of a hard-coded limit), and the support for back-end display -and input removal and addition. This work is mentioned in this paper, -but is not covered in detail. - -<!-- ============================================================ --> -<sect>Development plan - -<p>This section describes the development plan from approximately June -2001 through July 2003. - -<sect1>Bootstrap code - -<p>To allow for rapid development of the DMX server by multiple -developers during the first development stage, the problem will be -broken down into three tasks: the overall DMX framework, back-end -rendering services and input device handling services. However, before -the work begins on these tasks, a simple framework that each developer -could use was implemented to bootstrap the development effort. This -framework renders to a single back-end server and provides dummy input -devices (i.e., the keyboard and mouse). The simple back-end rendering -service was implemented using the shadow framebuffer support currently -available in the XFree86 environment. - -<p>Using this bootstrapping framework, each developer has been able to -work on each of the tasks listed above independently as follows: the -framework will be extended to handle arbitrary back-end server -configurations; the back-end rendering services will be transitioned to -the more efficient Xnest-style implementation; and, an input device -framework to handle various input devices via the input extension will -be developed. - -<p>Status: The boot strap code is complete. <!-- August 2001 --> - - -<sect1>Input device handling - -<p>An X server (including the front-end X server) requires two core -input devices -- a keyboard and a pointer (mouse). These core devices -are handled and required by the core X11 protocol. Additional types of -input devices may be attached and utilized via the XInput extension. -These are usually referred to as ``XInput extension devices'', - -<p>There are some options as to how the front-end X server gets its core -input devices: - -<enum> - <item>Local Input. The physical input devices (e.g., keyboard and - mouse) can be attached directly to the front-end X server. In this - case, the keyboard and mouse on the machine running the front-end X - server will be used. The front-end will have drivers to read the - raw input from those devices and convert it into the required X - input events (e.g., key press/release, pointer button press/release, - pointer motion). The front-end keyboard driver will keep track of - keyboard properties such as key and modifier mappings, autorepeat - state, keyboard sound and led state. Similarly the front-end - pointer driver will keep track if pointer properties such as the - button mapping and movement acceleration parameters. With this - option, input is handled fully in the front-end X server, and the - back-end X servers are used in a display-only mode. This option was - implemented and works for a limited number of Linux-specific - devices. Adding additional local input devices for other - architectures is expected to be relatively simple. - - <p>The following options are available for implementing local input - devices: - - <enum> - <item>The XFree86 X server has modular input drivers that could - be adapted for this purpose. The mouse driver supports a wide - range of mouse types and interfaces, as well as a range of - Operating System platforms. The keyboard driver in XFree86 is - not currently as modular as the mouse driver, but could be made - so. The XFree86 X server also has a range of other input - drivers for extended input devices such as tablets and touch - screens. Unfortunately, the XFree86 drivers are generally - complex, often simultaneously providing support for multiple - devices across multiple architectures; and rely so heavily on - XFree86-specific helper-functions, that this option was not - pursued. - - - <item>The <tt/kdrive/ X server in XFree86 has built-in drivers that - support PS/2 mice and keyboard under Linux. The mouse driver - can indirectly handle other mouse types if the Linux utility - <tt/gpm/ is used as to translate the native mouse protocol into - PS/2 mouse format. These drivers could be adapted and built in - to the front-end X server if this range of hardware and OS - support is sufficient. While much simpler than the XFree86 - drivers, the <tt/kdrive/ drivers were not used for the DMX - implementation. - - <item>Reimplementation of keyboard and mouse drivers from - scratch for the DMX framework. Because keyboard and mouse - drivers are relatively trivial to implement, this pathway was - selected. Other drivers in the X source tree were referenced, - and significant contributions from other drivers are noted in - the DMX source code. - </enum> - - <item>Backend Input. The front-end can make use of the core input - devices attached to one or more of the back-end X servers. Core - input events from multiple back-ends are merged into a single input - event stream. This can work sanely when only a single set of input - devices is used at any given time. The keyboard and pointer state - will be handled in the front-end, with changes propagated to the - back-end servers as needed. This option was implemented and works - well. Because the core pointer on a back-end controls the hardware - mouse on that back-end, core pointers cannot be treated as XInput - extension devices. However, all back-end XInput extensions devices - can be mapped to either DMX core or DMX XInput extension devices. - - <item>Console Input. The front-end server could create a console - window that is displayed on an X server independent of the back-end - X servers. This console window could display things like the - physical screen layout, and the front-end could get its core input - events from events delivered to the console window. This option was - implemented and works well. To help the human navigate, window - outlines are also displayed in the console window. Further, console - windows can be used as either core or XInput extension devices. - - <item>Other options were initially explored, but they were all - partial subsets of the options listed above and, hence, are - irrelevant. - -</enum> - -<p>Although extended input devices are not specifically mentioned in the -Distributed X requirements, the options above were all implemented so -that XInput extension devices were supported. - -<p>The bootstrap code (Xdmx) had dummy input devices, and these are -still supported in the final version. These do the necessary -initialization to satisfy the X server's requirements for core pointer -and keyboard devices, but no input events are ever generated. - -<p>Status: The input code is complete. Because of the complexity of the -XFree86 input device drivers (and their heavy reliance on XFree86 -infrastructure), separate low-level device drivers were implemented for -Xdmx. The following kinds of drivers are supported (in general, the -devices can be treated arbitrarily as "core" input devices or as XInput -"extension" devices; and multiple instances of different kinds of -devices can be simultaneously available): - <enum> - <item> A "dummy" device drive that never generates events. - - <item> "Local" input is from the low-level hardware on which the - Xdmx binary is running. This is the only area where using the - XFree86 driver infrastructure would have been helpful, and then - only partially, since good support for generic USB devices does - not yet exist in XFree86 (in any case, XFree86 and kdrive driver - code was used where possible). Currently, the following local - devices are supported under Linux (porting to other operating - systems should be fairly straightforward): - <itemize> - <item>Linux keyboard - <item>Linux serial mouse (MS) - <item>Linux PS/2 mouse - <item>USB keyboard - <item>USB mouse - <item>USB generic device (e.g., joystick, gamepad, etc.) - </itemize> - - <item> "Backend" input is taken from one or more of the back-end - displays. In this case, events are taken from the back-end X - server and are converted to Xdmx events. Care must be taken so - that the sprite moves properly on the display from which input - is being taken. - - <item> "Console" input is taken from an X window that Xdmx - creates on the operator's display (i.e., on the machine running - the Xdmx binary). When the operator's mouse is inside the - console window, then those events are converted to Xdmx events. - Several special features are available: the console can display - outlines of windows that are on the Xdmx display (to facilitate - navigation), the cursor can be confined to the console, and a - "fine" mode can be activated to allow very precise cursor - positioning. - </enum> - - -<!-- May 2002; July 2003 --> - -<sect1>Output device handling - -<p>The output of the DMX system displays rendering and windowing -requests across multiple screens. The screens are typically arranged in -a grid such that together they represent a single large display. - -<p>The output section of the DMX code consists of two parts. The first -is in the front-end proxy X server (Xdmx), which accepts client -connections, manages the windows, and potentially renders primitives but -does not actually display any of the drawing primitives. The second -part is the back-end X server(s), which accept commands from the -front-end server and display the results on their screens. - -<sect2>Initialization - -<p>The DMX front-end must first initialize its screens by connecting to -each of the back-end X servers and collecting information about each of -these screens. However, the information collected from the back-end X -servers might be inconsistent. Handling these cases can be difficult -and/or inefficient. For example, a two screen system has one back-end X -server running at 16bpp while the second is running at 32bpp. -Converting rendering requests (e.g., XPutImage() or XGetImage() -requests) to the appropriate bit depth can be very time consuming. -Analyzing these cases to determine how or even if it is possible to -handle them is required. The current Xinerama code handles many of -these cases (e.g., in PanoramiXConsolidate()) and will be used as a -starting point. In general, the best solution is to use homogeneous X -servers and display devices. Using back-end servers with the same depth -is a requirement of the final DMX implementation. - -<p>Once this screen consolidation is finished, the relative position of -each back-end X server's screen in the unified screen is initialized. A -full-screen window is opened on each of the back-end X servers, and the -cursor on each screen is turned off. The final DMX implementation can -also make use of a partial-screen window, or multiple windows per -back-end screen. - -<sect2>Handling rendering requests - -<p>After initialization, X applications connect to the front-end server. -There are two possible implementations of how rendering and windowing -requests are handled in the DMX system: - -<enum> - <item>A shadow framebuffer is used in the front-end server as the - render target. In this option, all protocol requests are completely - handled in the front-end server. All state and resources are - maintained in the front-end including a shadow copy of the entire - framebuffer. The framebuffers attached to the back-end servers are - updated by XPutImage() calls with data taken directly from the - shadow framebuffer. - - <p>This solution suffers from two main problems. First, it does not - take advantage of any accelerated hardware available in the system. - Second, the size of the XPutImage() calls can be quite large and - thus will be limited by the bandwidth available. - - <p>The initial DMX implementation used a shadow framebuffer by - default. - - <item>Rendering requests are sent to each back-end server for - handling (as is done in the Xnest server described above). In this - option, certain protocol requests are handled in the front-end - server and certain requests are repackaged and then sent to the - back-end servers. The framebuffer is distributed across the - multiple back-end servers. Rendering to the framebuffer is handled - on each back-end and can take advantage of any acceleration - available on the back-end servers' graphics display device. State - is maintained both in the front and back-end servers. - - <p>This solution suffers from two main drawbacks. First, protocol - requests are sent to all back-end servers -- even those that will - completely clip the rendering primitive -- which wastes bandwidth - and processing time. Second, state is maintained both in the front- - and back-end servers. These drawbacks are not as severe as in - option 1 (above) and can either be overcome through optimizations or - are acceptable. Therefore, this option will be used in the final - implementation. - - <p>The final DMX implementation defaults to this mechanism, but also - supports the shadow framebuffer mechanism. Several optimizations - were implemented to eliminate the drawbacks of the default - mechanism. These optimizations are described the section below and - in Phase II of the Development Results (see appendix). - -</enum> - -<p>Status: Both the shadow framebuffer and Xnest-style code is complete. -<!-- May 2002 --> - - -<sect1>Optimizing DMX - -<p>Initially, the Xnest-style solution's performance will be measured -and analyzed to determine where the performance bottlenecks exist. -There are four main areas that will be addressed. - -<p>First, to obtain reasonable interactivity with the first development -phase, XSync() was called after each protocol request. The XSync() -function flushes any pending protocol requests. It then waits for the -back-end to process the request and send a reply that the request has -completed. This happens with each back-end server and performance -greatly suffers. As a result of the way XSync() is called in the first -development phase, the batching that the X11 library performs is -effectively defeated. The XSync() call usage will be analyzed and -optimized by batching calls and performing them at regular intervals, -except where interactivity will suffer (e.g., on cursor movements). - -<p>Second, the initial Xnest-style solution described above sends the -repackaged protocol requests to all back-end servers regardless of -whether or not they would be completely clipped out. The requests that -are trivially rejected on the back-end server wastes the limited -bandwidth available. By tracking clipping changes in the DMX X server's -windowing code (e.g., by opening, closing, moving or resizing windows), -we can determine whether or not back-end windows are visible so that -trivial tests in the front-end server's GC ops drawing functions can -eliminate these unnecessary protocol requests. - -<p>Third, each protocol request will be analyzed to determine if it is -possible to break the request into smaller pieces at display boundaries. -The initial ones to be analyzed are put and get image requests since -they will require the greatest bandwidth to transmit data between the -front and back-end servers. Other protocol requests will be analyzed -and those that will benefit from breaking them into smaller requests -will be implemented. - -<p>Fourth, an extension is being considered that will allow font glyphs to -be transferred from the front-end DMX X server to each back-end server. -This extension will permit the front-end to handle all font requests and -eliminate the requirement that all back-end X servers share the exact -same fonts as the front-end server. We are investigating the -feasibility of this extension during this development phase. - -<p>Other potential optimizations will be determined from the performance -analysis. - -<p>Please note that in our initial design, we proposed optimizing BLT -operations (e.g., XCopyArea() and window moves) by developing an -extension that would allow individual back-end servers to directly copy -pixel data to other back-end servers. This potential optimization was -in response to the simple image movement implementation that required -potentially many calls to GetImage() and PutImage(). However, the -current Xinerama implementation handles these BLT operations -differently. Instead of copying data to and from screens, they generate -expose events -- just as happens in the case when a window is moved from -off a screen to on screen. This approach saves the limited bandwidth -available between front and back-end servers and is being standardized -with Xinerama. It also eliminates the potential setup problems and -security issues resulting from having each back-end server open -connections to all other back-end servers. Therefore, we suggest -accepting Xinerama's expose event solution. - -<p>Also note that the approach proposed in the second and third -optimizations might cause backing store algorithms in the back-end to be -defeated, so a DMX X server configuration flag will be added to disable -these optimizations. - -<p>Status: The optimizations proposed above are complete. It was -determined that the using the xfs font server was sufficient and -creating a new mechanism to pass glyphs was redundant; therefore, the -fourth optimization proposed above was not included in DMX. -<!