Out of curiosity, how do I get a copy of the X Version 10 protocol
specification?

I've heard of such a document existing over the past 30 or so years, and
have always been mildly curious, but have never found it.

TIA.

On Sun, 13 Nov 2022 18:50:26 +0800, Po Lu wrote:

> Out of curiosity, how do I get a copy of the X Version 10 protocol
> specification?

You could download one of the X version 10 sources from https://www.x.org/releases/
and expand the documentation within.

> I've heard of such a document existing over the past 30 or so years, and
> have always been mildly curious, but have never found it.

Sorry, but I can't find anything more "documentative" than the last available
source code releases.

HTH
--
Lew Pitcher
"In Skills, We Trust"

Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Out of curiosity, how do I get a copy of the X Version 10 protocol
> specification?

I suspect that buying a used copy off a second-hand book seller
might be the only option. However filtering out later editions
covering version 11 will surely be difficult.

> I've heard of such a document existing over the past 30 or so years, and
> have always been mildly curious, but have never found it.

On page 7 of the following document, Volume 0 of O'Reilly
Definitive Guides to the X Window System is described as "X
Protocol Reference Manual"
http://archive.org/download/x.org/2014.06.x.org.tar/x.org%2Fcontrib%2Fdocs%2FXbibliography.ps

(there's also this later version of that doc which I haven't looked
through:
http://archive.org/download/x.org/2014.06.x.org.tar/x.org%2Fcontrib%2Fdocs%2FXbibliography.PS
)

In Volume 1 "Xlib Programming Manual" of the latest edition (for
X11), the author wrote:

"I would like to thank the people who helped this book come into
being. It was Tim O'Reilly who originally sent me out on a
contract to write a manual for X Version 10 for a workstation
manufacturer"

So it sounds like a similar O'Reilly publication exsited for X10,
and presumably its Volume 0 was the X Version 10 Protocol reference
that you've heard of.

The bibliography document also notes above that entry "The X Window
System Protocol", published in UNIX World. However it's described
as just a short version of the introduction to the Volume 0
document, and published in 1989 so obviously covering X11. But
maybe earlier editions of UNIX World would be another place to
look?

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

On Sun, 13 Nov 2022 15:42:09 +0000, Lew Pitcher wrote:

> On Sun, 13 Nov 2022 18:50:26 +0800, Po Lu wrote:
>
>> Out of curiosity, how do I get a copy of the X Version 10 protocol
>> specification?
>
> You could download one of the X version 10 sources from https://www.x.org/releases/
> and expand the documentation within.

FWIW, the /doc/Xlib directory contains the troff files necessary to build the
Xlib manual for X version 10.

Here's the head of the 1st page:

Xlib - C Language X Interface
Protocol Version 10

Jim Gettys
Digital Equipment Corporation
MIT Project Athena

Ron Newman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT Project Athena

Tony Della Fera
Digital Equipment Corporation
MIT Project Athena

>> I've heard of such a document existing over the past 30 or so years, and
>> have always been mildly curious, but have never found it.
>
> Sorry, but I can't find anything more "documentative" than the last available
> source code releases.
>
> HTH

--
Lew Pitcher
"In Skills, We Trust"

In comp.windows.x, Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:
> Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Out of curiosity, how do I get a copy of the X Version 10 protocol
>> specification?

I'd look for old documentation captured on CD-ROMs now uploaded to
archive.org.

> I suspect that buying a used copy off a second-hand book seller
> might be the only option. However filtering out later editions
> covering version 11 will surely be difficult.

The better second hand sellers will list copyright dates.

> In Volume 1 "Xlib Programming Manual" of the latest edition (for
> X11), the author wrote:
>
> "I would like to thank the people who helped this book come into
> being. It was Tim O'Reilly who originally sent me out on a
> contract to write a manual for X Version 10 for a workstation
> manufacturer"
>
> So it sounds like a similar O'Reilly publication exsited for X10,
> and presumably its Volume 0 was the X Version 10 Protocol reference
> that you've heard of.

The volumes in that series are for subject. My January 1995 edition of
_Volume 5: X Toolkit Intrinsics_ (updated for X11/R5) describes the
_Volume 0_ book as being updated for X11/R6. There's a 1990 edition of
_X Window System user's guide_ at archive.org, which describes itself as
for updated for R4. On the copyright page the 1989 edition is for R3.

https://archive.org/details/xwindowsystem03quermiss/page/n5/mode/2up

> The bibliography document also notes above that entry "The X Window
> System Protocol", published in UNIX World. However it's described
> as just a short version of the introduction to the Volume 0
> document, and published in 1989 so obviously covering X11. But
> maybe earlier editions of UNIX World would be another place to
> look?

I only see 1984/85 in the archive.org collection of Unix World
unfortunately:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=Unix+World&sin=&&and[]=mediatype%3A%22texts%22&and[]=collection%3A%22magazine_rack%22

Elijah
------
finding a library with it could be hard

Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> writes:

> FWIW, the /doc/Xlib directory contains the troff files necessary to build the
> Xlib manual for X version 10.
>
> Here's the head of the 1st page:
>
> Xlib - C Language X Interface
> Protocol Version 10
>
>
> Jim Gettys
> Digital Equipment Corporation
> MIT Project Athena
>
> Ron Newman
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
> MIT Project Athena
>
> Tony Della Fera
> Digital Equipment Corporation
> MIT Project Athena
>

Thanks. Unfortunately, that's the Xlib specification, and not the
protocol one.

Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com> writes:

> Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> writes:
>
>> FWIW, the /doc/Xlib directory contains the troff files necessary to
>> build the Xlib manual for X version 10.
>>
>> Here's the head of the 1st page:
>>
>> Xlib - C Language X Interface
>> Protocol Version 10
>>
>>
>> Jim Gettys
>> Digital Equipment Corporation
>> MIT Project Athena
>>
>> Ron Newman
>> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>> MIT Project Athena
>>
>> Tony Della Fera
>> Digital Equipment Corporation
>> MIT Project Athena
>>
>
> Thanks. Unfortunately, that's the Xlib specification, and not the
> protocol one.

I think I found what I wanted. It's just X.doc under X/.