22 Feb
2012
22 Feb
'12
8:27 a.m.
OS X is not using X11 as all other UNIX(-like) systems do, but instead a proprietary drawing API called Cocoa (or the old, x86-only Carbon interface) based on the Quartz rendering/compositing engine.
On other UNIX(-like) systems, Cocoa/Carbon would be (for instance) Gtk/Qt and Quartz the X11 server.
In contrast to this, OS X does ship an X11 server, too, called "XQuartz", which is using the Quartz rendering engine.
Not sure how relevant this is, but X11 is removed from Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) and has to be downloaded by the user: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/17/apple-removes-x11-in-os-x-mountain-lion-...
Cheers, Daniel