-- September 2002 --> - - -<sect1>DMX X extension support - -<p>The DMX X server keeps track of all the windowing information on the -back-end X servers, but does not currently export this information to -any client applications. An extension will be developed to pass the -screen information and back-end window IDs to DMX-aware clients. These -clients can then use this information to directly connect to and render -to the back-end windows. Bypassing the DMX X server allows DMX-aware -clients to break up complex rendering requests on their own and send -them directly to the windows on the back-end server's screens. An -example of a client that can make effective use of this extension is -Chromium. - -<p>Status: The extension, as implemented, is fully documented in -"Client-to-Server DMX Extension to the X Protocol". Future changes -might be required based on feedback and other proposed enhancements to -DMX. Currently, the following facilities are supported: -<enum> - <item> - Screen information (clipping rectangle for each screen relative - to the virtual screen) - <item> - Window information (window IDs and clipping information for each - back-end window that corresponds to each DMX window) - <item> - Input device information (mappings from DMX device IDs to - back-end device IDs) - <item> - Force window creation (so that a client can override the - server-side lazy window creation optimization) - <item> - Reconfiguration (so that a client can request that a screen - position be changed) - <item> - Addition and removal of back-end servers and back-end and - console inputs. -</enum> -<!-- September 2002; July 2003 --> - - -<sect1>Common X extension support - -<p>The XInput, XKeyboard and Shape extensions are commonly used -extensions to the base X11 protocol. XInput allows multiple and -non-standard input devices to be accessed simultaneously. These input -devices can be connected to either the front-end or back-end servers. -XKeyboard allows much better keyboard mappings control. Shape adds -support for arbitrarily shaped windows and is used by various window -managers. Nearly all potential back-end X servers make these extensions -available, and support for each one will be added to the DMX system. - -<p>In addition to the extensions listed above, support for the X -Rendering extension (Render) is being developed. Render adds digital -image composition to the rendering model used by the X Window System. -While this extension is still under development by Keith Packard of HP, -support for the current version will be added to the DMX system. - -<p>Support for the XTest extension was added during the first -development phase. - -<!-- WARNING: this list is duplicated in the Phase IV discussion --> -<p>Status: The following extensions are supported and are discussed in -more detail in Phase IV of the Development Results (see appendix): - BIG-REQUESTS, - DEC-XTRAP, - DMX, - DPMS, - Extended-Visual-Information, - GLX, - LBX, - RECORD, - RENDER, - SECURITY, - SHAPE, - SYNC, - X-Resource, - XC-APPGROUP, - XC-MISC, - XFree86-Bigfont, - XINERAMA, - XInputExtension, - XKEYBOARD, and - XTEST. -<!-- November 2002; updated February 2003, July 2003 --> - -<sect1>OpenGL support - -<p>OpenGL support using the Mesa code base exists in XFree86 release 4 -and later. Currently, the direct rendering infrastructure (DRI) -provides accelerated OpenGL support for local clients and unaccelerated -OpenGL support (i.e., software rendering) is provided for non-local -clients. - -<p>The single head OpenGL support in XFree86 4.x will be extended to use -the DMX system. When the front and back-end servers are on the same -physical hardware, it is possible to use the DRI to directly render to -the back-end servers. First, the existing DRI will be extended to -support multiple display heads, and then to support the DMX system. -OpenGL rendering requests will be direct rendering to each back-end X -server. The DRI will request the screen layout (either from the -existing Xinerama extension or a DMX-specific extension). Support for -synchronized swap buffers will also be added (on hardware that supports -it). Note that a single front-end server with a single back-end server -on the same physical machine can emulate accelerated indirect rendering. - -<p>When the front and back-end servers are on different physical -hardware or are using non-XFree86 4.x X servers, a mechanism to render -primitives across the back-end servers will be provided. There are -several options as to how this can be implemented. - -<enum> - <item>The existing OpenGL support in each back-end server can be - used by repackaging rendering primitives and sending them to each - back-end server. This option is similar to the unoptimized - Xnest-style approach mentioned above. Optimization of this solution - is beyond the scope of this project and is better suited to other - distributed rendering systems. - - <item>Rendering to a pixmap in the front-end server using the - current XFree86 4.x code, and then displaying to the back-ends via - calls to XPutImage() is another option. This option is similar to - the shadow frame buffer approach mentioned above. It is slower and - bandwidth intensive, but has the advantage that the back-end servers - are not required to have OpenGL support. -</enum> - -<p>These, and other, options will be investigated in this phase of the -work. - -<p>Work by others have made Chromium DMX-aware. Chromium will use the -DMX X protocol extension to obtain information about the back-end -servers and will render directly to those servers, bypassing DMX. - -<p>Status: OpenGL support by the glxProxy extension was implemented by -SGI and has been integrated into the DMX code base. -<!-- May 2003--> - - -<!-- ============================================================ --> -<sect>Current issues - -<p>In this sections the current issues are outlined that require further -investigation. - -<sect1>Fonts - -<p>The font path and glyphs need to be the same for the front-end and -each of the back-end servers. Font glyphs could be sent to the back-end -servers as necessary but this would consume a significant amount of -available bandwidth during font rendering for clients that use many -different fonts (e.g., Netscape). Initially, the font server (xfs) will -be used to provide the fonts to both the front-end and back-end servers. -Other possibilities will be investigated during development. - -<sect1>Zero width rendering primitives - -<p>To allow pixmap and on-screen rendering to be pixel perfect, all -back-end servers must render zero width primitives exactly the same as -the front-end renders the primitives to pixmaps. For those back-end -servers that do not exactly match, zero width primitives will be -automatically converted to one width primitives. This can be handled in -the front-end server via the GC state. - -<sect1>Output scaling - -<p>With very large tiled displays, it might be difficult to read the -information on the standard X desktop. In particular, the cursor can be -easily lost and fonts could be difficult to read. Automatic primitive -scaling might prove to be very useful. We will investigate the -possibility of scaling the cursor and providing a set of alternate -pre-scaled fonts to replace the standard fonts that many applications -use (e.g., fixed). Other options for automatic scaling will also be -investigated. - -<sect1>Per-screen colormaps - -<p>Each screen's default colormap in the set of back-end X servers -should be able to be adjusted via a configuration utility. This support -is would allow the back-end screens to be calibrated via custom gamma -tables. On 24-bit systems that support a DirectColor visual, this type -of correction can be accommodated. One possible implementation would be -to advertise to X client of the DMX server a TrueColor visual while -using DirectColor visuals on the back-end servers to implement this type -of color correction. Other options will be investigated. - -<!-- ============================================================ --> -<appendix> - -<sect>Background - -<p>This section describes the existing Open Source architectures that -can be used to handle multiple screens and upon which this development -project is based. This section was written before the implementation -was finished, and may not reflect actual details of the implementation. -It is left for historical interest only. - -<sect1>Core input device handling - -<p>The following is a description of how core input devices are handled -by an X server. - -<sect2>InitInput() - -<p>InitInput() is a DDX function that is called at the start of each -server generation from the X server's main() function. Its purpose is -to determine what input devices are connected to the X server, register -them with the DIX and MI layers, and initialize the input event queue. -InitInput() does not have a return value, but the X server will abort if -either a core keyboard device or a core pointer device are not -registered. Extended input (XInput) devices can also be registered in -InitInput(). - -<p>InitInput() usually has implementation specific code to determine -which input devices are available. For each input device it will be -using, it calls AddInputDevice(): - -<descrip> -<tag/AddInputDevice()/ This DIX function allocates the device structure, -registers a callback function (which handles device init, close, on and -off), and returns the input handle, which can be treated as opaque. It -is called once for each input device. -</descrip> - -<p>Once input handles for core keyboard and core pointer devices have -been obtained from AddInputDevice(), they are registered as core devices -by calling RegisterPointerDevice() and RegisterKeyboardDevice(). Each -of these should be called once. If both core devices are not -registered, then the X server will exit with a fatal error when it -attempts to start the input devices in InitAndStartDevices(), which is -called directly after InitInput() (see below). - -<descrip> -<tag/Register{Pointer,Keyboard}Device()/ These DIX functions take a -handle returned from AddInputDevice() and initialize the core input -device fields in inputInfo, and initialize the input processing and grab -functions for each core input device. -</descrip> - -<p>The core pointer device is then registered with the miPointer code -(which does the high level cursor handling). While this registration -is not necessary for correct miPointer operation in the current XFree86 -code, it is still done mostly for compatibility reasons. - -<descrip> -<tag/miRegisterPointerDevice()/ This MI function registers the core -pointer's input handle with with the miPointer code. -</descrip> - -<p>The final part of InitInput() is the initialization of the input -event queue handling. In most cases, the event queue handling provided -in the MI layer is used. The primary XFree86 X server uses its own -event queue handling to support some special cases related to the XInput -extension and the XFree86-specific DGA extension. For our purposes, the -MI event queue handling should be suitable. It is initialized by -calling mieqInit(): - -<descrip> -<tag/mieqInit()/ This MI function initializes the MI event queue for the -core devices, and is passed the public component of the input handles -for the two core devices. -</descrip> - -<p>If a wakeup handler is required to deliver synchronous input -events, it can be registered here by calling the DIX function -RegisterBlockAndWakeupHandlers(). (See the devReadInput() description -below.) - -<sect2>InitAndStartDevices() - -<p>InitAndStartDevices() is a DIX function that is called immediately -after InitInput() from the X server's main() function. Its purpose is -to initialize each input device that was registered with -AddInputDevice(), enable each input device that was successfully -initialized, and create the list of enabled input devices. Once each -registered device is processed in this way, the list of enabled input -devices is checked to make sure that both a core keyboard device and -core pointer device were registered and successfully enabled. If not, -InitAndStartDevices() returns failure, and results in the the X server -exiting with a fatal error. - -<p>Each registered device is initialized by calling its callback -(dev->deviceProc) with the DEVICE_INIT argument: - -<descrip> -<tag/(*dev->deviceProc)(dev, DEVICE_INIT)/ This function initializes the -device structs with core information relevant to the device. - -<p>For pointer devices, this means specifying the number of buttons, -default button mapping, the function used to get motion events (usually -miPointerGetMotionEvents()), the function used to change/control the -core pointer motion parameters (acceleration and threshold), and the -motion buffer size. - -<p>For keyboard devices, this means specifying the keycode range, -default keycode to keysym mapping, default modifier mapping, and the -functions used to sound the keyboard bell and modify/control the -keyboard parameters (LEDs, bell pitch and duration, key click, which -keys are auto-repeating, etc). -</descrip> - -<p>Each initialized device is enabled by calling EnableDevice(): - -<descrip> -<tag/EnableDevice()/ EnableDevice() calls the device callback with -DEVICE_ON: - <descrip> - <tag/(*dev->deviceProc)(dev, DEVICE_ON)/ This typically opens and - initializes the relevant physical device, and when appropriate, - registers the device's file descriptor (or equivalent) as a valid - input source. - </descrip> - - <p>EnableDevice() then adds the device handle to the X server's - global list of enabled devices. -</descrip> - -<p>InitAndStartDevices() then verifies that a valid core keyboard and -pointer has been initialized and enabled. It returns failure if either -are missing. - -<sect2>devReadInput() - -<p>Each device will have some function that gets called to read its -physical input. These may be called in a number of different ways. In -the case of synchronous I/O, they will be called from a DDX -wakeup-handler that gets called after the server detects that new input is -available. In the case of asynchronous I/O, they will be called from a -(SIGIO) signal handler triggered when new input is available. This -function should do at least two things: make sure that input events get -enqueued, and make