{{Short description|Nonprofit organization}} {{about|the post-2004 X.Org organization|the pre-2004 organization|X Window System#X.Org and XFree86}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox organization | name = X.Org Foundation | logo = frameless|class=skin-invert|upright=0.4 | type = Non-profit | founded = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2004|01|22}} | founder = | location = <!-- this parameter modifies "Headquarters" --> | origins = | region_served = | product = X.Org Server | mission = | focus = | method = Development | revenue = | endowment = | num_volunteers = | num_employees = | num_members = | subsid = | owner = | parent_organization = Software Freedom Conservancy<ref>{{cite web |title=Information for Sponsors |url=https://x.org/wiki/SponsorshipPage/#informationforsponsors |website=X.Org |publisher=X.Org Foundation |access-date=20 August 2025}}</ref> | website = {{URL|https://x.org}} | dissolved = | footnotes = }}
The '''X.Org Foundation''' is a non-profit corporation chartered to research, develop, support, organize, administrate, standardize, promote, and defend a free and open accelerated graphics stack. This includes, but is not limited to, the following projects: DRM, Mesa, Wayland, and X11 and its primary implementation, the X.Org Server.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.x.org/wiki/BylawReview/ProposedBylawsSPI2015.pdf |title=Proposed Bylaws of the X.Org Foundation |date=2015-03-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://fosdem.org/2014/schedule/event/xorg_foundation/ |title=FOSDEM2014: State of the X.Org Foundation |date=2014-02-01 |access-date=2014-02-16}}</ref>
==Organization== The X.Org Foundation was founded on 22 January 2004.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://lwn.net/Articles/79302/ | title=X.Org Foundation releases X Window System X11R6.7 | publisher=LWN.net | date=2004-04-07 | access-date=2014-09-14}}</ref>
The modern X.Org Foundation came into being when the body that oversaw X standards and published the official reference implementation joined forces with former XFree86 developers.<ref>{{cite web|last=Coopersmith|first=Alan|title=The difference between Xorg and XFree86|url=https://blogs.oracle.com/solaris/the-difference-between-xorg-and-xfree86-v2|date=28 May 2004|access-date=17 September 2018|archive-date=17 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917151303/https://blogs.oracle.com/solaris/the-difference-between-xorg-and-xfree86-v2|url-status=dead}}</ref> The creation of the Foundation marked a radical change in the governance of X (see the history of the X Window System). Whereas the stewards of X since 1988 (including the previous X.Org, part of The Open Group) had been vendor organizations, the Foundation is led by software developers and using community development on the bazaar model, which relies on outside involvement. Membership is also open to individuals, with corporate membership being in the form of sponsorship.
In 2005 the X.Org Foundation applied for 501(c)(3) non-profit status. In 2012, with the help of the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), the Foundation gained the status. In 2013, the Foundation lost the status because they did not fill a tax form (it had no income to declare and did not get any info from SFLC) and in the same year it regained the status, after clearing up the issue.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://who-t.blogspot.fr/2013/10/the-xorg-foundation-and-501c3-status.html |title=The X.Org Foundation and the 501(c)(3) status}}</ref> In 2016, the X.Org Foundation joined Software in the Public Interest (SPI)<ref name=Larabel2023/> who would manage the bureaucracy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.fosdem.org/2014/schedule/event/xorg_foundation/|title=State of the X.org foundation|website=archive.fosdem.org}}</ref>
In 2019, freedesktop.org formally joined the X.Org Foundation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/Xorg-FreeDesktop-Vote-Approved|title=X.Org To Join Forces With FreeDesktop.org While Foundation Elections Hit A Snag|access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/|title=freedesktop.org|access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref>
In 2023, The X.Org Foundation decided to join Software Freedom Conservancy,<ref name=Larabel2023>{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/X.Org-SFC-Vote-Approved|title=X.Org Foundation To Become Part Of The SFC|author=Michael Larabel|date=2023-05-23}}</ref> which took over the bureaucratic roles SPI had had previously.<ref>{{cite web |title=X.Org |url=https://www.spi-inc.org/projects/x.org/ |website=SPI |publisher=Software in the Public Interest, Inc. |access-date=20 August 2025}}</ref>
==Fields of activity== The X.Org Foundation does not provide technical guidance, roadmaps or deadlines, releases or supervision of any kind.
The X.Org Foundation does provide communication tools (in relation with freedesktop.org), an annual physical meeting and money to help developing the free graphics stack.
The X.Org Foundation organizes the annual X.Org Developer's Conference (XDC) and sponsors students to work on X.Org as part of their X.Org Endless Vacation of Code (EVoC) initiative.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.x.org/wiki/XorgEVoC | title=The X.Org Endless Vacation of Code (EVoC) | date=2008-09-21 | access-date=2014-09-14}}</ref>
The X.Org Server and xlib are the reference implementation of the X protocol, and is commonly used on Linux and UNIX; it is the fundamental technology underlying both the modern GNOME and KDE desktops and older CDE desktop environment; applications written for any of these environments can be run simultaneously. thumb|xclock {{anchor|xutils}}Along with reference implementation of X protocol, the X.org Foundation hosts development of several utilities and example applications, including <code>xcalc</code> on-screen calculator, <code>xclock</code> simple digital and analog clock, <code>xedit</code> text editor, <code>xload</code> periodically updated histogram of the average system load, <code>xterm</code> terminal emulator, and <code>xeyes</code> which shows, by default, a pair of eyes that follow the mouse cursor.
