| Developer(s) | Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia, X.Org Foundation, Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| Stable release | |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Type | Display server |
| License | Apple Public Source License MIT License |
| Website | www.xquartz.org |
XQuartz is an open-source version of the X.Org X server, a component of the X Window System (X11, or shortened to simply X, and sometimes informally X-Windows) that runs on macOS.[1] It formally replaced Apple's internal X11 app. The name 'XQuartz' derives from Quartz, part of the macOS Core Graphics framework, to which XQuartz connects these applications. XQuartz allows cross-platform applications using X11 for the GUI to run on macOS, many of which are not specifically designed for macOS. This includes numerous scientific and academic software projects.[2]
Nov 14, 2009 Apple X11 for Mac OS X offers a complete X Window System implementation for running X11-based applications on Mac OS X. Based on the de facto-standard for X11, the open source XFree86 project, X11 for Mac OS X is compatible, fast and fully integrated with Mac OS X. Nov 08, 2003 I don't have a clue about what X11 is, I just figured it was something which would let me run any UNIX/Linux program in OS X without porting. Yes, I thought they had found a way to do that. The way I tried running it was by drag/dropping the Linux executable on the X11 app. Please, tell me what X11 is then, and how to use it. Such high end applications like EnSight, Techplot, Mathlab, have been proted on os x with X11. RSI IDL has been proted on osx using X11. All popular Linux applications run on osx natively with X11, should i remind you Gimp, running on osx using X11. You can also run KDE, Gnome, etc, all of them are available via Fink. Go to Leopards Applications: Utilities folder and double-click on X11.app. That will open xterm. Best X11 Apps Mac OS X S Best X11 Apps Mac OS X. At first, you might think its just another command-line tool like Mac OS X s Terminal. But xterm is actually a gateway to something much bigger: the X11 graphical computing environment. This is an ssh tunnel for all your X11 traffic back to your Mac. I use.ssh -X. every day at work talking to Linux boxes. At worse, you might need to replace the -X with a -Y if the remote system is untrusted.
History[edit]
Install X11 Mac
X11.app was initially available as a downloadable public beta for Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and later included as a standard package for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. In Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger X11.app was an optional install included on the install DVD. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion installed X11.app by default, but from OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion on Apple dropped dedicated support for X11.app, with users being directed to the open source XQuartz project (to which Apple contributes) instead.[2]
In Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Apple's X11 implemented X11 protocol release 6.6 (X11R6.6). This implementation includes an XFree86 4.4 based X11 window server, Quartz rootless window manager, libraries, and basic utilities such as xterm.[3] 'Rootless' means that X window applications show up on the Quartz desktop, appearing like any other windowed Quartz application (that is, not in a virtual desktop contained within another window). In Mac OS X Leopard, X11 was updated to use X.Org Server (X11R7.2) rather than XFree86.[4] The source code for X11 is available from Apple. Some source code is available under the Apple Public Source License while the bulk is licensed under the MIT License.
Current version[edit]
The current version of XQuartz is a DDX (Device Dependent X[5]) included in the X.Org Server and implements support for hardware-accelerated 2D graphics (in versions prior to 2.1), hardware OpenGL acceleration and integration with Aqua, the macOS graphical user interface (GUI). As of version 2.7.11, XQuartz does not provide support for high-resolution Retina displays to X11 apps, which run in pixel-doubled mode on high-resolution displays.
List of versions (since 2010)[edit]
| Version[6] | macOS Requirement | Most important changes | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| XQuartz 2.7.11 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2016-10-29 | |
| XQuartz 2.7.10 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2016-10-22 | |
| XQuartz 2.7.9 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2016-05-05 | |
| XQuartz 2.7.8 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | First release supported on OS X El Capitan | 2015-10-17 |
| XQuartz 2.7.7 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | First release supported on OS X Yosemite | 2014-08-18 |
| XQuartz 2.7.6 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2014-05-17 | |
| XQuartz 2.7.5 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | First release supported on OS X Mavericks | 2013-11-10 |
| XQuartz 2.7.4 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2012-09-27 | |
| XQuartz 2.7.3 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2012-08-27 | |
| XQuartz 2.7.2 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | First release supported on OS X Mountain Lion | 2012-06-01 |
| XQuartz 2.7.1 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2012-06-01 | |
| XQuartz 2.7.0 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | First release supported on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion | 2011-11-04 |
| XQuartz 2.6.3 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2011-07-20 | |
| XQuartz 2.6.2 | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later | 2011-04-30 | |
| XQuartz 2.6.1 | Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later | 2011-03-17 | |
| XQuartz 2.6.0 | Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later | 2010-12-19 | |
| XQuartz 2.5.3 | Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later | 2010-08-13 | |
| XQuartz 2.5.2 | Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later | 2010-07-20 | |
| XQuartz 2.5.1 | Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later | 2010-07-10 | |
| XQuartz 2.5.0 | Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later | First release supported on Mac OS X Snow Leopard | 2010-03-29 |
See also[edit]
- MacX, X11 support on Classic Mac OS
- XWayland, to support X application under Wayland
- XDarwin, an implementation of X for macOS that preceded XQuartz, and supports versions of macOS before 10.3 unlike XQuartz
References[edit]
- ^'XQuartz'.
- ^ ab'Apple Removes X11 in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Shifts Support to Open Source XQuartz'. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
- ^'XQuartz'. September 14, 2016.
- ^'Inside Leopard: Under-the-hood, Page 2'. Macworld. November 2, 2007. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
- ^'Glossary'. www.x.org. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ^'XQuartz - Releases Archive'. www.xquartz.org. Retrieved January 22, 2017.