sure that the cursor gets moved for motion events -(except if these are handled later by the driver's own event queue -processing function, which cannot be done when using the MI event queue -handling). - -<p>Events are queued by calling mieqEnqueue(): - -<descrip> -<tag/mieqEnqueue()/ This MI function is used to add input events to the -event queue. It is simply passed the event to be queued. -</descrip> - -<p>The cursor position should be updated when motion events are -enqueued, by calling either miPointerAbsoluteCursor() or -miPointerDeltaCursor(): - -<descrip> -<tag/miPointerAbsoluteCursor()/ This MI function is used to move the -cursor to the absolute coordinates provided. -<tag/miPointerDeltaCursor()/ This MI function is used to move the cursor -relative to its current position. -</descrip> - -<sect2>ProcessInputEvents() - -<p>ProcessInputEvents() is a DDX function that is called from the X -server's main dispatch loop when new events are available in the input -event queue. It typically processes the enqueued events, and updates -the cursor/pointer position. It may also do other DDX-specific event -processing. - -<p>Enqueued events are processed by mieqProcessInputEvents() and passed -to the DIX layer for transmission to clients: - -<descrip> -<tag/mieqProcessInputEvents()/ This function processes each event in the -event queue, and passes it to the device's input processing function. -The DIX layer provides default functions to do this processing, and they -handle the task of getting the events passed back to the relevant -clients. -<tag/miPointerUpdate()/ This function resynchronized the cursor position -with the new pointer position. It also takes care of moving the cursor -between screens when needed in multi-head configurations. -</descrip> - - -<sect2>DisableDevice() - -<p>DisableDevice is a DIX function that removes an input device from the -list of enabled devices. The result of this is that the device no -longer generates input events. The device's data structures are kept in -place, and disabling a device like this can be reversed by calling -EnableDevice(). DisableDevice() may be called from the DDX when it is -desirable to do so (e.g., the XFree86 server does this when VT -switching). Except for special cases, this is not normally called for -core input devices. - -<p>DisableDevice() calls the device's callback function with -<tt/DEVICE_OFF/: - -<descrip> -<tag/(*dev->deviceProc)(dev, DEVICE_OFF)/ This typically closes the -relevant physical device, and when appropriate, unregisters the device's -file descriptor (or equivalent) as a valid input source. -</descrip> - -<p>DisableDevice() then removes the device handle from the X server's -global list of enabled devices. - - -<sect2>CloseDevice() - -<p>CloseDevice is a DIX function that removes an input device from the -list of available devices. It disables input from the device and frees -all data structures associated with the device. This function is -usually called from CloseDownDevices(), which is called from main() at -the end of each server generation to close all input devices. - -<p>CloseDevice() calls the device's callback function with -<tt/DEVICE_CLOSE/: - -<descrip> -<tag/(*dev->deviceProc)(dev, DEVICE_CLOSE)/ This typically closes the -relevant physical device, and when appropriate, unregisters the device's -file descriptor (or equivalent) as a valid input source. If any device -specific data structures were allocated when the device was initialized, -they are freed here. -</descrip> - -<p>CloseDevice() then frees the data structures that were allocated -for the device when it was registered/initialized. - - -<sect2>LegalModifier() -<!-- dmx/dmxinput.c - currently returns TRUE --> -<p>LegalModifier() is a required DDX function that can be used to -restrict which keys may be modifier keys. This seems to be present for -historical reasons, so this function should simply return TRUE -unconditionally. - - -<sect1>Output handling - -<p>The following sections describe the main functions required to -initialize, use and close the output device(s) for each screen in the X -server. - -<sect2>InitOutput() - -<p>This DDX function is called near the start of each server generation -from the X server's main() function. InitOutput()'s main purpose is to -initialize each screen and fill in the global screenInfo structure for -each screen. It is passed three arguments: a pointer to the screenInfo -struct, which it is to initialize, and argc and argv from main(), which -can be used to determine additional configuration information. - -<p>The primary tasks for this function are outlined below: - -<enum> - <item><bf/Parse configuration info:/ The first task of InitOutput() - is to parses any configuration information from the configuration - file. In addition to the XF86Config file, other configuration - information can be taken from the command line. The command line - options can be gathered either in InitOutput() or earlier in the - ddxProcessArgument() function, which is called by - ProcessCommandLine(). The configuration information determines the - characteristics of the screen(s). For example, in the XFree86 X - server, the XF86Config file specifies the monitor information, the - screen resolution, the graphics devices and slots in which they are - located, and, for Xinerama, the screens' layout. - - <item><bf/Initialize screen info:/ The next task is to initialize - the screen-dependent internal data structures. For example, part of - what the XFree86 X server does is to allocate its screen and pixmap - private indices, probe for graphics devices, compare the probed - devices to the ones listed in the XF86Config file, and add the ones that - match to the internal xf86Screens[] structure. - - <item><bf/Set pixmap formats:/ The next task is to initialize the - screenInfo's image byte order, bitmap bit order and bitmap scanline - unit/pad. The screenInfo's pixmap format's depth, bits per pixel - and scanline padding is also initialized at this stage. - - <item><bf/Unify screen info:/ An optional task that might be done at - this stage is to compare all of the information from the various - screens and determines if they are compatible (i.e., if the set of - screens can be unified into a single desktop). This task has - potential to be useful to the DMX front-end server, if Xinerama's - PanoramiXConsolidate() function is not sufficient. -</enum> - -<p>Once these tasks are complete, the valid screens are known and each -of these screens can be initialized by calling AddScreen(). - -<sect2>AddScreen() - -<p>This DIX function is called from InitOutput(), in the DDX layer, to -add each new screen to the screenInfo structure. The DDX screen -initialization function and command line arguments (i.e., argc and argv) -are passed to it as arguments. - -<p>This function first allocates a new Screen structure and any privates -that are required. It then initializes some of the fields in the Screen -struct and sets up the pixmap padding information. Finally, it calls -the DDX screen initialization function ScreenInit(), which is described -below. It returns the number of the screen that were just added, or -1 -if there is insufficient memory to add the screen or if the DDX screen -initialization fails. - -<sect2>ScreenInit() - -<p>This DDX function initializes the rest of the Screen structure with -either generic or screen-specific functions (as necessary). It also -fills in various screen attributes (e.g., width and height in -millimeters, black and white pixel values). - -<p>The screen init function usually calls several functions to perform -certain screen initialization functions. They are described below: - -<descrip> -<tag/{mi,*fb}ScreenInit()/ The DDX layer's ScreenInit() function usually -calls another layer's ScreenInit() function (e.g., miScreenInit() or -fbScreenInit()) to initialize the fallbacks that the DDX driver does not -specifically handle. - -<p>After calling another layer's ScreenInit() function, any -screen-specific functions either wrap or replace the other layer's -function pointers. If a function is to be wrapped, each of the old -function pointers from the other layer are stored in a screen private -area. Common functions to wrap are CloseScreen() and SaveScreen(). - -<tag/miInitializeBackingStore()/ This MI function initializes the -screen's backing storage functions, which are used to save areas of -windows that are currently covered by other windows. - -<tag/miDCInitialize()/ This MI function initializes the MI cursor -display structures and function pointers. If a hardware cursor is used, -the DDX layer's ScreenInit() function will wrap additional screen and -the MI cursor display function pointers. -</descrip> - -<p>Another common task for ScreenInit() function is to initialize the -output device state. For example, in the XFree86 X server, the -ScreenInit() function saves the original state of the video card and -then initializes the video mode of the graphics device. - -<sect2>CloseScreen() - -<p>This function restores any wrapped screen functions (and in -particular the wrapped CloseScreen() function) and restores the state of -the output device to its original state. It should also free any -private data it created during the screen initialization. - -<sect2>GC operations - -<p>When the X server is requested to render drawing primitives, it does -so by calling drawing functions through the graphics context's operation -function pointer table (i.e., the GCOps functions). These functions -render the basic graphics operations such as drawing rectangles, lines, -text or copying pixmaps. Default routines are provided either by the MI -layer, which draws indirectly through a simple span interface, or by the -framebuffer layers (e.g., CFB, MFB, FB), which draw directly to a -linearly mapped frame buffer. - -<p>To take advantage of special hardware on the graphics device, -specific GCOps functions can be replaced by device specific code. -However, many times the graphics devices can handle only a subset of the -possible states of the GC, so during graphics context validation, -appropriate routines are selected based on the state and capabilities of -the hardware. For example, some graphics hardware can accelerate single -pixel width lines with certain dash patterns. Thus, for dash patterns -that are not supported by hardware or for width 2 or greater lines, the -default routine is chosen during GC validation. - -<p>Note that some pointers to functions that draw to the screen are -stored in the Screen structure. They include GetImage(), GetSpans(), -PaintWindowBackground(), PaintWindowBorder(), CopyWindow() and -RestoreAreas(). - -<sect2>Xnest - -<p>The Xnest X server is a special proxy X server that relays the X -protocol requests that it receives to a ``real'' X server that then -processes the requests and displays the results, if applicable. To the X -applications, Xnest appears as if it is a regular X server. However, -Xnest is both server to the X application and client of the real X -server, which will actually handle the requests. - -<p>The Xnest server implements all of the standard input and output -initialization steps outlined above. - -<descrip> -<tag/InitOutput()/ Xnest takes its configuration information from -command line arguments via ddxProcessArguments(). This information -includes the real X server display to connect to, its default visual -class, the screen depth, the Xnest window's geometry, etc. Xnest then -connects to the real X server and gathers visual, colormap, depth and -pixmap information about that server's display, creates a window on that -server, which will be used as the root window for Xnest. - -<p>Next, Xnest initializes its internal data structures and uses the -data from the real X server's pixmaps to initialize its own pixmap -formats. Finally, it calls AddScreen(xnestOpenScreen, argc, argv) to -initialize each of its screens. - -<tag/ScreenInit()/ Xnest's ScreenInit() function is called -xnestOpenScreen(). This function initializes its screen's depth and -visual information, and then calls miScreenInit() to set up the default -screen functions. It then calls miInitializeBackingStore() and -miDCInitialize() to initialize backing store and the software cursor. -Finally, it replaces many of the screen functions with its own -functions that repackage and send the requests to the real X server to -which Xnest is attached. - -<tag/CloseScreen()/ This function frees its internal data structure -allocations. Since it replaces instead of wrapping screen functions, -there are no function pointers to unwrap. This can potentially lead to -problems during server regeneration. - -<tag/GC operations/ The GC operations in Xnest are very simple since -they leave all of the drawing to the real X server to which Xnest is -attached. Each of the GCOps takes the request and sends it to the -real X server using standard Xlib calls. For example, the X -application issues a XDrawLines() call. This function turns into a -protocol request to Xnest, which calls the xnestPolylines() function -through Xnest's GCOps function pointer table. The xnestPolylines() -function is only a single line, which calls XDrawLines() using the same -arguments that were passed into it. Other GCOps functions are very -similar. Two exceptions to the simple GCOps functions described above -are the image functions and the BLT operations. - -<p>The image functions, GetImage() and PutImage(), must use a temporary -image to hold the image to be put of the image that was just grabbed -from the screen while it is in transit to the real X server or the -client. When the image has been transmitted, the temporary image is -destroyed. - -<p>The BLT operations, CopyArea() and CopyPlane(), handle not only the -copy function, which is the same as the simple cases described above, -but also the graphics exposures that result when the GC's graphics -exposure bit is set to True. Graphics exposures are handled in a helper -function, xnestBitBlitHelper(). This function collects the exposure -events from the real X server and, if any resulting in regions being -exposed, then those regions are passed back to the MI layer so that it -can generate exposure events for the X application. -</descrip> - -<p>The Xnest server takes its input from the X server to which it is -connected. When the mouse is in the Xnest server's window, keyboard and -mouse events are received by the Xnest server, repackaged and sent back -to any client that requests those events. - -<sect2>Shadow framebuffer - -<p>The most common type of framebuffer is a linear array memory that -maps to the video memory on the graphics device. However, accessing -that video memory over an I/O bus (e.g., ISA or PCI) can be slow. The -shadow framebuffer layer allows the developer to keep the entire -framebuffer in main memory and copy it back to video memory at regular -intervals. It also has been extended to handle planar video memory and -rotated framebuffers. - -<p>There are two main entry points to the shadow framebuffer code: - -<descrip> -<tag/shadowAlloc(width, height, bpp)/ This function allocates the in -memory copy of the framebuffer of size width*height*bpp. It returns a -pointer to that memory, which will be used by the framebuffer -ScreenInit() code during the screen's initialization. - -<tag/shadowInit(pScreen, updateProc, windowProc)/ This function -initializes the shadow framebuffer layer. It wraps several screen -drawing functions, and registers a block handler that will update the -screen. The updateProc is a function that will copy the damaged regions -to the screen, and the windowProc is a function that is used when the -entire linear video memory range cannot be accessed simultaneously so -that only a window