As of April 2013, the Board of Directors consisted of Alan Coopersmith, Alex Deucher, Martin Peres, Matt Dew, Matthias Hopf, Peter Hutterer (Secretary), Stuart Kreitman (Treasurer), and Keith Packard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.x.org/wiki/BoardOfDirectors | title=The X.Org Foundation Board of Directors | date=2013-04-19 | access-date=2013-04-20}}</ref>
=={{Anchor|XDC}} X.Org Developer's Conference== The physical meeting is the X.Org Developer's Conference (XDC/XDS),<ref>{{cite news | url=https://lwn.net/Articles/539620/ | title=The 2013 "State of X.Org" report | work=LWN.net | date=2013-02-22 | access-date=2013-04-20}}</ref> which is organized once a year, around September/October and alternates between North America and Europe and lasts for 3 days. The board of directors can cover the travel and accommodation expenses to the developers who couldn't attend an X.Org-related conference (XDC or FOSDEM?) otherwise.
===Conference history=== {{table alignment}} {{sort-under}} {| class="wikitable sortable sort-under col2right col3right" style="font-size:90%;" ! Event and year !! Date !! Host city !! Venue !! Resources !! Themes |- | XDC2004 || 28–30 April || Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA || Cambridge Research Laboratory || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2004/] || |- | XDC2005 || 12–14 February || Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA || Cambridge Research Laboratory || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2005/] || X.Org Server, Cairo, xephyr, ... |- | XDC2006 || 8–10 February || Santa Clara, California, USA || Sun Microsystems campus || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2006/] || Xgl, |- | XDC2007 || 7–9 February || Menlo Park, California, USA || TechShop Menlo Park facility || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2007/] || |- | XDS2007 || 10–12 September || Cambridge, United Kingdom || Clare College || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDS2007/] || |- | XDC2008 || 16–18 April || Mountain View, California, USA || Google campus || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2008/] || |- | XDS2008 || 3–5 September || Edinburgh, United Kingdom || Edinburgh Zoo || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDS2008/] || XKB, MPX, ... |- | XDC2009 || 28–30 September || Portland, Oregon, USA || University Place Hotel, Portland State University || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2009/] || |- | XDS2010 || 16–18 September || Toulouse, France || Toulouse 1 University Capitole || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDS2010/] || |- | XDC2011 || 12–14 September || Chicago, Illinois, USA || McCormick Tribune Campus Center || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2011/] || |- | XDC2012 || 19–21 September || Nuremberg, Germany || SUSE campus || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2012/] || |- | XDC2013 || 23–25 September || Portland, Oregon, USA || University Place Hotel, Portland State University || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2013/] || DRM, DRI3, XCB, nouveau, etc. |- | XDC2014 || 8–10 October || Bordeaux, France || Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique (LaBRI) || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2014/] || Wayland, Tizen, FreeBSD, DragonflyBSD, Mesa 3D, etc. |- | XDC2015 || 16–18 September || Toronto, Canada || Seneca@York campus, Seneca College || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2015/] || GLSL compiler, Nouveau, libinput, Freedreno, Etnaviv, amdgpu, drm, etc. |- | XDC2016 || 20–22 September || Helsinki, Finland || Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2016/] || |- | XDC2017 || 20–22 September || Mountain View, California, USA || Google Bldg 1055 || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2017/] || |- | XDC2018 || 26–28 September || A Coruña, Galicia (Spain) || Computer Science Faculty of University of A Coruña || [https://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2018/] || |- | XDC2019 || 2–4 October || Montreal, Canada || Concordia University Conference Centre || [https://archive.today/20190521041245/https://xdc2019.x.org/]|| |- | XDC2020 || 16–18 September || Virtual || Virtual || [https://xdc2020.x.org/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707212735/https://xdc2020.x.org/ |date=7 July 2020 }} || |- | XDC2021 || 15–17 September || Virtual || Virtual || [https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/1/] || |- | XDC2022 || 4–6 October || Minneapolis, Minnesota || University of St. Thomas || [https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/2/] || |- | XDC2023 || 17–19 October || Coruña, Spain || PALEXCO || [https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/4/] || |- | XDC2024 || 9–11 October || Montréal, Canada || Concordia University Conference Center || [https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/6/] || |- | XDC2025 || 29 September – 1 October || Vienna, Austria || TU Wien || [https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/10/] || |}
=={{Anchor|EVOC}} X.Org Endless Vacation of Code (EVoC)== X.Org Endless Vacation of Code (EVoC) is a Google Summer of Code (GSoC)-like project initiated in 2008 funded by the X.Org Foundation. It allows students to participate to X.Org-related projects during their vacation, at any time of the year.
An example of an accepted EVoC project from 2014 is to work on nouveau, the free and open-source graphics device driver for GeForce-branded GPUs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/nouveau/2014-June/017577.html |title=[Nouveau] EVoC Proposal: REclock - Reverse-engineer and implement NVA3/5/8 Voltage- and Frequency Scaling in Nouveau |date=2014-06-12 |publisher=freedesktop.org}}</ref> NVA3/5/8 are the engineering names of the Tesla-based GT215, GT216 and GT218.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/CodeNames/ |title=Engineering vs. marketing names |publisher=freedesktop.org}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Free and open-source software}} * Free and open-source graphics device driver * List of free-software events
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.x.org/wiki/XorgFoundation/ | X.Org Foundation website}}
{{XWinSys}} {{FOSS}} {{Software in the Public Interest}}
Category:501(c)(3) organizations Category:Free software project foundations based in the United States Category:X Window System