What display server does Macos Catalina use?

Question

We all know about the vulnerabilities in the X11 display server. And we also know that Apple used Xquartz in the past. So my question is

Is Xquarts still used on Macos Catalina? If no, then which display server is used currently.

I found this on Apple's website. It says X11 is not used. But is quite ambiguous whether it still uses Xquartz or not. And doesn't say anything about any new display server replacing Xquartz.

About X11 for Mac

X11 is no longer included with Mac, but X11 server and client libraries are available from the XQuartz project.

Apple created the XQuartz project as a community effort to further develop and support X11 on Mac. The XQuartz project was originally based on the version of X11 included in Mac OS X v10.5. There have since been multiple releases of XQuartz with fixes, support for new features, and additional refinements to the X11 experience. Apple is a contributor to the XQuartz project and has worked to ensure that X11 works as expected with macOS and latest available versions of XQuartz.

X11 server and client libraries for macOS are available from the XQuartz project at www.xquartz.org. Download the latest version available.

This might be what you are looking for : https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/246156 — Philippe, Jun 23 '20 at 12:24
@Philippe that answer is almost 4 years old, and macos has updated a lot in the last 4 years, hence that is not relevant to this date. — Abhay Patil, Jun 23 '20 at 12:41
It's still valid even though it's 4 years old, take a look at this : https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coregraphics — Philippe, Jun 23 '20 at 12:50
@Philippe thank you so much. That is exactly what I was looking for.✌ — Abhay Patil, Jun 23 '20 at 13:54

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 10 '20 at 20:30

1

You can use xQuartz for X11 apps - in Catalina and below. (I have no experience of Big Sur yet.) But regular Mac apps don't use X11 and never will.

(I know this because I use x3270 which is an X11 app.)

answered Jul 10 '20 at 20:30

Martin Packer

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What display server does Macos Catalina use?

1 Answers1