into that memory is available (e.g., when using the -VGA aperture). -</descrip> - -<p>The shadow framebuffer code keeps track of the damaged area of each -screen by calculating the bounding box of all drawing operations that -have occurred since the last screen update. Then, when the block handler -is next called, only the damaged portion of the screen is updated. - -<p>Note that since the shadow framebuffer is kept in main memory, all -drawing operations are performed by the CPU and, thus, no accelerated -hardware drawing operations are possible. - - -<sect1>Xinerama - -<p>Xinerama is an X extension that allows multiple physical screens -controlled by a single X server to appear as a single screen. Although -the extension allows clients to find the physical screen layout via -extension requests, it is completely transparent to clients at the core -X11 protocol level. The original public implementation of Xinerama came -from Digital/Compaq. XFree86 rewrote it, filling in some missing pieces -and improving both X11 core protocol compliance and performance. The -Xinerama extension will be passing through X.Org's standardization -process in the near future, and the sample implementation will be based -on this rewritten version. - -<p>The current implementation of Xinerama is based primarily in the DIX -(device independent) and MI (machine independent) layers of the X -server. With few exceptions the DDX layers do not need any changes to -support Xinerama. X server extensions often do need modifications to -provide full Xinerama functionality. - -<p>The following is a code-level description of how Xinerama functions. - -<p>Note: Because the Xinerama extension was originally called the -PanoramiX extension, many of the Xinerama functions still have the -PanoramiX prefix. - -<descrip> - <tag/PanoramiXExtensionInit()/ PanoramiXExtensionInit() is a - device-independent extension function that is called at the start of - each server generation from InitExtensions(), which is called from - the X server's main() function after all output devices have been - initialized, but before any input devices have been initialized. - - <p>PanoramiXNumScreens is set to the number of physical screens. If - only one physical screen is present, the extension is disabled, and - PanoramiXExtensionInit() returns without doing anything else. - - <p>The Xinerama extension is registered by calling AddExtension(). - - <p>A local per-screen array of data structures - (panoramiXdataPtr[]) - is allocated for each physical screen, and GC and Screen private - indexes are allocated, and both GC and Screen private areas are - allocated for each physical screen. These hold Xinerama-specific - per-GC and per-Screen data. Each screen's CreateGC and CloseScreen - functions are wrapped by XineramaCreateGC() and - XineramaCloseScreen() respectively. Some new resource classes are - created for Xinerama drawables and GCs, and resource types for - Xinerama windows, pixmaps and colormaps. - - <p>A region (XineramaScreenRegions[i]) is initialized for each - physical screen, and single region (PanoramiXScreenRegion) is - initialized to be the union of the screen regions. The - panoramiXdataPtr[] array is also initialized with the size and - origin of each screen. The relative positioning information for the - physical screens is taken from the array - dixScreenOrigins[], which - the DDX layer must initialize in InitOutput(). The bounds of the - combined screen is also calculated (PanoramiXPixWidth and - PanoramiXPixHeight). - - <p>The DIX layer has a list of function pointers - (ProcVector[]) that - holds the entry points for the functions that process core protocol - requests. The requests that Xinerama must intercept and break up - into physical screen-specific requests are wrapped. The original - set is copied to SavedProcVector[]. The types of requests - intercepted are Window requests, GC requests, colormap requests, - drawing requests, and some geometry-related requests. This wrapping - allows the bulk of the protocol request processing to be handled - transparently to the DIX layer. Some operations cannot be dealt with - in this way and are handled with Xinerama-specific code within the - DIX layer. - - <tag/PanoramiXConsolidate()/ PanoramiXConsolidate() is a - device-independent extension function that is called directly from - the X server's main() function after extensions and input/output - devices have been initialized, and before the root windows are - defined and initialized. - - <p>This function finds the set of depths (PanoramiXDepths[]) and - visuals (PanoramiXVisuals[]) - common to all of the physical screens. - PanoramiXNumDepths is set to the number of common depths, and - PanoramiXNumVisuals is set to the number of common visuals. - Resources are created for the single root window and the default - colormap. Each of these resources has per-physical screen entries. - - <tag/PanoramiXCreateConnectionBlock()/ PanoramiXConsolidate() is a - device-independent extension function that is called directly from - the X server's main() function after the per-physical screen root - windows are created. It is called instead of the standard DIX - CreateConnectionBlock() function. If this function returns FALSE, - the X server exits with a fatal error. This function will return - FALSE if no common depths were found in PanoramiXConsolidate(). - With no common depths, Xinerama mode is not possible. - - <p>The connection block holds the information that clients get when - they open a connection to the X server. It includes information - such as the supported pixmap formats, number of screens and the - sizes, depths, visuals, default colormap information, etc, for each - of the screens (much of information that <tt/xdpyinfo/ shows). The - connection block is initialized with the combined single screen - values that were calculated in the above two functions. - - <p>The Xinerama extension allows the registration of connection - block callback functions. The purpose of these is to allow other - extensions to do processing at this point. These callbacks can be - registered by calling XineramaRegisterConnectionBlockCallback() from - the other extension's ExtensionInit() function. Each registered - connection block callback is called at the end of - PanoramiXCreateConnectionBlock(). -</descrip> - -<sect2>Xinerama-specific changes to the DIX code - -<p>There are a few types of Xinerama-specific changes within the DIX -code. The main ones are described here. - -<p>Functions that deal with colormap or GC -related operations outside of -the intercepted protocol requests have a test added to only do the -processing for screen numbers > 0. This is because they are handled for -the single Xinerama screen and the processing is done once for screen 0. - -<p>The handling of motion events does some coordinate translation between -the physical screen's origin and screen zero's origin. Also, motion -events must be reported relative to the composite screen origin rather -than the physical screen origins. - -<p>There is some special handling for cursor, window and event processing -that cannot (either not at all or not conveniently) be done via the -intercepted protocol requests. A particular case is the handling of -pointers moving between physical screens. - -<sect2>Xinerama-specific changes to the MI code - -<p>The only Xinerama-specific change to the MI code is in miSendExposures() -to handle the coordinate (and window ID) translation for expose events. - -<sect2>Intercepted DIX core requests - -<p>Xinerama breaks up drawing requests for dispatch to each physical -screen. It also breaks up windows into pieces for each physical screen. -GCs are translated into per-screen GCs. Colormaps are replicated on -each physical screen. The functions handling the intercepted requests -take care of breaking the requests and repackaging them so that they can -be passed to the standard request handling functions for each screen in -turn. In addition, and to aid the repackaging, the information from -many of the intercepted requests is used to keep up to date the -necessary state information for the single composite screen. Requests -(usually those with replies) that can be satisfied completely from this -stored state information do not call the standard request handling -functions. - -<!-- ============================================================ --> - -<sect>Development Results - -<p>In this section the results of each phase of development are -discussed. This development took place between approximately June 2001 -and July 2003. - -<sect1>Phase I - -<p>The initial development phase dealt with the basic implementation -including the bootstrap code, which used the shadow framebuffer, and the -unoptimized implementation, based on an Xnest-style implementation. - -<sect2>Scope - -<p>The goal of Phase I is to provide fundamental functionality that can -act as a foundation for ongoing work: -<enum> - <item>Develop the proxy X server - <itemize> - <item>The proxy X server will operate on the X11 protocol and - relay requests as necessary to correctly perform the request. - <item>Work will be based on the existing work for Xinerama and - Xnest. - <item>Input events and windowing operations are handled in the - proxy server and rendering requests are repackaged and sent to - each of the back-end servers for display. - <item>The multiple screen layout (including support for - overlapping screens) will be user configurable via a - configuration file or through the configuration tool. - </itemize> - <item>Develop graphical configuration tool - <itemize> - <item>There will be potentially a large number of X servers to - configure into a single display. The tool will allow the user - to specify which servers are involved in the configuration and - how they should be laid out. - </itemize> - <item>Pass the X Test Suite - <itemize> - <item>The X Test Suite covers the basic X11 operations. All - tests known to succeed must correctly operate in the distributed - X environment. - </itemize> -</enum> - -<p>For this phase, the back-end X servers are assumed to be unmodified X -servers that do not support any DMX-related protocol extensions; future -optimization pathways are considered, but are not implemented; and the -configuration tool is assumed to rely only on libraries in the X source -tree (e.g., Xt). - -<sect2>Results - -<p>The proxy X server, Xdmx, was developed to distribute X11 protocol -requests to the set of back-end X servers. It opens a window on each -back-end server, which represents the part of the front-end's root -window that is visible on that screen. It mirrors window, pixmap and -other state in each back-end server. Drawing requests are sent to -either windows or pixmaps on each back-end server. This code is based -on Xnest and uses the existing Xinerama extension. - -<p>Input events can be taken from (1) devices attached to the back-end -server, (2) core devices attached directly to the Xdmx server, or (3) -from a ``console'' window on another X server. Events for these devices -are gathered, processed and delivered to clients attached to the Xdmx -server. - -<p>An intuitive configuration format was developed to help the user -easily configure the multiple back-end X servers. It was defined (see -grammar in Xdmx man page) and a parser was implemented that is used by -the Xdmx server and by a standalone xdmxconfig utility. The parsing -support was implemented such that it can be easily factored out of the X -source tree for use with other tools (e.g., vdl). Support for -converting legacy vdl-format configuration files to the DMX format is -provided by the vdltodmx utility. - -<p>Originally, the configuration file was going to be a subsection of -XFree86's XF86Config file, but that was not possible since Xdmx is a -completely separate X server. Thus, a separate config file format was -developed. In addition, a graphical configuration -tool, xdmxconfig, was developed to allow the user to create and arrange -the screens in the configuration file. The <bf/-configfile/ and <bf/-config/ -command-line options can be used to start Xdmx using a configuration -file. - -<p>An extension that enables remote input testing is required for the X -Test Suite to function. During this phase, this extension (XTEST) was -implemented in the Xdmx server. The results from running the X Test -Suite are described in detail below. - -<sect2>X Test Suite - - <sect3> Introduction - <p> - The X Test Suite contains tests that verify Xlib functions - operate correctly. The test suite is designed to run on a - single X server; however, since X applications will not be - able to tell the difference between the DMX server and a - standard X server, the X Test Suite should also run on the - DMX server. - <p> - The Xdmx server was tested with the X Test Suite, and the - existing failures are noted in this section. To put these - results in perspective, we first discuss expected X Test - failures and how errors in underlying systems can impact - Xdmx test results. - - <sect3>Expected Failures for a Single Head - <p> - A correctly implemented X server with a single screen is - expected to fail certain X Test tests. The following - well-known errors occur because of rounding error in the X - server code: - <verb> -XDrawArc: Tests 42, 63, 66, 73 -XDrawArcs: Tests 45, 66, 69, 76 - </verb> - <p> - The following failures occur because of the high-level X - server implementation: - <verb> -XLoadQueryFont: Test 1 -XListFontsWithInfo: Tests 3, 4 -XQueryFont: Tests 1, 2 - </verb> - <p> - The following test fails when running the X server as root - under Linux because of the way directory modes are - interpreted: - <verb> -XWriteBitmapFile: Test 3 - </verb> - <p> - Depending on the video card used for the back-end, other - failures may also occur because of bugs in the low-level - driver implementation. Over time, failures of this kind - are usually fixed by XFree86, but will show up in Xdmx - testing until then. - - <sect3>Expected Failures for Xinerama - <p> - Xinerama fails several X Test Suite tests because of - design decisions made for the current implementation of - Xinerama. Over time, many of these errors will be - corrected by XFree86 and the group working on a new - Xinerama implementation. Therefore, Xdmx will also share - X Suite Test failures with Xinerama. - <p> - We may be able to fix or work-around some of these - failures at the Xdmx level, but this will require - additional exploration that was not part of Phase I. - <p> - Xinerama is constantly improving, and the list of - Xinerama-related failures depends on XFree86 version and - the underlying graphics hardware. We tested with a - variety of hardware, including nVidia, S3, ATI Radeon, - and Matrox G400 (in dual-head mode). The list below - includes only those failures that appear to be from the - Xinerama layer, and does not include failures listed in - the previous section, or failures that appear to be from - the low-level graphics driver itself: - <p> - These failures were noted with multiple Xinerama - configurations: - <verb> -XCopyPlane: Tests 13, 22, 31 (well-known Xinerama implementation issue) -XSetFontPath: Test 4 -XGetDefault: Test 5 -XMatchVisualInfo: Test 1 - </verb> - <p> - These failures were noted only when using one dual-head - video card with a 4.2.99.x XFree86 server: - <verb> -XListPixmapFormats: Test 1 -XDrawRectangles: Test 45 - </verb> - <p> - These failures were noted only when using two video cards - from different vendors with a 4.1.99.x XFree86 server: - <verb> -XChangeWindowAttributes: Test 32 -XCreateWindow: Test 30 -XDrawLine: Test 22 -XFillArc: Test 22 -XChangeKeyboardControl: Tests 9, 10 -XRebindKeysym: Test 1 - </verb> - - <sect3>Additional Failures