For Debian 2.2 ("potato"), the xlib6-static package has been eliminated;
it was very large and it is likely that very few people do static debugging
on libc5 X binaries anymore.

Between Debian 2.0 ("hamm") and 2.1 ("slink") the XFree86 packages were
extensively reorganized; the xbase package exists solely to smooth the
transition for people upgrading from Debian 2.0 or earlier.  Once it has
been installed it may be removed at any time; it contains no programs,
libraries, or documentation.

Example commands are provided below for easy cut-and-pasting.

Important things to note:
1) Now that it has been upgraded, the xbase package should be removed as
soon as is convenient.  Leaving it in place will make it necessary to use
the "--force-depends" option to dpkg to remove any package that xbase
depends on (like xdm and xfs, see below.)  You should not dpkg --purge
xbase; in some situations this causes dpkg to remove conffiles that
formerly belonged to xbase but now belong to other packages.
  dpkg --remove xbase

2) xdm and xfs (among other programs) are now in their own packages.  They
will start automatically on boot if they are installed.  If you do not
desire this, remove the packages before your next reboot.
  dpkg --remove xdm
  dpkg --remove xfs

3) The /etc/X11/config file is no longer used and may be removed.  The
flags in it have been relocated to other files.
  man Xsession.options
  man xdm.options
  man xfs.options

4) The X font and static library packages have been renamed.
    xfntbase    ->    xfonts-base
    xfnt75      ->    xfonts-75dpi
    xfnt100     ->    xfonts-100dpi
    xfntscl     ->    xfonts-scalable
    xfntbig     ->    xfonts-cjk
    xfntcyr     ->    xfonts-cyrillic
    xfntpex     ->    xfonts-pex
    xslib       ->    xlib6-static                   [not present in Debian 2.2]
    xslibg      ->    xlib6g-static
There are no serious consequences of leaving the old X fonts and static
libraries around.  The contents of these packages have not changed.  The X
font server (xfs), for instance, formerly in xbase but now in its own
package, works just as well with xfntbase as with xfonts-base.  Still, it
is advisable to install the renamed versions of these packages as soon as
is convenient, in the event that their contents do change in the future.
Note that most people will only need the first four listed packages; if you
require any of the others, you'll probably know it.
  apt-get install xfonts-base
  apt-get install xfonts-75dpi
  apt-get install xfonts-100dpi
  apt-get install xfonts-scalable
  apt-get install xfonts-cjk
  apt-get install xfonts-cyrillic
  apt-get install xfonts-pex
  apt-get install xlib6-static                       [not present in Debian 2.2]
  apt-get install xlib6g-static

Those looking for documentation about XFree86 and the X Window System should
start in /usr/share/doc/xfree86-common.

Further notes on the X reorganization above follow.

Furthermore, the nature of /etc/X11/Xresources has changed; it is now a
directory containing package-specific resource files instead of a single
file.

xbase used to be a catch-all package, containing all kinds of
miscellaneous data, programs, and documentation.  That is no longer the
case.  Its contents have been redistributed among other packages, and
several completely new packages have been created.

New packages were created for a variety of reasons:
  1) In some cases, there were undeclared dependencies on other programs.
     For instance, the rstart and rstartd programs depend on rsh.
  2) There are several programs which are daemons and should be split out
     for easier management.  This includes xdm and xfs.  I believe the
     programs provided in xproxy (new package) would also work well this
     way, but they are not yet handled like other daemons in Debian.
  3) Some of the X clients provided in the former xbase package, like twm,
     xmh, and xterm, have very popular replacements, and may just be a
     waste of disk space for some people.  (It's worth keeping in mind that
     all of the X source code, even the libraries, was originally intended
     to be only a "sample implementation" of various standards.)
  4) It is desirable to have a common foundation for both systems designed
     to be X terminals (which run all their X clients from a remote
     machine) and for application servers which may not need to run X
     servers on their own display hardware.  That is the purpose of the new
     xfree86-common package.  It also simplifies the task of dealing with
     any large changes in the X directory namespace that may arise in the
     future (e.g., X11R7, or simply putting all of X in /usr).

The new packages in the Debian XFree86 distribution are rstart, rstartd, twm,
xbase-clients, xdm, xfree86-common, xfs, xmh, xproxy, xserver-common, xsm,
and xterm.  Some files from the old xbase package were also placed in
xlib6g (XKB and locale data) and xlib6g-dev (development tools).

xbase is now an effectively empty package that exists only to have the
package management system automatically "pull in" the new packages (and the
latest versions of the X libraries).  Once it has been upgraded, it may be
safely removed.

Furthermore, the X font and static library packages have been renamed.  The
following list summarizes these changes:

    xfntbase    ->    xfonts-base
    xfnt75      ->    xfonts-75dpi
    xfnt100     ->    xfonts-100dpi
    xfntscl     ->    xfonts-scalable
    xfntbig     ->    xfonts-cjk
    xfntcyr     ->    xfonts-cyrillic
    xfntpex     ->    xfonts-pex
    xslib       ->    xlib6-static                   [not present in Debian 2.2]
    xslibg      ->    xlib6g-static

I believe the new names are less cryptic.  Note, however, that the old
packages may not necessarily be automatically upgraded to the new versions.
This is because their names have changed, and as yet there is no easy way
to tell the packaging system that a package has changed its name.  However,
there are no serious consequences of leaving the old X fonts and static
libraries around.  The contents of these packages have not changed.  The X
font server, for instance, formerly in xbase but now in its own package,
works just as well with xfntbase as with xfonts-base.

Still, it is advisable to install the renamed versions of these packages as
soon as is convenient, in the event that their contents do change in the
future.

Upgraders from 3.3.2.3a-1 or earlier are advised to use the new version
of the configuration file /etc/X11/Xsession, or at least incorporate
the new code that merges in X resources from the /etc/X11/Xresources
directory.  Older versions do not do so because /etc/X11/Xresources has
not historically been a directory.

Prior to version 3.3.2.3a-2 of the xbase package, /etc/X11/Xresources was a
file, not a directory, and was automatically checked by dpkg for local
customizations, which would be preserved across upgrades if the packaged
version of the file had not changed (it was a "conffile").  Since the
nature of /etc/X11/Xresources has changed, it is not possible to
automatically handle old versions of the file in any manner that is both
automatic and intelligent.  Those who customized that file should find more
appropriate files within the /etc/X11/Xresources directory to modify.  The
old file will be found in /etc/X11/Xresources.xfree86-common-old.

Branden Robinson, 14 January 2000
