[coyotos-dev] Window systems and graphics

[David-Sarah Hopwood]

Jonathan S. Shapiro wrote:
>  2. The display server owns the card memory in a physical sense. In
>     consequence, nobody *else* can pay for or allocate that storage.

Isn't that "in consequence" the problem?

It doesn't seem to me that there is any logical necessity for the
"physical owner" of storage to also be the party/subject that pays
for it.

If the subject that is paying (call it the lessee), at some point
stops paying, then the display server has to handle that case in a
defensively correct manner with respect to its other clients. But
the display server should arguably split itself into per-client
instances in any case.

> The only real solution I can see at this point is for the display server
> to implement some form of quota system.

Or for the OS to implement a more general system whereby one subject can
own a resource while another pays for it. I'm not claiming that this
is easy, but I think it is necessary (and not just for this particular
use case).

-- 
David-Sarah Hopwood