from Xdmx - <p> - When running Xdmx, no unexpected failures were noted. - Since the Xdmx server is based on Xinerama, we expect to - have most of the Xinerama failures present in the Xdmx - server. Similarly, since the Xdmx server must rely on the - low-level device drivers on each back-end server, we also - expect that Xdmx will exhibit most of the back-end - failures. Here is a summary: - <verb> -XListPixmapFormats: Test 1 (configuration dependent) -XChangeWindowAttributes: Test 32 -XCreateWindow: Test 30 -XCopyPlane: Test 13, 22, 31 -XSetFontPath: Test 4 -XGetDefault: Test 5 (configuration dependent) -XMatchVisualInfo: Test 1 -XRebindKeysym: Test 1 (configuration dependent) - </verb> - <p> - Note that this list is shorter than the combined list for - Xinerama because Xdmx uses different code paths to perform - some Xinerama operations. Further, some Xinerama failures - have been fixed in the XFree86 4.2.99.x CVS repository. - - <sect3>Summary and Future Work - <p> - Running the X Test Suite on Xdmx does not produce any - failures that cannot be accounted for by the underlying - Xinerama subsystem used by the front-end or by the - low-level device-driver code running on the back-end X - servers. The Xdmx server therefore is as ``correct'' as - possible with respect to the standard set of X Test Suite - tests. - <p> - During the following phases, we will continue to verify - Xdmx correctness using the X Test Suite. We may also use - other tests suites or write additional tests that run - under the X Test Suite that specifically verify the - expected behavior of DMX. - -<sect2>Fonts - -<p>In Phase I, fonts are handled directly by both the front-end and the -back-end servers, which is required since we must treat each back-end -server during this phase as a ``black box''. What this requires is that -<bf/the front- and back-end servers must share the exact same font -path/. There are two ways to help make sure that all servers share the -same font path: - -<enum> - <item>First, each server can be configured to use the same font - server. The font server, xfs, can be configured to serve fonts to - multiple X servers via TCP. - - <item>Second, each server can be configured to use the same font - path and either those font paths can be copied to each back-end - machine or they can be mounted (e.g., via NFS) on each back-end - machine. -</enum> - -<p>One additional concern is that a client program can set its own font -path, and if it does so, then that font path must be available on each -back-end machine. - -<p>The -fontpath command line option was added to allow users to -initialize the font path of the front end server. This font path is -propagated to each back-end server when the default font is loaded. If -there are any problems, an error message is printed, which will describe -the problem and list the current font path. For more information about -setting the font path, see the -fontpath option description in the man -page. - -<sect2>Performance - -<p>Phase I of development was not intended to optimize performance. Its -focus was on completely and correctly handling the base X11 protocol in -the Xdmx server. However, several insights were gained during Phase I, -which are listed here for reference during the next phase of -development. - -<enum> - <item>Calls to XSync() can slow down rendering since it requires a - complete round trip to and from a back-end server. This is - especially problematic when communicating over long haul networks. - <item>Sending drawing requests to only the screens that they overlap - should improve performance. -</enum> - -<sect2>Pixmaps - -<p>Pixmaps were originally expected to be handled entirely in the -front-end X server; however, it was found that this overly complicated -the rendering code and would have required sending potentially large -images to each back server that required them when copying from pixmap -to screen. Thus, pixmap state is mirrored in the back-end server just -as it is with regular window state. With this implementation, the same -rendering code that draws to windows can be used to draw to pixmaps on -the back-end server, and no large image transfers are required to copy -from pixmap to window. - -<!-- ============================================================ --> -<sect1>Phase II - -<p>The second phase of development concentrates on performance -optimizations. These optimizations are documented here, with -<tt/x11perf/ data to show how the optimizations improve performance. - -<p>All benchmarks were performed by running Xdmx on a dual processor -1.4GHz AMD Athlon machine with 1GB of RAM connecting over 100baseT to -two single-processor 1GHz Pentium III machines with 256MB of RAM and ATI -Rage 128 (RF) video cards. The front end was running Linux -2.4.20-pre1-ac1 and the back ends were running Linux 2.4.7-10 and -version 4.2.99.1 of XFree86 pulled from the XFree86 CVS repository on -August 7, 2002. All systems were running Red Hat Linux 7.2. - -<sect2>Moving from XFree86 4.1.99.1 to 4.2.0.0 - -<p>For phase II, the working source tree was moved to the branch tagged -with dmx-1-0-branch and was updated from version 4.1.99.1 (20 August -2001) of the XFree86 sources to version 4.2.0.0 (18 January 2002). -After this update, the following tests were noted to be more than 10% -faster: - <verb> -1.13 Fill 300x300 opaque stippled trapezoid (161x145 stipple) -1.16 Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) -1.13 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) -1.17 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) -1.16 Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) -1.20 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) -1.15 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) -1.37 Circulate Unmapped window (200 kids) - </verb> -And the following tests were noted to be more than 10% slower: - <verb> -0.88 Unmap window via parent (25 kids) -0.75 Circulate Unmapped window (4 kids) -0.79 Circulate Unmapped window (16 kids) -0.80 Circulate Unmapped window (25 kids) -0.82 Circulate Unmapped window (50 kids) -0.85 Circulate Unmapped window (75 kids) - </verb> -<p>These changes were not caused by any changes in the DMX system, and -may point to changes in the XFree86 tree or to tests that have more -"jitter" than most other <tt/x11perf/ tests. - -<sect2>Global changes - -<p>During the development of the Phase II DMX server, several global -changes were made. These changes were also compared with the Phase I -server. The following tests were noted to be more than 10% faster: - <verb> -1.13 Fill 300x300 opaque stippled trapezoid (161x145 stipple) -1.15 Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) -1.13 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) -1.17 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) -1.16 Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) -1.19 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) -1.15 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) -1.15 Circulate Unmapped window (4 kids) - </verb> - -<p>The following tests were noted to be more than 10% slower: - <verb> -0.69 Scroll 10x10 pixels -0.68 Scroll 100x100 pixels -0.68 Copy 10x10 from window to window -0.68 Copy 100x100 from window to window -0.76 Circulate Unmapped window (75 kids) -0.83 Circulate Unmapped window (100 kids) - </verb> - -<p>For the remainder of this analysis, the baseline of comparison will -be the Phase II deliverable with all optimizations disabled (unless -otherwise noted). This will highlight how the optimizations in -isolation impact performance. - -<sect2>XSync() Batching - -<p>During the Phase I implementation, XSync() was called after every -protocol request made by the DMX server. This provided the DMX server -with an interactive feel, but defeated X11's protocol buffering system -and introduced round-trip wire latency into every operation. During -Phase II, DMX was changed so that protocol requests are no longer -followed by calls to XSync(). Instead, the need for an XSync() is -noted, and XSync() calls are only made every 100mS or when the DMX -server specifically needs to make a call to guarantee interactivity. -With this new system, X11 buffers protocol as much as possible during a -100mS interval, and many unnecessary XSync() calls are avoided. - -<p>Out of more than 300 <tt/x11perf/ tests, 8 tests became more than 100 -times faster, with 68 more than 50X faster, 114 more than 10X faster, -and 181 more than 2X faster. See table below for summary. - -<p>The following tests were noted to be more than 10% slower with -XSync() batching on: - <verb> -0.88 500x500 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile) -0.89 Copy 500x500 from window to window - </verb> - -<sect2>Offscreen Optimization - -<p>Windows span one or more of the back-end servers' screens; however, -during Phase I development, windows were created on every back-end -server and every rendering request was sent to every window regardless -of whether or not that window was visible. With the offscreen -optimization, the DMX server tracks when a window is completely off of a -back-end server's screen and, in that case, it does not send rendering -requests to those back-end windows. This optimization saves bandwidth -between the front and back-end servers, and it reduces the number of -XSync() calls. The performance tests were run on a DMX system with only -two back-end servers. Greater performance gains will be had as the -number of back-end servers increases. - -<p>Out of more than 300 <tt/x11perf/ tests, 3 tests were at least twice as -fast, and 146 tests were at least 10% faster. Two tests were more than -10% slower with the offscreen optimization: - <verb> -0.88 Hide/expose window via popup (4 kids) -0.89 Resize unmapped window (75 kids) - </verb> - -<sect2>Lazy Window Creation Optimization - -<p>As mentioned above, during Phase I, windows were created on every -back-end server even if they were not visible on that back-end. With -the lazy window creation optimization, the DMX server does not create -windows on a back-end server until they are either visible or they -become the parents of a visible window. This optimization builds on the -offscreen optimization (described above) and requires it to be enabled. - -<p>The lazy window creation optimization works by creating the window -data structures in the front-end server when a client creates a window, -but delays creation of the window on the back-end server(s). A private -window structure in the DMX server saves the relevant window data and -tracks changes to the window's attributes and stacking order for later -use. The only times a window is created on a back-end server are (1) -when it is mapped and is at least partially overlapping the back-end -server's screen (tracked by the offscreen optimization), or (2) when the -window becomes the parent of a previously visible window. The first -case occurs when a window is mapped or when a visible window is copied, -moved or resized and now overlaps the back-end server's screen. The -second case occurs when starting a window manager after having created -windows to which the window manager needs to add decorations. - -<p>When either case occurs, a window on the back-end server is created -using the data saved in the DMX server's window private data structure. -The stacking order is then adjusted to correctly place the window on the -back-end and lastly the window is mapped. From this time forward, the -window is handled exactly as if the window had been created at the time -of the client's request. - -<p>Note that when a window is no longer visible on a back-end server's -screen (e.g., it is moved offscreen), the window is not destroyed; -rather, it is kept and reused later if the window once again becomes -visible on the back-end server's screen. Originally with this -optimization, destroying windows was implemented but was later rejected -because it increased bandwidth when windows were opaquely moved or -resized, which is common in many window managers. - -<p>The performance tests were run on a DMX system with only two back-end -servers. Greater performance gains will be had as the number of -back-end servers increases. - -<p>This optimization improved the following <tt/x11perf/ tests by more -than 10%: - <verb> -1.10 500x500 rectangle outline -1.12 Fill 100x100 stippled trapezoid (161x145 stipple) -1.20 Circulate Unmapped window (50 kids) -1.19 Circulate Unmapped window (75 kids) - </verb> - -<sect2>Subdividing Rendering Primitives - -<p>X11 imaging requests transfer significant data between the client and -the X server. During Phase I, the DMX server would then transfer the -image data to each back-end server. Even with the offscreen -optimization (above), these requests still required transferring -significant data to each back-end server that contained a visible -portion of the window. For example, if the client uses XPutImage() to -copy an image to a window that overlaps the entire DMX screen, then the -entire image is copied by the DMX server to every back-end server. - -<p>To reduce the amount of data transferred between the DMX server and -the back-end servers when XPutImage() is called, the image data is -subdivided and only the data that will be visible on a back-end server's -screen is sent to that back-end server. Xinerama already implements a -subdivision algorithm for XGetImage() and no further optimization was -needed. - -<p>Other rendering primitives were analyzed, but the time required to -subdivide these primitives was a significant proportion of the time -required to send the entire rendering request to the back-end server, so -this optimization was rejected for the other rendering primitives. - -<p>Again, the performance tests were run on a DMX system with only two -back-end servers. Greater performance gains will be had as the number -of back-end servers increases. - -<p>This optimization improved the following <tt/x11perf/ tests by more -than 10%: - <verb> -1.12 Fill 100x100 stippled trapezoid (161x145 stipple) -1.26 PutImage 10x10 square -1.83 PutImage 100x100 square -1.91 PutImage 500x500 square -1.40 PutImage XY 10x10 square -1.48 PutImage XY 100x100 square -1.50 PutImage XY 500x500 square -1.45 Circulate Unmapped window (75 kids) -1.74 Circulate Unmapped window (100 kids) - </verb> - -<p>The following test was noted to be more than 10% slower with this -optimization: - <verb> -0.88 10-pixel fill chord partial circle - </verb> - -<sect2>Summary of x11perf Data - -<p>With all of the optimizations on, 53 <tt/x11perf/ tests are more than -100X faster than the unoptimized Phase II deliverable, with 69 more than -50X faster, 73 more than 10X faster, and 199 more than twice as fast. -No tests were more than 10% slower than the unoptimized Phase II -deliverable. (Compared with the Phase I deliverable, only Circulate -Unmapped window (100 kids) was more than 10% slower than the Phase II -deliverable. As noted above, this test seems to have wider variability -than other <tt/x11perf/ tests.) - -<p>The following table summarizes relative <tt/x11perf/ test changes for -all optimizations individually and collectively. Note that some of the -optimizations have a synergistic effect when used together. - <verb> - -1: XSync() batching only -2: Off screen optimizations only -3: Window optimizations only -4: Subdivprims only -5: All optimizations - - 1 2 3 4 5 Operation ------- ---- ---- ---- ------ --------- - 2.14 1.85 1.00 1.00 4.13 Dot - 1.67 1.80 1.00 1.00 3.31 1x1 rectangle - 2.38 1.43 1.00 1.00 2.44 10x10 rectangle - 1.00 1.00 0.92 0.98 1.00 100x100 rectangle - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 500x500 rectangle - 1.83 1.85 1.05 1.06 3.54 1x1 stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple) - 