As Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex development continues, Phoronix is reporting that there has been some discussion on the ubuntu-devel mailing list about removing or disabling bullet-proof X, a feature designed to make it so that a user is never kicked into a command line interface (CLI) due to display problems. The basic argument for doing this is that there have been a number of unfixed bugs in bullet-proof X and, as pointed out by Phoronix, advanced users may prefer being kicked to a CLI to debug the problem.

While these are reasonable arguments, I don’t think dropping a good idea, in this case bullet-proof X, is, well, a good idea. To be fair, there is some discussion of replacing bullet-proof X with a more integrated solution to accomplish the same thing, which would be fine. What I am worried about is simply dropping it and potentially scaring new users away.

Right now nothing is certain, though, so don’t get too upset.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 6:08 pm and is filed under Development, Opinion, Ubuntu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.