Xtrans - External Pre-requisite Code (Code Smell/Ick)

[CustardEddy]

Going through the process of familiarising myself with the codebase.

Almost immediately, I run into Xtrans.

This is the 'transport layer' (network/IPC) of the server, but is not included in the source tree.

Wasn't hard to track-down the code and history:

1. Originally, all X code was in a monolithic repository.
2. There was duplicated/shared code between server and client apps.
3. Code was refactored into a shared-code location.
4. When the code tree was Gitified, it was moved to a separate repo and now must be available to compile several different components (Xserver, Xlilb).

On my system, this is achieved by copying the code to /usr/include/X11/Xtrans.

"Code" is:

• Xtrans.h
• Xtrans.c
• Xtransint.h
• Xtranslcl.c
• Xtranssock.c
• Xtransutil.c
• transport.c

I've seen my fair-share of 'funky' build stuff (and probably done some funky stuff myself...) but this is really something!

The code is written to vary at compile-time, using a lot of # conditionals. It's not, ultimately, a lot of code, and doesn't appear that complex - it's mostly wrappers around open(), close(), read(), write() etc.

I'm about 95% that this isn't used in any public interfaces; it's an implementation helper library, but doesn't do any actual X Protocol stuff (need to do more thorough analysis to be 100%).

Options are:

1. Status quo - I REALLY don't like this, as it, at minimum, requires some jank at build-time.
2. Add as git external reference - trap to the unwary, but at least you should get all you need with a pull/clone. (Should probably mirror the repo too...)
3. Convert to 'proper' library - I don't like this, as a lot (maybe all) of this code is VERY definitely implementation detail, intended only to be shared between X Window System components. It opens the door to creating customers we aren't courting...
4. Import into the relevant projects - Would increase simplicity, but means duplicated code.
5. Swap for an existing connection-management library? - Not aware of any off the top of my head, and means additional dependencies. (Been a while since I've done network coding...)

My current order of preference is:

4, 2, 5, 3, 1.

Though, I am very open to discussion (well, 1 will never move from my least favourite! 😆 )

[tocariimaa]

there's already a PR for incorporating it into the X server tree: X11Libre/xserver#275

[CustardEddy]

Ugh, yeah, I checked issues, but not PRs 🤷