2.43 1.43 1.00 1.00 2.41 10x10 stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple) - 0.98 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 100x100 stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.98 500x500 stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple) - 1.75 1.75 1.00 1.00 3.40 1x1 opaque stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple) - 2.38 1.42 1.00 1.00 2.34 10x10 opaque stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple) - 1.00 1.00 0.97 0.97 1.00 100x100 opaque stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.99 500x500 opaque stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple) - 1.82 1.82 1.04 1.04 3.56 1x1 tiled rectangle (4x4 tile) - 2.33 1.42 1.00 1.00 2.37 10x10 tiled rectangle (4x4 tile) - 1.00 0.92 1.00 1.00 1.00 100x100 tiled rectangle (4x4 tile) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 500x500 tiled rectangle (4x4 tile) - 1.94 1.62 1.00 1.00 3.66 1x1 stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple) - 1.74 1.28 1.00 1.00 1.73 10x10 stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.89 0.98 100x100 stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.98 500x500 stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple) - 1.94 1.62 1.00 1.00 3.67 1x1 opaque stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple) - 1.69 1.26 1.00 1.00 1.66 10x10 opaque stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple) - 1.00 0.95 1.00 1.00 1.00 100x100 opaque stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.97 500x500 opaque stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple) - 1.93 1.61 0.99 0.99 3.69 1x1 tiled rectangle (17x15 tile) - 1.73 1.27 1.00 1.00 1.72 10x10 tiled rectangle (17x15 tile) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.98 100x100 tiled rectangle (17x15 tile) - 1.00 1.00 0.97 0.97 1.00 500x500 tiled rectangle (17x15 tile) - 1.95 1.63 1.00 1.00 3.83 1x1 stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple) - 1.80 1.30 1.00 1.00 1.83 10x10 stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple) - 0.97 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 100x100 stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.98 500x500 stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple) - 1.95 1.63 1.00 1.00 3.56 1x1 opaque stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple) - 1.65 1.25 1.00 1.00 1.68 10x10 opaque stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 100x100 opaque stippled rectangle (161x145... - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.97 500x500 opaque stippled rectangle (161x145... - 1.95 1.63 0.98 0.99 3.80 1x1 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile) - 1.67 1.26 1.00 1.00 1.67 10x10 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile) - 1.13 1.14 1.14 1.14 1.14 100x100 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile) - 0.88 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.99 500x500 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile) - 1.93 1.63 1.00 1.00 3.53 1x1 tiled rectangle (216x208 tile) - 1.69 1.26 1.00 1.00 1.66 10x10 tiled rectangle (216x208 tile) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 100x100 tiled rectangle (216x208 tile) - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 500x500 tiled rectangle (216x208 tile) - 1.82 1.70 1.00 1.00 3.38 1-pixel line segment - 2.07 1.56 0.90 1.00 3.31 10-pixel line segment - 1.29 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.27 100-pixel line segment - 1.05 1.06 1.03 1.03 1.09 500-pixel line segment - 1.30 1.13 1.00 1.00 1.29 100-pixel line segment (1 kid) - 1.32 1.15 1.00 1.00 1.32 100-pixel line segment (2 kids) - 1.33 1.16 1.00 1.00 1.33 100-pixel line segment (3 kids) - 1.92 1.64 1.00 1.00 3.73 10-pixel dashed segment - 1.34 1.16 1.00 1.00 1.34 100-pixel dashed segment - 1.24 1.11 0.99 0.97 1.23 100-pixel double-dashed segment - 1.72 1.77 1.00 1.00 3.25 10-pixel horizontal line segment - 1.83 1.66 1.01 1.00 3.54 100-pixel horizontal line segment - 1.86 1.30 1.00 1.00 1.84 500-pixel horizontal line segment - 2.11 1.52 1.00 0.99 3.02 10-pixel vertical line segment - 1.21 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.20 100-pixel vertical line segment - 1.03 1.03 1.00 1.00 1.02 500-pixel vertical line segment - 4.42 1.68 1.00 1.01 4.64 10x1 wide horizontal line segment - 1.83 1.31 1.00 1.00 1.83 100x10 wide horizontal line segment - 1.07 1.00 0.96 1.00 1.07 500x50 wide horizontal line segment - 4.10 1.67 1.00 1.00 4.62 10x1 wide vertical line segment - 1.50 1.24 1.06 1.06 1.48 100x10 wide vertical line segment - 1.06 1.03 1.00 1.00 1.05 500x50 wide vertical line segment - 2.54 1.61 1.00 1.00 3.61 1-pixel line - 2.71 1.48 1.00 1.00 2.67 10-pixel line - 1.19 1.09 1.00 1.00 1.19 100-pixel line - 1.04 1.02 1.00 1.00 1.03 500-pixel line - 2.68 1.51 0.98 1.00 3.17 10-pixel dashed line - 1.23 1.11 0.99 0.99 1.23 100-pixel dashed line - 1.15 1.08 1.00 1.00 1.15 100-pixel double-dashed line - 2.27 1.39 1.00 1.00 2.23 10x1 wide line - 1.20 1.09 1.00 1.00 1.20 100x10 wide line - 1.04 1.02 1.00 1.00 1.04 500x50 wide line - 1.52 1.45 1.00 1.00 1.52 100x10 wide dashed line - 1.54 1.47 1.00 1.00 1.54 100x10 wide double-dashed line - 1.97 1.30 0.96 0.95 1.95 10x10 rectangle outline - 1.44 1.27 1.00 1.00 1.43 100x100 rectangle outline - 3.22 2.16 1.10 1.09 3.61 500x500 rectangle outline - 1.95 1.34 1.00 1.00 1.90 10x10 wide rectangle outline - 1.14 1.14 1.00 1.00 1.13 100x100 wide rectangle outline - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 500x500 wide rectangle outline - 1.57 1.72 1.00 1.00 3.03 1-pixel circle - 1.96 1.35 1.00 1.00 1.92 10-pixel circle - 1.21 1.07 0.86 0.97 1.20 100-pixel circle - 1.08 1.04 1.00 1.00 1.08 500-pixel circle - 1.39 1.19 1.03 1.03 1.38 100-pixel dashed circle - 1.21 1.11 1.00 1.00 1.23 100-pixel double-dashed circle - 1.59 1.28 1.00 1.00 1.58 10-pixel wide circle - 1.22 1.12 0.99 1.00 1.22 100-pixel wide circle - 1.06 1.04 1.00 1.00 1.05 500-pixel wide circle - 1.87 1.84 1.00 1.00 1.85 100-pixel wide dashed circle - 1.90 1.93 1.01 1.01 1.90 100-pixel wide double-dashed circle - 2.13 1.43 1.00 1.00 2.32 10-pixel partial circle - 1.42 1.18 1.00 1.00 1.42 100-pixel partial circle - 1.92 1.85 1.01 1.01 1.89 10-pixel wide partial circle - 1.73 1.67 1.00 1.00 1.73 100-pixel wide partial circle - 1.36 1.95 1.00 1.00 2.64 1-pixel solid circle - 2.02 1.37 1.00 1.00 2.03 10-pixel solid circle - 1.19 1.09 1.00 1.00 1.19 100-pixel solid circle - 1.02 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.01 500-pixel solid circle - 1.74 1.28 1.00 0.88 1.73 10-pixel fill chord partial circle - 1.31 1.13 1.00 1.00 1.31 100-pixel fill chord partial circle - 1.67 1.31 1.03 1.03 1.72 10-pixel fill slice partial circle - 1.30 1.13 1.00 1.00 1.28 100-pixel fill slice partial circle - 2.45 1.49 1.01 1.00 2.71 10-pixel ellipse - 1.22 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.22 100-pixel ellipse - 1.09 1.04 1.00 1.00 1.09 500-pixel ellipse - 1.90 1.28 1.00 1.00 1.89 100-pixel dashed ellipse - 1.62 1.24 0.96 0.97 1.61 100-pixel double-dashed ellipse - 2.43 1.50 1.00 1.00 2.42 10-pixel wide ellipse - 1.61 1.28 1.03 1.03 1.60 100-pixel wide ellipse - 1.08 1.05 1.00 1.00 1.08 500-pixel wide ellipse - 1.93 1.88 1.00 1.00 1.88 100-pixel wide dashed ellipse - 1.94 1.89 1.01 1.00 1.94 100-pixel wide double-dashed ellipse - 2.31 1.48 1.00 1.00 2.67 10-pixel partial ellipse - 1.38 1.17 1.00 1.00 1.38 100-pixel partial ellipse - 2.00 1.85 0.98 0.97 1.98 10-pixel wide partial ellipse - 1.89 1.86 1.00 1.00 1.89 100-pixel wide partial ellipse - 3.49 1.60 1.00 1.00 3.65 10-pixel filled ellipse - 1.67 1.26 1.00 1.00 1.67 100-pixel filled ellipse - 1.06 1.04 1.00 1.00 1.06 500-pixel filled ellipse - 2.38 1.43 1.01 1.00 2.32 10-pixel fill chord partial ellipse - 2.06 1.30 1.00 1.00 2.05 100-pixel fill chord partial ellipse - 2.27 1.41 1.00 1.00 2.27 10-pixel fill slice partial ellipse - 1.98 1.33 1.00 0.97 1.97 100-pixel fill slice partial ellipse - 57.46 1.99 1.01 1.00 114.92 Fill 1x1 equivalent triangle - 56.94 1.98 1.01 1.00 73.89 Fill 10x10 equivalent triangle - 6.07 1.75 1.00 1.00 6.07 Fill 100x100 equivalent triangle - 51.12 1.98 1.00 1.00 102.81 Fill 1x1 trapezoid - 51.42 1.82 1.01 1.00 94.89 Fill 10x10 trapezoid - 6.47 1.80 1.00 1.00 6.44 Fill 100x100 trapezoid - 1.56 1.28 1.00 0.99 1.56 Fill 300x300 trapezoid - 51.27 1.97 0.96 0.97 102.54 Fill 1x1 stippled trapezoid (8x8 stipple) - 51.73 2.00 1.02 1.02 67.92 Fill 10x10 stippled trapezoid (8x8 stipple) - 5.36 1.72 1.00 1.00 5.36 Fill 100x100 stippled trapezoid (8x8 stipple) - 1.54 1.26 1.00 1.00 1.59 Fill 300x300 stippled trapezoid (8x8 stipple) - 51.41 1.94 1.01 1.00 102.82 Fill 1x1 opaque stippled trapezoid (8x8 stipple) - 50.71 1.95 0.99 1.00 65.44 Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid (8x8... - 5.33 1.73 1.00 1.00 5.36 Fill 100x100 opaque stippled trapezoid (8x8... - 1.58 1.25 1.00 1.00 1.58 Fill 300x300 opaque stippled trapezoid (8x8... - 51.56 1.96 0.99 0.90 103.68 Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid (4x4 tile) - 51.59 1.99 1.01 1.01 62.25 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid (4x4 tile) - 5.38 1.72 1.00 1.00 5.38 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid (4x4 tile) - 1.54 1.25 1.00 0.99 1.58 Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid (4x4 tile) - 51.70 1.98 1.01 1.01 103.98 Fill 1x1 stippled trapezoid (17x15 stipple) - 44.86 1.97 1.00 1.00 44.86 Fill 10x10 stippled trapezoid (17x15 stipple) - 2.74 1.56 1.00 1.00 2.73 Fill 100x100 stippled trapezoid (17x15 stipple) - 1.29 1.14 1.00 1.00 1.27 Fill 300x300 stippled trapezoid (17x15 stipple) - 51.41 1.96 0.96 0.95 103.39 Fill 1x1 opaque stippled trapezoid (17x15... - 45.14 1.96 1.01 1.00 45.14 Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid (17x15... - 2.68 1.56 1.00 1.00 2.68 Fill 100x100 opaque stippled trapezoid (17x15... - 1.26 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.28 Fill 300x300 opaque stippled trapezoid (17x15... - 51.13 1.97 1.00 0.99 103.39 Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid (17x15 tile) - 47.58 1.96 1.00 1.00 47.86 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid (17x15 tile) - 2.74 1.56 1.00 1.00 2.74 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid (17x15 tile) - 1.29 1.14 1.00 1.00 1.28 Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid (17x15 tile) - 51.13 1.97 0.99 0.97 103.39 Fill 1x1 stippled trapezoid (161x145 stipple) - 45.14 1.97 1.00 1.00 44.29 Fill 10x10 stippled trapezoid (161x145 stipple) - 3.02 1.77 1.12 1.12 3.38 Fill 100x100 stippled trapezoid (161x145 stipple) - 1.31 1.13 1.00 1.00 1.30 Fill 300x300 stippled trapezoid (161x145 stipple) - 51.27 1.97 1.00 1.00 103.10 Fill 1x1 opaque stippled trapezoid (161x145... - 45.01 1.97 1.00 1.00 45.01 Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid (161x145... - 2.67 1.56 1.00 1.00 2.69 Fill 100x100 opaque stippled trapezoid (161x145.. - 1.29 1.13 1.00 1.01 1.27 Fill 300x300 opaque stippled trapezoid (161x145.. - 51.41 1.96 1.00 0.99 103.39 Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) - 45.01 1.96 0.98 1.00 45.01 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) - 2.62 1.36 1.00 1.00 2.69 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) - 1.27 1.13 1.00 1.00 1.22 Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid (161x145 tile) - 51.13 1.98 1.00 1.00 103.39 Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) - 45.14 1.97 1.01 0.99 45.14 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) - 2.62 1.55 1.00 1.00 2.71 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) - 1.28 1.13 1.00 1.00 1.20 Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid (216x208 tile) - 50.71 1.95 1.00 1.00 54.70 Fill 10x10 equivalent complex polygon - 5.51 1.71 0.96 0.98 5.47 Fill 100x100 equivalent complex polygons - 8.39 1.97 1.00 1.00 16.75 Fill 10x10 64-gon (Convex) - 8.38 1.83 1.00 1.00 8.43 Fill 100x100 64-gon (Convex) - 8.50 1.96 1.00 1.00 16.64 Fill 10x10 64-gon (Complex) - 8.26 1.83 1.00 1.00 8.35 Fill 100x100 64-gon (Complex) - 14.09 1.87 1.00 1.00 14.05 Char in 80-char line (6x13) - 11.91 1.87 1.00 1.00 11.95 Char in 70-char line (8x13) - 11.16 1.85 1.01 1.00 11.10 Char in 60-char line (9x15) - 10.09 1.78 1.00 1.00 10.09 Char16 in 40-char line (k14) - 6.15 1.75 1.00 1.00 6.31 Char16 in 23-char line (k24) - 11.92 1.90 1.03 1.03 11.88 Char in 80-char line (TR 10) - 8.18 1.78 1.00 0.99 8.17 Char in 30-char line (TR 24) - 42.83 1.44 1.01 1.00 42.11 Char in 20/40/20 line (6x13, TR 10) - 27.45 1.43 1.01 1.01 27.45 Char16 in 7/14/7 line (k14, k24) - 12.13 1.85 1.00 1.00 12.05 Char in 80-char image line (6x13) - 10.00 1.84 1.00 1.00 10.00 Char in 70-char image line (8x13) - 9.18 1.83 1.00 1.00 9.12 Char in 60-char image line (9x15) - 9.66 1.82 0.98 0.95 9.66 Char16 in 40-char image line (k14) - 5.82 1.72 1.00 1.00 5.99 Char16 in 23-char image line (k24) - 8.70 1.80 1.00 1.00 8.65 Char in 80-char image line (TR 10) - 4.67 1.66 1.00 1.00 4.67 Char in 30-char image line (TR 24) - 84.43 1.47 1.00 1.00 124.18 Scroll 10x10 pixels - 3.73 1.50 1.00 0.98 3.73 Scroll 100x100 pixels - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Scroll 500x500 pixels - 84.43 1.51 1.00 1.00 134.02 Copy 10x10 from window to window - 3.62 1.51 0.98 0.98 3.62 Copy 100x100 from window to window - 0.89 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Copy 500x500 from window to window - 57.06 1.99 1.00 1.00 88.64 Copy 10x10 from pixmap to window - 2.49 2.00 1.00 1.00 2.48 Copy 100x100 from pixmap to window - 1.00 0.91 1.00 1.00 0.98 Copy 500x500 from pixmap to window - 2.04 1.01 1.00 1.00 2.03 Copy 10x10 from window to pixmap - 1.05 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.05 Copy 100x100 from window to pixmap - 1.00 1.00 0.93 1.00 1.04 Copy 500x500 from window to pixmap - 58.52 1.03 1.03 1.02 57.95 Copy 10x10 from pixmap to pixmap - 2.40 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.45 Copy 100x100 from pixmap to pixmap - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Copy 500x500 from pixmap to pixmap - 51.57 1.92 1.00 1.00 85.75 Copy 10x10 1-bit deep plane - 6.37 1.75 1.01 1.01 6.37 Copy 100x100 1-bit deep plane - 1.26 1.11 1.00 1.00 1.24 Copy 500x500 1-bit deep plane - 4.23 1.63 0.98 0.97 4.38 Copy 10x10 n-bit deep plane - 1.04 1.02 1.00 1.00 1.04 Copy 100x100 n-bit deep plane - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Copy 500x500 n-bit deep plane - 6.45 1.98 1.00 1.26 12.80 PutImage 10x10 square - 1.10 1.87 1.00 1.83 2.11 PutImage 100x100 square - 1.02 1.93 1.00 1.91 1.91 PutImage 500x500 square - 4.17 1.78 1.00 1.40 7.18 PutImage XY 10x10 square - 1.27 1.49 0.97 1.48 2.10 PutImage XY 100x100 square - 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.50 1.52 PutImage XY 500x500 square - 1.07 1.01 1.00 1.00 1.06 GetImage 10x10 square - 1.01 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 GetImage 100x100 square - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 GetImage 500x500 square - 1.56 1.00 0.99 0.97 1.56 GetImage XY 10x10 square - 1.02 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 GetImage XY 100x100 square - 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 GetImage XY 500x500 square - 1.00 1.00 1.01 0.98 0.95 X protocol NoOperation - 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.03 1.00 QueryPointer - 1.03 1.02 1.04 1.03 1.00 GetProperty -100.41 1.51 1.00 1.00 198.76 Change graphics context - 45.81 1.00 0.99 0.97 57.10 Create and map subwindows (4 kids) - 78.45 1.01 1.02 1.02 63.07 Create and map subwindows (16 kids) - 73.91 1.01 1.00 1.00 56.37 Create and map subwindows (25 kids) - 73.22 1.00 1.00 1.00 49.07 Create and map subwindows (50 kids) - 72.36 1.01 0.99 1.00 32.14 Create and map subwindows (75 