Bug 349788 – X server configuration HOWTO and HAL deprecation

• Product: [OLD] Docs on www.gentoo.org
• Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE

[Description Jérémy Just 2010-12-26 15:39:28 UTC]

A lot of effort has been put to update the X server configuration HOWTO to describe the use of HAL, but, as far as I understand, HAL is now being deprecated.

  Yesterday, when I upgraded my Xorg server from version 1.7.7 to 1.9.2 (current stable), I had a hard time getting back my French keyboard layout, because no documentation was available, apart of some random posts in forums, with a lot of bad advice. The HAL .fdi files now seem to be almost useless (maybe some X11-team guy can confirm?).
  Finally, I read on a blog that I had to configure the Xorg server through evdev, using files such as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf and /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-synaptics.conf
(see <http://geekfault.org/2010/05/09/choisir-son-keymap-x-org-1-8-sans-xorg-conf-ni-hack/> for the file contents; sorry, it's in French, but the conf files should be understandable by anyone).

  Maybe the X server configuration HOWTO should:
 - clearly state the level of HAL deprecation (is HAL still needed?),
 - give the Right Way of configuring the keyboard and pointing device.


  This documentation is really to short to help:
http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/x/x11/xorg-server-1.9-upgrade-guide.xml

  And this one:
http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/x/x11/xorg-server-1.8-upgrade-guide.xml
is a good starting point but will not be read by anyone because the 1.8 Xorg server has never been stabilized. I haven't been able to find it using Google yesterday, when I met my keyboard configuration problem.

[Comment 1 Michał Górny 2010-12-26 15:49:09 UTC]

(In reply to comment #0)
> The HAL .fdi files now seem to be almost useless
> (maybe some X11-team guy can confirm?).

Yes, they are.

>   This documentation is really to short to help:
> http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/x/x11/xorg-server-1.9-upgrade-guide.xml
> 
>   And this one:
> http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/x/x11/xorg-server-1.8-upgrade-guide.xml
> is a good starting point but will not be read by anyone because the 1.8 Xorg
> server has never been stabilized. I haven't been able to find it using Google
> yesterday, when I met my keyboard configuration problem.

This one is mentioned in the previous one for users migrating from 1.7.

[Comment 2 nm (RETIRED) 2010-12-26 19:23:15 UTC]

Please search  before posting bugs. We already have a request filed for the HAL -> xorg migration.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 349698 ***