From: Jon M. Taylor <taylorj@gaia.ecs.csus.edu>
  To  : ggi-develop@eskimo.com
  Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 23:34:06 -0700 (PDT)

Re: What is KGICON?

On Mon, 14 Jun 1999, Aaron Van Couwenberghe wrote:

> I know what KGI, SUIDKGI, etc are, but what purpose does KGICon serve? A
> compatibility layer between FBCON and KGI? 

	A glue/bridge layer is a more accurate term, but yeah that's
basically it.  It lets you turn compile KGI drivers into fbdev driver
modules.

> If so, what exactly does it do?

	It implements the KGI video device driver API but uses the fbdev
interface to export KGI's framebuffers (/dev/fb*) and the kgicommand
interface (ioctls on /dev/fb*).  The "real" KGI is a kernel patchset which
has a boot-time display minidriver, handles events, implements a new
kernel console handling system, implements extensions to the existing
kernel mmap() system which provide for userspace page fault handlers,
_and_ exports the KGI video device driver API.  KGIcon is a good way to
maintain and develop the KGI driver API and allow for KGI driver
development to continue until the final "real" KGI is ready to go into the
kernel. 

> Sorry for the clueless question. If you feel inclined, just point me to the
> proper documentation.

	The proper documentation consists mostly of the KGI and
fbdev/fbmem/fbcon .h files which define their respective APIs.  The rest
is ad hoc glue logic, mostly. 

Jon

---
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