kids) - 70.34 1.00 1.00 1.00 30.12 Create and map subwindows (100 kids) - 55.00 1.00 1.00 0.99 23.75 Create and map subwindows (200 kids) - 55.30 1.01 1.00 1.00 141.03 Create unmapped window (4 kids) - 55.38 1.01 1.01 1.00 163.25 Create unmapped window (16 kids) - 54.75 0.96 1.00 0.99 166.95 Create unmapped window (25 kids) - 54.83 1.00 1.00 0.99 178.81 Create unmapped window (50 kids) - 55.38 1.01 1.01 1.00 181.20 Create unmapped window (75 kids) - 55.38 1.01 1.01 1.00 181.20 Create unmapped window (100 kids) - 54.87 1.01 1.01 1.00 182.05 Create unmapped window (200 kids) - 28.13 1.00 1.00 1.00 30.75 Map window via parent (4 kids) - 36.14 1.01 1.01 1.01 32.58 Map window via parent (16 kids) - 26.13 1.00 0.98 0.95 29.85 Map window via parent (25 kids) - 40.07 1.00 1.01 1.00 27.57 Map window via parent (50 kids) - 23.26 0.99 1.00 1.00 18.23 Map window via parent (75 kids) - 22.91 0.99 1.00 0.99 16.52 Map window via parent (100 kids) - 27.79 1.00 1.00 0.99 12.50 Map window via parent (200 kids) - 22.35 1.00 1.00 1.00 56.19 Unmap window via parent (4 kids) - 9.57 1.00 0.99 1.00 89.78 Unmap window via parent (16 kids) - 80.77 1.01 1.00 1.00 103.85 Unmap window via parent (25 kids) - 96.34 1.00 1.00 1.00 116.06 Unmap window via parent (50 kids) - 99.72 1.00 1.00 1.00 124.93 Unmap window via parent (75 kids) -112.36 1.00 1.00 1.00 125.27 Unmap window via parent (100 kids) -105.41 1.00 1.00 0.99 120.00 Unmap window via parent (200 kids) - 51.29 1.03 1.02 1.02 74.19 Destroy window via parent (4 kids) - 86.75 0.99 0.99 0.99 116.87 Destroy window via parent (16 kids) -106.43 1.01 1.01 1.01 127.49 Destroy window via parent (25 kids) -120.34 1.01 1.01 1.00 140.11 Destroy window via parent (50 kids) -126.67 1.00 0.99 0.99 145.00 Destroy window via parent (75 kids) -126.11 1.01 1.01 1.00 140.56 Destroy window via parent (100 kids) -128.57 1.01 1.00 1.00 137.91 Destroy window via parent (200 kids) - 16.04 0.88 1.00 1.00 20.36 Hide/expose window via popup (4 kids) - 19.04 1.01 1.00 1.00 23.48 Hide/expose window via popup (16 kids) - 19.22 1.00 1.00 1.00 20.44 Hide/expose window via popup (25 kids) - 17.41 1.00 0.91 0.97 17.68 Hide/expose window via popup (50 kids) - 17.29 1.01 1.00 1.01 17.07 Hide/expose window via popup (75 kids) - 16.74 1.00 1.00 1.00 16.17 Hide/expose window via popup (100 kids) - 10.30 1.00 1.00 1.00 10.51 Hide/expose window via popup (200 kids) - 16.48 1.01 1.00 1.00 26.05 Move window (4 kids) - 17.01 0.95 1.00 1.00 23.97 Move window (16 kids) - 16.95 1.00 1.00 1.00 22.90 Move window (25 kids) - 16.05 1.01 1.00 1.00 21.32 Move window (50 kids) - 15.58 1.00 0.98 0.98 19.44 Move window (75 kids) - 14.98 1.02 1.03 1.03 18.17 Move window (100 kids) - 10.90 1.01 1.01 1.00 12.68 Move window (200 kids) - 49.42 1.00 1.00 1.00 198.27 Moved unmapped window (4 kids) - 50.72 0.97 1.00 1.00 193.66 Moved unmapped window (16 kids) - 50.87 1.00 0.99 1.00 195.09 Moved unmapped window (25 kids) - 50.72 1.00 1.00 1.00 189.34 Moved unmapped window (50 kids) - 50.87 1.00 1.00 1.00 191.33 Moved unmapped window (75 kids) - 50.87 1.00 1.00 0.90 186.71 Moved unmapped window (100 kids) - 50.87 1.00 1.00 1.00 179.19 Moved unmapped window (200 kids) - 41.04 1.00 1.00 1.00 56.61 Move window via parent (4 kids) - 69.81 1.00 1.00 1.00 130.82 Move window via parent (16 kids) - 95.81 1.00 1.00 1.00 141.92 Move window via parent (25 kids) - 95.98 1.00 1.00 1.00 149.43 Move window via parent (50 kids) - 96.59 1.01 1.01 1.00 153.98 Move window via parent (75 kids) - 97.19 1.00 1.00 1.00 157.30 Move window via parent (100 kids) - 96.67 1.00 0.99 0.96 159.44 Move window via parent (200 kids) - 17.75 1.01 1.00 1.00 27.61 Resize window (4 kids) - 17.94 1.00 1.00 0.99 25.42 Resize window (16 kids) - 17.92 1.01 1.00 1.00 24.47 Resize window (25 kids) - 17.24 0.97 1.00 1.00 24.14 Resize window (50 kids) - 16.81 1.00 1.00 0.99 22.75 Resize window (75 kids) - 16.08 1.00 1.00 1.00 21.20 Resize window (100 kids) - 12.92 1.00 0.99 1.00 16.26 Resize window (200 kids) - 52.94 1.01 1.00 1.00 327.12 Resize unmapped window (4 kids) - 53.60 1.01 1.01 1.01 333.71 Resize unmapped window (16 kids) - 52.99 1.00 1.00 1.00 337.29 Resize unmapped window (25 kids) - 51.98 1.00 1.00 1.00 329.38 Resize unmapped window (50 kids) - 53.05 0.89 1.00 1.00 322.60 Resize unmapped window (75 kids) - 53.05 1.00 1.00 1.00 318.08 Resize unmapped window (100 kids) - 53.11 1.00 1.00 0.99 306.21 Resize unmapped window (200 kids) - 16.76 1.00 0.96 1.00 19.46 Circulate window (4 kids) - 17.24 1.00 1.00 0.97 16.24 Circulate window (16 kids) - 16.30 1.03 1.03 1.03 15.85 Circulate window (25 kids) - 13.45 1.00 1.00 1.00 14.90 Circulate window (50 kids) - 12.91 1.00 1.00 1.00 13.06 Circulate window (75 kids) - 11.30 0.98 1.00 1.00 11.03 Circulate window (100 kids) - 7.58 1.01 1.01 0.99 7.47 Circulate window (200 kids) - 1.01 1.01 0.98 1.00 0.95 Circulate Unmapped window (4 kids) - 1.07 1.07 1.01 1.07 1.02 Circulate Unmapped window (16 kids) - 1.04 1.09 1.06 1.05 0.97 Circulate Unmapped window (25 kids) - 1.04 1.23 1.20 1.18 1.05 Circulate Unmapped window (50 kids) - 1.18 1.53 1.19 1.45 1.24 Circulate Unmapped window (75 kids) - 1.08 1.02 1.01 1.74 1.01 Circulate Unmapped window (100 kids) - 1.01 1.12 0.98 0.91 0.97 Circulate Unmapped window (200 kids) - </verb> - -<sect2>Profiling with OProfile - -<p>OProfile (available from http://oprofile.sourceforge.net/) is a -system-wide profiler for Linux systems that uses processor-level -counters to collect sampling data. OProfile can provide information -that is similar to that provided by <tt/gprof/, but without the -necessity of recompiling the program with special instrumentation (i.e., -OProfile can collect statistical profiling information about optimized -programs). A test harness was developed to collect OProfile data for -each <tt/x11perf/ test individually. - -<p>Test runs were performed using the RETIRED_INSNS counter on the AMD -Athlon and the CPU_CLK_HALTED counter on the Intel Pentium III (with a -test configuration different from the one described above). We have -examined OProfile output and have compared it with <tt/gprof/ output. -This investigation has not produced results that yield performance -increases in <tt/x11perf/ numbers. - -<!-- -<sect3>Retired Instructions - -<p>The initial tests using OProfile were done using the RETIRED_INSNS -counter with DMX running on the dual-processor AMD Athlon machine - the -same test configuration that was described above and that was used for -other tests. The RETIRED_INSNS counter counts retired instructions and -showed drawing, text, copying, and image tests to be dominated (> -30%) by calls to Hash(), SecurityLookupIDByClass(), -SecurityLookupIDByType(), and StandardReadRequestFromClient(). Some of -these tests also executed significant instructions in -WaitForSomething(). - -<p>In contrast, the window tests executed significant -instructions in SecurityLookupIDByType(), Hash(), -StandardReadRequestFromClient(), but also executed significant -instructions in other routines, such as ConfigureWindow(). Some time -was spent looking at Hash() function, but optimizations in this routine -did not lead to a dramatic increase in <tt/x11perf/ performance. ---> - -<!-- -<sect3>Clock Cycles - -<p>Retired instructions can be misleading because Intel/AMD instructions -execute in variable amounts of time. The OProfile tests were repeated -using the Intel CPU_CLK_HALTED counter with DMX running on the second -back-end machine. Note that this is a different test configuration that -the one described above. However, these tests show the amount of time -(as measured in CPU cycles) that are spent in each routine. Because -<tt/x11perf/ was running on the first back-end machine and because -window optimizations were on, the load on the second back-end machine -was not significant. - -<p>Using CPU_CLK_HALTED, DMX showed simple drawing -tests spending more than 10% of their time in -StandardReadRequestFromClient(), with significant time (> 20% total) -spent in SecurityLookupIDByClass(), WaitForSomething(), and Dispatch(). -For these tests, < 5% of the time was spent in Hash(), which explains -why optimizing the Hash() routine did not impact <tt/x11perf/ results. - -<p>The trapezoid, text, scrolling, copying, and image tests were -dominated by time in ProcFillPoly(), PanoramiXFillPoly(), dmxFillPolygon(), -SecurityLookupIDByClass(), SecurityLookupIDByType(), and -StandardReadRequestFromClient(). Hash() time was generally above 5% but -less than 10% of total time. ---> - -<sect2>X Test Suite - -<p>The X Test Suite was run on the fully optimized DMX server using the -configuration described above. The following failures were noted: - <verb> -XListPixmapFormats: Test 1 [1] -XChangeWindowAttributes: Test 32 [1] -XCreateWindow: Test 30 [1] -XFreeColors: Test 4 [3] -XCopyArea: Test 13, 17, 21, 25, 30 [2] -XCopyPlane: Test 11, 15, 27, 31 [2] -XSetFontPath: Test 4 [1] -XChangeKeyboardControl: Test 9, 10 [1] - -[1] Previously documented errors expected from the Xinerama - implementation (see Phase I discussion). -[2] Newly noted errors that have been verified as expected - behavior of the Xinerama implementation. -[3] Newly noted error that has been verified as a Xinerama - implementation bug. - </verb> - -<!-- ============================================================ --> -<sect1>Phase III - -<p>During the third phase of development, support was provided for the -following extensions: SHAPE, RENDER, XKEYBOARD, XInput. - -<sect2>SHAPE - -<p>The SHAPE extension is supported. Test applications (e.g., xeyes and -oclock) and window managers that make use of the SHAPE extension will -work as expected. - -<sect2>RENDER - -<p>The RENDER extension is supported. The version included in the DMX -CVS tree is version 0.2, and this version is fully supported by Xdmx. -Applications using only version 0.2 functions will work correctly; -however, some apps that make use of functions from later versions do not -properly check the extension's major/minor version numbers. These apps -will fail with a Bad Implementation error when using post-version 0.2 -functions. This is expected behavior. When the DMX CVS tree is updated -to include newer versions of RENDER, support for these newer functions -will be added to the DMX X server. - -<sect2>XKEYBOARD - -<p>The XKEYBOARD extension is supported. If present on the back-end X -servers, the XKEYBOARD extension will be used to obtain information -about the type of the keyboard for initialization. Otherwise, the -keyboard will be initialized using defaults. Note that this departs -from older behavior: when Xdmx is compiled without XKEYBOARD support, -the map from the back-end X server will be preserved. With XKEYBOARD -support, the map is not preserved because better information and control -of the keyboard is available. - -<sect2>XInput - -<p>The XInput extension is supported. Any device can be used as a core -device and be used as an XInput extension device, with the exception of -core devices on the back-end servers. This limitation is present -because cursor handling on the back-end requires that the back-end -cursor sometimes track the Xdmx core cursor -- behavior that is -incompatible with using the back-end pointer as a non-core device. - -<p>Currently, back-end extension devices are not available as Xdmx -extension devices, but this limitation should be removed in the future. - -<p>To demonstrate the XInput extension, and to provide more examples for -low-level input device driver writers, USB device drivers have been -written for mice (usb-mou), keyboards (usb-kbd), and -non-mouse/non-keyboard USB devices (usb-oth). Please see the man page -for information on Linux kernel drivers that are required for using -these Xdmx drivers. - -<sect2>DPMS - -<p>The DPMS extension is exported but does not do anything at this time. - -<sect2>Other Extensions - -<p>The LBX, - SECURITY, - XC-APPGROUP, and - XFree86-Bigfont -extensions do not require any special Xdmx support and have been exported. - -<p>The - BIG-REQUESTS, - DEC-XTRAP, - DOUBLE-BUFFER, - Extended-Visual-Information, - FontCache, - GLX, - MIT-SCREEN-SAVER, - MIT-SHM, - MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD, - RECORD, - SECURITY, - SGI-GLX, - SYNC, - TOG-CUP, - X-Resource, - XC-MISC, - XFree86-DGA, - XFree86-DRI, - XFree86-Misc, - XFree86-VidModeExtension, and - XVideo -extensions are <it/not/ supported at this time, but will be evaluated -for inclusion in future DMX releases. <bf>See below for additional work -on extensions after Phase III.</bf> - -<sect1>Phase IV - -<sect2>Moving to XFree86 4.3.0 - -<p>For Phase IV, the recent release of XFree86 4.3.0 (27 February 2003) -was merged onto the dmx.sourceforge.net CVS trunk and all work is -proceeding using this tree. - -<sect2>Extensions - -<sect3>XC-MISC (supported) - -<p>XC-MISC is used internally by the X library to recycle XIDs from the -X server. This is important for long-running X server sessions. Xdmx -supports this extension. The X Test Suite passed and failed the exact -same tests before and after this extension was enabled. -<!-- Tested February/March 2003 --> - -<sect3>Extended-Visual-Information (supported) - -<p>The Extended-Visual-Information extension provides a method for an X -client to obtain detailed visual information. Xdmx supports this -extension. It was tested using the <tt>hw/dmx/examples/evi</tt> example -program. <bf/Note that this extension is not Xinerama-aware/ -- it will -return visual information for each screen even though Xinerama is -causing the X server to export a single logical screen. -<!-- Tested March 2003 --> - -<sect3>RES (supported) - -<p>The X-Resource extension provides a mechanism for a client to obtain -detailed information about the resources used by other clients. This -extension was tested with the <tt>hw/dmx/examples/res</tt> program. The -X Test Suite passed and failed the exact same tests before and after -this extension was enabled. -<!-- Tested March 2003 --> - -<sect3>BIG-REQUESTS (supported) - -<p>This extension enables the X11 protocol to handle requests longer -than 262140 bytes. The X Test Suite passed and failed the exact same -tests before and after this extension was enabled. -<!-- Tested March 2003 --> - -<sect3>XSYNC (supported) - -<p>This extension provides facilities for two different X clients to -synchronize their requests. This extension was minimally tested with -<tt/xdpyinfo/ and the X Test Suite passed and failed the exact same -tests before and after this extension was enabled. -<!-- Tested March 2003 --> - -<sect3>XTEST, RECORD, DEC-XTRAP (supported) and XTestExtension1 (not supported) - -<p>The XTEST and RECORD extension were developed by the X Consortium for -use in the X Test Suite and are supported as a standard in the X11R6 -tree. They are also supported in Xdmx. When X Test Suite tests that -make use of the XTEST extension are run, Xdmx passes and fails exactly -the same tests as does a standard XFree86 X server. When the -<tt/rcrdtest/ test (a part of the X Test Suite that verifies the RECORD -extension) is run, Xdmx passes and fails exactly the same tests as does -a standard XFree86 X server. <!-- Tested February/March 2003 --> - -<p>There are two older XTEST-like extensions: DEC-XTRAP and -XTestExtension1. The XTestExtension1 extension was developed for use by -the X Testing Consortium for use with a test suite that eventually -became (part of?) the X Test Suite. Unlike XTEST, which only allows -events to be sent to the server, the XTestExtension1 extension also -allowed events to be recorded (similar to the RECORD extension). The -second is the DEC-XTRAP extension that was developed by the Digital -Equipment Corporation. - -<p>The DEC-XTRAP extension is available from Xdmx and has been tested -with the <tt/xtrap*/ tools which are distributed as standard X11R6 -clients. <!