Ubuntu Wiki

This set of wiki pages is primarily focused on assisting new Ubuntu X developers, packagers, testers, and bug triagers.

While there are some links here that may be useful to end users experiencing difficulties or power users want to learn more about X, you may find end-user-focused tips and aids available on the Video Resources page at help.ubuntu.com more suitable.

There are notes scattered about in the wiki comments. These may be removed as the work is done.

Development Foundations

• Development Documentation

  • X/Architecture - High level architectural overview of X.org

  • X/DriverDevelopment - Developing new Xorg drivers for Ubuntu

  • X/DriverBuilding - Building debs of upstream drivers

• Quality Assurance

  • X/Testing - Test Plans for X

  • X/Drivers - Current status of X drivers

  • X/Bugs - Analysis of collection of similar bugs

• Ubuntu X Development

  • X/SwatTeam - Joining the Ubuntu X.org team note that this is the main Ubuntu-X team page...also, it needs to be looked over for possible updates

  • X/Blueprints - Specifications of interest for X

  • X/GitUsage - Instructions for using git

Troubleshooting Resources

• X Debugging Handbook

  1. X Reporting - How to create good X bug reports

  2. X Triaging - How to ensure new X bug reports have enough info to troubleshoot

  3. X Backtracing - How to collect a backtrace for an X crash

  4. X Upstreaming - Forwarding X bugs to their upstream project

  5. X Glossary - Explanations for confusing terms often seen in logs and error messages

  6. X Crash Fixing - How to fix X crashes

  7. X Quirks - Fixes for some common hardware-specific issues

  8. X Troubleshooting - How to analyze X bugs to make them solvable

  9. X/Bisecting - Using bisection techniques to solve regressions or backport fixes

Advanced Topics

• X/Config - How to configure Xorg the page being linked to needs to have each of its links checked for currency, accuracy, validity, and if a page passes those, then for readability and phrasing

• X/NonGraphicalBoot - Running X manually, without gdm

• X/KernelModeSetting - Configuring and using KMS (in Karmic)

• X/Rootless - Running X as a user process, not as the root user

• X/InterpretingIntelGpuDump - Ringbuffers, batchbuffers, and the meaning of intel_gpu_dump output

• X/InputCoordinateTransformation - How to set the mapping of an input device to a display through X

• X/GraphicsQuirks - How to create quirks for graphics drivers tailored to specific hardware models

• XorgOnTheEdge - for bleeding edge packages

Other Resources

• Documentation for developers can be found at Ubuntu Development

• The Foundations Team cares for a variety of critical components needed for building and running the Ubuntu platform

• The Desktop Team handles Gnome and related packages which go into the Ubuntu desktop installation

• The Installer Team looks after the Ubuntu installer

• The Kernel Team is tasked with maintaining the Linux kernel in Ubuntu

• The Mobile Team is tasked with looking after the Mobile Project

• The Bug Squad heroically handles the stream of bugs reported by Ubuntu users

• The Masters of the Universe (MOTU), the Ubuntu Universe packaging team, packages and maintains Ubuntu's massive collection of community-supported software packages

• The Laptop Testing Project checks the hardware compatibility of Ubuntu with laptops

• The Accessibility Team is here to help improve the accessibility technologies available with Ubuntu.