From 3d7b16d4b0d867268c315f421904f3a2dc81a72d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Duerr Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2020 20:05:19 +0000 Subject: Update Alacritty's description Alacritty's description in the readme and manpage has always been a bit overly aggressive in its marketing. This new updated text should more accurately describe Alacritty's current state without pointlessly agitating people. --- README.md | 69 +++++++++++++++++++++------------------------------------------ 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 46 deletions(-) (limited to 'README.md') diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index a86621f3..7cf771d2 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,28 +1,24 @@ -

Alacritty

Alacritty Logo

-Alacritty is the fastest terminal emulator in existence. Using the GPU for -rendering enables optimizations that simply aren't possible without it. -Alacritty currently supports macOS, Linux, BSD, and Windows. +

Alacritty - A fast, cross-platform, OpenGL terminal emulator

Alacritty running vim inside tmux + src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/8886672/103264352-5ab0d500-49a2-11eb-8961-02f7da66c855.png">

## About -Alacritty is a terminal emulator with a strong focus on simplicity and -performance. With such a strong focus on performance, included features are -carefully considered and you can always expect Alacritty to be blazingly fast. -By making sane choices for defaults, Alacritty requires no additional setup. -However, it does allow [configuration](#configuration) of many aspects of the -terminal. +Alacritty is a modern terminal emulator that comes with sensible defaults, but +allows for extensive [configuration](#configuration). By integrating with other +applications, rather than reimplementing their functionality, it manages to +provide a flexible set of [features](./docs/features.md) with high performance. +The supported platforms currently consist of BSD, Linux, macOS and Windows. -The software is considered to be at a **beta** level of readiness -- there are +The software is considered to be at a **beta** level of readiness; there are a few missing features and bugs to be fixed, but it is already used by many as a daily driver. @@ -78,27 +74,26 @@ On Windows, the config file should be located at: ## Contributing -A full guideline about contributing to Alacritty can be found in the +A guideline about contributing to Alacritty can be found in the [`CONTRIBUTING.md`](CONTRIBUTING.md) file. -## Issues (known, unknown, feature requests, etc.) - -If you run into a problem with Alacritty, please file an issue. If you've got a -feature request, feel free to ask about it. Please just keep in mind Alacritty -is focused on simplicity and performance, and not all features are in line with -that goal. - -Before opening a new issue, please check if it has already been reported. -There's a chance someone else has already reported it, and you can subscribe to -that issue to keep up on the latest developments. - ## FAQ **_Is it really the fastest terminal emulator?_** -In the terminals we've [benchmarked](http://github.com/alacritty/vtebench), -Alacritty is either faster or **way** faster than the others. If you've found a -case where this isn't true, please report a bug. +Benchmarking terminal emulators is complicated. Alacritty uses +[vtebench](https://github.com/alacritty/vtebench) to quantify terminal emulator +throughput and manages to consistently score better than the competition using +it. If you have found an example where this is not the case, please report a +bug. + +Other aspects like latency or framerate and frame consistency are more difficult +to quantify. Some terminal emulators also intentionally slow down to save +resources, which might be preferred by some users. + +If you have doubts about Alacritty's performance or usability, the best way to +quantify terminal emulators is always to test them with **your** specific +usecases. **_Why isn't feature X implemented?_** @@ -108,27 +103,9 @@ good fit for Alacritty. This means you won't find things like tabs or splits (which are best left to a window manager or [terminal multiplexer][tmux]) nor niceties like a GUI config editor. -**_macOS + tmux + vim is slow! I thought this was supposed to be fast!_** - -This appears to be an issue outside of terminal emulators; either macOS has an -IPC performance issue, or either tmux or vim (or both) have a bug. This same -issue can be seen in `iTerm2` and `Terminal.app`. I've found that if tmux is -running on another machine which is connected to Alacritty via SSH, this issue -disappears. Actual throughput and rendering performance are still better in -Alacritty. - ## IRC -Alacritty discussion can be found in `#alacritty` on freenode. - -## Wayland - -Wayland is used by default on systems that support it. Using XWayland may -circumvent Wayland specific issues and can be enabled through: - -```sh -env WINIT_UNIX_BACKEND=x11 alacritty -``` +Alacritty discussions can be found in `#alacritty` on freenode. ## License -- cgit v1.2.3-54-g00ecf