-- Tested March 2003 --> - -<p>The XTestExtension1 is <em/not/ supported because it does not appear -to be used by any modern X clients (the few that support it also support -XTEST) and because there are no good methods available for testing that -it functions correctly (unlike XTEST and DEC-XTRAP, the code for -XTestExtension1 is not part of the standard X server source tree, so -additional testing is important). <!-- Tested March 2003 --> - -<p>Most of these extensions are documented in the X11R6 source tree. -Further, several original papers exist that this author was unable to -locate -- for completeness and historical interest, citations are -provide: -<descrip> -<tag/XRECORD/ Martha Zimet. Extending X For Recording. 8th Annual X -Technical Conference Boston, MA January 24-26, 1994. -<tag/DEC-XTRAP/ Dick Annicchiarico, Robert Chesler, Alan Jamison. XTrap -Architecture. Digital Equipment Corporation, July 1991. -<tag/XTestExtension1/ Larry Woestman. X11 Input Synthesis Extension -Proposal. Hewlett Packard, November 1991. -</descrip> - -<sect3>MIT-MISC (not supported) - -<p>The MIT-MISC extension is used to control a bug-compatibility flag -that provides compatibility with xterm programs from X11R1 and X11R2. -There does not appear to be a single client available that makes use of -this extension and there is not way to verify that it works correctly. -The Xdmx server does <em/not/ support MIT-MISC. - -<sect3>SCREENSAVER (not supported) - -<p>This extension provides special support for the X screen saver. It -was tested with beforelight, which appears to be the only client that -works with it. When Xinerama was not active, <tt/beforelight/ behaved -as expected. However, when Xinerama was active, <tt/beforelight/ did -not behave as expected. Further, when this extension is not active, -<tt/xscreensaver/ (a widely-used X screen saver program) did not behave -as expected. Since this extension is not Xinerama-aware and is not -commonly used with expected results by clients, we have left this -extension disabled at this time. - -<sect3>GLX (supported) - -<p>The GLX extension provides OpenGL and GLX windowing support. In -Xdmx, the extension is called glxProxy, and it is Xinerama aware. It -works by either feeding requests forward through Xdmx to each of the -back-end servers or handling them locally. All rendering requests are -handled on the back-end X servers. This code was donated to the DMX -project by SGI. For the X Test Suite results comparison, see below. - -<sect3>RENDER (supported) - -<p>The X Rendering Extension (RENDER) provides support for digital image -composition. Geometric and text rendering are supported. RENDER is -partially Xinerama-aware, with text and the most basic compositing -operator; however, its higher level primitives (triangles, triangle -strips, and triangle fans) are not yet Xinerama-aware. The RENDER -extension is still under development, and is currently at version 0.8. -Additional support will be required in DMX as more primitives and/or -requests are added to the extension. - -<p>There is currently no test suite for the X Rendering Extension; -however, there has been discussion of developing a test suite as the -extension matures. When that test suite becomes available, additional -testing can be performed with Xdmx. The X Test Suite passed and failed -the exact same tests before and after this extension was enabled. - -<sect3>Summary - -<!-- WARNING: this list is duplicated in the "Common X extension -support" section --> -<p>To summarize, the following extensions are currently supported: - BIG-REQUESTS, - DEC-XTRAP, - DMX, - DPMS, - Extended-Visual-Information, - GLX, - LBX, - RECORD, - RENDER, - SECURITY, - SHAPE, - SYNC, - X-Resource, - XC-APPGROUP, - XC-MISC, - XFree86-Bigfont, - XINERAMA, - XInputExtension, - XKEYBOARD, and - XTEST. - -<p>The following extensions are <em/not/ supported at this time: - DOUBLE-BUFFER, - FontCache, - MIT-SCREEN-SAVER, - MIT-SHM, - MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD, - TOG-CUP, - XFree86-DGA, - XFree86-Misc, - XFree86-VidModeExtension, - XTestExtensionExt1, and - XVideo. - -<sect2>Additional Testing with the X Test Suite - -<sect3>XFree86 without XTEST - -<p>After the release of XFree86 4.3.0, we retested the XFree86 X server -with and without using the XTEST extension. When the XTEST extension -was <em/not/ used for testing, the XFree86 4.3.0 server running on our -usual test system with a Radeon VE card reported unexpected failures in -the following tests: -<verb> -XListPixmapFormats: Test 1 -XChangeKeyboardControl: Tests 9, 10 -XGetDefault: Test 5 -XRebindKeysym: Test 1 -</verb> - -<sect3>XFree86 with XTEST - -<p>When using the XTEST extension, the XFree86 4.3.0 server reported the -following errors: -<verb> -XListPixmapFormats: Test 1 -XChangeKeyboardControl: Tests 9, 10 -XGetDefault: Test 5 -XRebindKeysym: Test 1 - -XAllowEvents: Tests 20, 21, 24 -XGrabButton: Tests 5, 9-12, 14, 16, 19, 21-25 -XGrabKey: Test 8 -XSetPointerMapping: Test 3 -XUngrabButton: Test 4 -</verb> - -<p>While these errors may be important, they will probably be fixed -eventually in the XFree86 source tree. We are particularly interested -in demonstrating that the Xdmx server does not introduce additional -failures that are not known Xinerama failures. - -<sect3>Xdmx with XTEST, without Xinerama, without GLX - -<p>Without Xinerama, but using the XTEST extension, the following errors -were reported from Xdmx (note that these are the same as for the XFree86 -4.3.0, except that XGetDefault no longer fails): -<verb> -XListPixmapFormats: Test 1 -XChangeKeyboardControl: Tests 9, 10 -XRebindKeysym: Test 1 - -XAllowEvents: Tests 20, 21, 24 -XGrabButton: Tests 5, 9-12, 14, 16, 19, 21-25 -XGrabKey: Test 8 -XSetPointerMapping: Test 3 -XUngrabButton: Test 4 -</verb> - -<sect3>Xdmx with XTEST, with Xinerama, without GLX - -<p>With Xinerama, using the XTEST extension, the following errors -were reported from Xdmx: -<verb> -XListPixmapFormats: Test 1 -XChangeKeyboardControl: Tests 9, 10 -XRebindKeysym: Test 1 - -XAllowEvents: Tests 20, 21, 24 -XGrabButton: Tests 5, 9-12, 14, 16, 19, 21-25 -XGrabKey: Test 8 -XSetPointerMapping: Test 3 -XUngrabButton: Test 4 - -XCopyPlane: Tests 13, 22, 31 (well-known XTEST/Xinerama interaction issue) -XDrawLine: Test 67 -XDrawLines: Test 91 -XDrawSegments: Test 68 -</verb> -Note that the first two sets of errors are the same as for the XFree86 -4.3.0 server, and that the XCopyPlane error is a well-known error -resulting from an XTEST/Xinerama interaction when the request crosses a -screen boundary. The XDraw* errors are resolved when the tests are run -individually and they do not cross a screen boundary. We will -investigate these errors further to determine their cause. - -<sect3>Xdmx with XTEST, with Xinerama, with GLX - -<p>With GLX enabled, using the XTEST extension, the following errors -were reported from Xdmx (these results are from early during the Phase -IV development, but were confirmed with a late Phase IV snapshot): -<verb> -XListPixmapFormats: Test 1 -XChangeKeyboardControl: Tests 9, 10 -XRebindKeysym: Test 1 - -XAllowEvents: Tests 20, 21, 24 -XGrabButton: Tests 5, 9-12, 14, 16, 19, 21-25 -XGrabKey: Test 8 -XSetPointerMapping: Test 3 -XUngrabButton: Test 4 - -XClearArea: Test 8 -XCopyArea: Tests 4, 5, 11, 14, 17, 23, 25, 27, 30 -XCopyPlane: Tests 6, 7, 10, 19, 22, 31 -XDrawArcs: Tests 89, 100, 102 -XDrawLine: Test 67 -XDrawSegments: Test 68 -</verb> -Note that the first two sets of errors are the same as for the XFree86 -4.3.0 server, and that the third set has different failures than when -Xdmx does not include GLX support. Since the GLX extension adds new -visuals to support GLX's visual configs and the X Test Suite runs tests -over the entire set of visuals, additional rendering tests were run and -presumably more of them crossed a screen boundary. This conclusion is -supported by the fact that nearly all of the rendering errors reported -are resolved when the tests are run individually and they do no cross a -screen boundary. - -<p>Further, when hardware rendering is disabled on the back-end displays, -many of the errors in the third set are eliminated, leaving only: -<verb> -XClearArea: Test 8 -XCopyArea: Test 4, 5, 11, 14, 17, 23, 25, 27, 30 -XCopyPlane: Test 6, 7, 10, 19, 22, 31 -</verb> - -<sect3>Conclusion - -<p>We conclude that all of the X Test Suite errors reported for Xdmx are -the result of errors in the back-end X server or the Xinerama -implementation. Further, all of these errors that can be reasonably -fixed at the Xdmx layer have been. (Where appropriate, we have -submitted patches to the XFree86 and Xinerama upstream maintainers.) - -<sect2>Dynamic Reconfiguration - -<p>During this development phase, dynamic reconfiguration support was -added to DMX. This support allows an application to change the position -and offset of a back-end server's screen. For example, if the -application would like to shift a screen slightly to the left, it could -query Xdmx for the screen's <x,y> position and then dynamically -reconfigure that screen to be at position <x+10,y>. When a screen -is dynamically reconfigured, input handling and a screen's root window -dimensions are adjusted as needed. These adjustments are transparent to -the user. - -<sect3>Dynamic reconfiguration extension - -<p>The application interface to DMX's dynamic reconfiguration is through -a function in the DMX extension library: -<verb> -Bool DMXReconfigureScreen(Display *dpy, int screen, int x, int y) -</verb> -where <it/dpy/ is DMX server's display, <it/screen/ is the number of the -screen to be reconfigured, and <it/x/ and <it/y/ are the new upper, -left-hand coordinates of the screen to be reconfigured. - -<p>The coordinates are not limited other than as required by the X -protocol, which limits all coordinates to a signed 16 bit number. In -addition, all coordinates within a screen must also be legal values. -Therefore, setting a screen's upper, left-hand coordinates such that the -right or bottom edges of the screen is greater than 32,767 is illegal. - -<sect3>Bounding box - -<p>When the Xdmx server is started, a bounding box is calculated from -the screens' layout given either on the command line or in the -configuration file. This bounding box is currently fixed for the -lifetime of the Xdmx server. - -<p>While it is possible to move a screen outside of the bounding box, it -is currently not possible to change the dimensions of the bounding box. -For example, it is possible to specify coordinates of <-100,-100> -for the upper, left-hand corner of the bounding box, which was -previously at coordinates <0,0>. As expected, the screen is moved -down and to the right; however, since the bounding box is fixed, the -left side and upper portions of the screen exposed by the -reconfiguration are no longer accessible on that screen. Those -inaccessible regions are filled with black. - -<p>This fixed bounding box limitation will be addressed in a future -development phase. - -<sect3>Sample applications - -<p>An example of where this extension is useful is in setting up a video -wall. It is not always possible to get everything perfectly aligned, -and sometimes the positions are changed (e.g., someone might bump into a -projector). Instead of physically moving projectors or monitors, it is -now possible to adjust the positions of the back-end server's screens -using the dynamic reconfiguration support in DMX. - -<p>Other applications, such as automatic setup and calibration tools, -can make use of dynamic reconfiguration to correct for projector -alignment problems, as long as the projectors are still arranged -rectilinearly. Horizontal and vertical keystone correction could be -applied to projectors to correct for non-rectilinear alignment problems; -however, this must be done external to Xdmx. - -<p>A sample test program is included in the DMX server's examples -directory to demonstrate the interface and how an application might use -dynamic reconfiguration. See <tt/dmxreconfig.c/ for details. - -<sect3>Additional notes - -<p>In the original development plan, Phase IV was primarily devoted to -adding OpenGL support to DMX; however, SGI became interested in the DMX -project and developed code to support OpenGL/GLX. This code was later -donated to the DMX project and integrated into the DMX code base, which -freed the DMX developers to concentrate on dynamic reconfiguration (as -described above). - -<sect2>Doxygen documentation - -<p>Doxygen is an open-source (GPL) documentation system for generating -browseable documentation from stylized comments in the source code. We -have placed all of the Xdmx server and DMX protocol source code files -under Doxygen so that comprehensive documentation for the Xdmx source -code is available in an easily browseable format. - -<sect2>Valgrind - -<p>Valgrind, an open-source (GPL) memory debugger for Linux, was used to -search for memory management errors. Several memory leaks were detected -and repaired. The following errors were not addressed: -<enum> - <item> - When the X11 transport layer sends a reply to the client, only - those fields that are required by the protocol are filled in -- - unused fields are left as uninitialized memory and are therefore - noted by valgrind. These instances are not errors and were not - repaired. - <item> - At each server generation, glxInitVisuals allocates memory that - is never freed. The amount of memory lost each generation - approximately equal to 128 bytes for each back-end visual. - Because the code involved is automatically generated, this bug - has not been fixed and will be referred to SGI. - <item> - At each server generation, dmxRealizeFont calls XLoadQueryFont, - which allocates a font structure that is not freed. - dmxUnrealizeFont can free the font structure for the first - screen, but cannot free it for the other screens since they are - already closed by the time dmxUnrealizeFont could free them. - The amount of memory lost each generation is approximately equal - to 80 bytes per font per back-end. When this bug is fixed in - the the X server's device-independent (dix) code, DMX will be - able to properly free the memory allocated by XLoadQueryFont. -</enum> - -<sect2>RATS - -<p>RATS (Rough Auditing Tool for Security) is an open-source (GPL) -security analysis tool that scans source code for common -security-related programming errors (e.g., buffer overflows and TOCTOU -races). RATS was used to audit all of the code in the hw/dmx directory -and all "High" notations were checked manually. The code was either -re-written to eliminate the warning, or a comment containing "RATS" was -inserted on the line to indicate that a human had checked the code. -Unrepaired warnings are as follows: -<enum> - <item> - Fixed-size buffers are used in many areas, but code has been - added to protect against buffer overflows (e.g., XmuSnprint). - The only instances that have not yet been fixed are in - config/xdmxconfig.c (which is not part of the Xdmx server) and - input/usb-common.c. - <item> - vprintf and vfprintf are used in the logging routines. In - general, all uses of these functions (e.g., dmxLog) provide a - constant format string from a trusted source, so the use is - relatively benign. - <item> - glxProxy/glxscreens.c uses getenv and strcat. The use of these - functions is safe and will remain safe as long as - ExtensionsString is longer then GLXServerExtensions (ensuring - this may not be ovious to the casual programmer, but this is in - automatically generated code, so we hope that the generator - enforces this constraint). -</enum> - - </article> - - <!-- Local Variables: --> - <!-- fill-column: 72 --> - <!-- End: --> |