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Windowing Environment Considerations

Before you compile an application in Mac OS X, be aware that the Mac OS X native windowing and display subsystem, Quartz, is based on the Portable Document Format (PDF). Quartz consists of a lightweight window server as well as a graphics rendering library for two-dimensional shapes. The window server features device-independent color and pixel depth, layered compositing, and buffered windows. The rendering model is PDF based.

Quartz is not an X Window System implementation. If you need an X11R6 implementation, you can easily install one. For more information, see “X11R6.”

Information on the graphical environments available to you can be found in “Choosing a Graphical Environment for Your Application” along with some things to consider when choosing a graphical environment.

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