The major goal of the MIT X Consortium is to promote cooperation within the
computer industry in the creation of standard software interfaces at all layers
in the X Window System environment.  This software distribution is a
by-product.  The status of various standards and proposed standards, and of the
software in this distribution, is explained below.

The Version 11 protocol, as defined by the specification in doc/Protocol/, is
the foundation standard for the X Window System.  The Consortium expects all
X11 servers provided by vendors to conform to this specification.  The server
implementations found in server/ are sample implementations, not reference
implementations.  Although much of the code is believed to be correct, the code
should be assumed to be in error wherever it conflicts with the specification.
The server interfaces described in doc/Server/ are not Consortium standards,
although it is hoped the extension interface defined in doc/Server/ext.doc
can be used to implement reasonably portable server extensions.

None of the protocol extensions defined in extensions/ and doc/extensions/ are
standards; these interfaces are highly unlikely to be supported in most product
servers, and are subject to change or deletion without warning.

The C Xlib interface, as defined by the reference manual in doc/Xlib/, is the
standard programming interface to the protocol for the C language.  The
Consortium views Xlib as an exclusive standard (the Consortium will not adopt
any other interface to the protocol for C as a standard), and expects all
vendors providing X interfaces for C to also provide Xlib.  The Xlib
implementation in lib/X/ and lib/oldX/ is a sample implementation, not a
reference implementation, although the code is believed to be essentially
correct.  Any interfaces that appear to be external in the implementation but
are not documented in the reference manual are not part of the standard, are
subject to change without warning, and should not be relied upon.  The
pseudo-root code in XOpenDisplay is experimental, not part of the standard,
and subject to change without warning.

The Common Lisp CLX interface, implemented in lib/CLX, is not a Consortium
standard.  However, the Consortium expects to review the interface for
standardization in the near future.  Parts of the interface may change during
that review process.

The Xt Intrinsics, as defined by the reference manual in doc/Xt, is a standard
toolkit interface for C.  Xt is a non-exclusive standard; the Consortium does
not preclude adopting other interfaces in the future, and does not require all
C toolkits to be layered on top of Xt.  Vendors providing Xlib as a product are
expected to provide the Xt Intrinsics as well.  The implementation in lib/Xt/
is a sample implementation, not a reference implementation.  The code is
believed to be reasonably correct.  Any interfaces that appear to be external
in the implementation but are not documented in the reference manual are not
part of the standard, are subject to change without warning, and should not be
relied upon.

The Athena Widget set, as defined in doc/Xaw/ and implemented in lib/Xaw/, is
not a Consortium standard.  MIT Project Athena has primary control over this
interface definition.

Not all of the include files in X11/ are parts of Consortium standards.  The
ones that are (as part of Xlib) are X.h, Xatom.h, Xproto.h, Xprotostr.h,
keysym.h, and keysymdef.h.

The Xmu library, implemented in lib/Xmu/, is not a Consortium standard.  This
library consists of various utility routines deemed generally useful by the MIT
staff.  This library will probably expand in the future.

The RGB database, defined in rgb/rgb.txt, is not a Consortium standard.
A better database is very much needed.

Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF), defined in doc/bdf/, is a standard font
source interchange format.  BDF is a non-exclusive standard; the Consortium
does not preclude adopting other formats in the future.  Vendors providing
servers are expected to provide a compiler to convert BDF format to whatever
formats are usable by those servers.  The sample compiler provided in
fonts/bdftosnf/ is not a Consortium standard, and the SNF format used in the
sample server is not a Consortium standard.

None of the fonts provided in fonts/bdf/ are Consortium standards; vendors are
free to ship whatever fonts they desire.  The font naming scheme used for the
Adobe, Bitstream, and Digital fonts is under review by the Consortium as a
standard.  This scheme is described in doc/fontnames/fnames.txt.

None of the applications in this distribution are Consortium standards;
vendors are free to ship whatever applications they desire.

Nothing in contrib/ is a Consortium standard.

The PEX protocol extension, defined in doc/extensions/pex/, is awaiting a
proof of concept (in the form of a public implementation) before final
acceptance as a Consortium standard.  The PEX protocol may still change as a
result of implementation feedback.


A number of specifications are in the process of being reviewed by the
Consortium for possible standardization.  A brief summary of these is provided
below.  After review within the Consortium, the specifications will be made
available for a public review.

Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM)
    Sponsor:		Sun

Multi-Buffering Protocol Extension (double/multi-buffering and stereo)
    Sponsor:		Digital

Font Naming (consistent font naming scheme)
    Sponsor:		Digital

Compound String Format (multi-lingual text)
    Sponsor:		Digital

Image Processing Protocol Extension
    Sponsor:		Digital

Input Device Extension (additional input devices)
    Sponsor:		HP and Ardent