Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU!mouse
From: mouse@LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (der Mouse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re:  what i want in R5
Message-ID: <9007070539.AA16621@Larry.McRCIM.McGill.EDU>
Date: 7 Jul 90 05:39:58 GMT
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 27

> I would like to see the following in the next release of X11:

> 3. there should be some way to determine which release a particular
>    vendor's X implementation is based on.

And if it's not based upon an MIT release, or if it's a blend of more
than one?

>    for example, i write a client that must run on a release 4 server.

What are you doing that depends on the server being an R4 server?  More
likely you're depending on the existence of a feature which arrived in
the MIT server with R4, like the SHAPE extension.  You should be
testing for the presence of the feature rather than for the generic
release number.  (This is a common problem with software releases,
particularly with OS features.  People configure "for BSD" or "for SV"
when what should really be done is is to configure "has/hasn't
symlinks", "has/hasn't 14-character filename limit", etc; there are
enough half-breed systems[%] out there that the latter is much more
useful.)

[%] Intended as descriptive rather than pejorative.

					der Mouse

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