meo@stiatl.UUCP (Miles O'Neal) (11/19/88)
A while back, I tossed out the idea of having a widget library, where
people could donate widgets, and they would be publicly available. I
asked whether there was such a thing, and where, and if not, whether
others were interested.
I heard from nobody telling of such a thing.
I heard from several people who were interested in such a library.
So, this is announcing that I will start a
PUBLIC WIDGET LIBRARY
Real Soon Now [ 8{) ]. Actually, within the next 2 weeks.
As this is a public service, I will solicit suggestions before starting it.
First, some ground rules. At least initially, for disk space reasons,
the library will not be directly accessable to the net. Widgets will be
stored on a system that is connected via TCP/IP to our net interface
system, but the two do not currently have a mail interface, due to
the different mfr's ideas about what standard is (grrr).
So, there will be an account available to the net, to which submissions
or requests will be directed. I will then take care of moving new source
to the library, or mailing out widgets to those requesting them. A directory
will also be available upon request.
I am thinking along the lines of having an account named xwidgets, to which
mail should be sent. The Subject line would indicate what was desired:
help - send info describing how to use the library
dir - directory of available widgets, version level, and status
(untested, tested on Sun386, etc)
request - request for materials; second word should be either:
library - the whole thing, or
<name> - name of widget as published in the directory
submit - the body of the mail message contains a submission
bug - the body of the mail message contains a bug report
bug fix - the body of the mail message contains a bug fix
question - the body of the mail message contains some question about
the library system, a widget, or anything related
other - the body of the mail message contains anything else
What have I missed? Does this look good to you?
I do not see this as a place for stuff readily available elsewhere,
such as on the MIT tapes. This is for "the rest of us", just to make
life easier for us.
For the time being, please either post responses, if they seem like
they ought to be public, or else send me email at
gatech!stiatl!meo
and let me have your thoughts.
Obviously, I can support shar format. Other formats may be acceptable;
just remember that any compression that results in anything other than
7-bit ASCII codes may have problems getting across the net. Suggestions
are welcome.
While I will at least look at anything that comes in, portable,
well-documented stuff will get first priority. I have a Sun 386i
available, and will eventually be able to test compile on some
other systems, but in the meantime will have to depend on the stuff
working as advertised. If anybody else is interested in being a test
site for widgets on other systems, let me know.
I will commit to be honest and release nothing I even suspect to be
dangerous. Neither my employer nor I will assume any liability for
any code sent from the library. For obvious reasons, only source
code will be considered.
I will expect the following to be provided:
all necessary source files, other than system include files,
a Makefile, preferably with the following targets:
all
install
clean
(others, such as link and man, are of course welcome),
a man page (similar documentation from non-Unix systems will
be acceptable, but in addition to any input files, a printable
version will need to be included)
a README file.
All source code and documentation must include a copyright notice.
If no copyright notice is provided, I will provide one.
Any widgets meeting these criteria, that I can compile & run, that work
well, that don't cause trouble, will go in the library. Other stuff
may or may not make it - probably will, with status notes attached.
I will usually respond to library correspondence within 3 working days,
unless I am not here, in which case I will try to get someone else to
cover for me. I will try to respond within 1 working day; obviously
this depends on my schedule (my employer likes some of my time, too 8{).
If there is interest, I could look into making libraries available
on tape or floppy; there would probably be some charge for this.
Please email or post your responses in comp.windows.x; it will be at least
a week before I can consider really starting this up, due to my current
schedule.
I am also considering posting a notice about the library, a current
directory and a request for widgets, once a month in comp.sources.x
or comp.windows.x - which is the correct group for this?
-Miles O'Neal (gatech!stiatl!meo)meo@stiatl.UUCP (Miles O'Neal) (11/21/88)
I. Widget Submission Requirements Regarding the widget library requirements for submission, along with a Makefile, an Imakefile is requested. II. Clarification of Purpose Also, to clarify things, this library will contain things that are NOT being sold for profit, and that are NOT available on the MIT distribution tapes. In other words, this library will NOT contain DECwindows source, nor will it contain the basic Athena widget set, the new HP widgets, Sony widgets, etc. Also, I am certainly open to toolkits other than the X Toolkit provided by MIT. This also implies that: 1) if you supply widgets based on a toolkit other than the X Toolkit, you must identify that toolkit, and 2) that toolkit should be in the public domain. I will, in fact, be glad to maintain toolkit libraries as well as widget libraries. I suspect that DEC and others will have users groups or something to do this for their widget sets. If this is not so, and there is demand for it, I will consider keeping widgets based on such proprietary toolkits, provided that nothing in the source violates any license agreements, etc. the widgets' authors/firms may have with the toolkit providers. -Miles
meo@stiatl.UUCP (Miles O'Neal) (12/22/88)
PUBLIC WIDGET LIBRARY
=====================
This will be available shortly after New Year's. Watch for an
announcement that the Public Domain Widget Library is online.
As noted below, please begin sending submissions now. Thanks.
Basic Description
-----------------
A while back, I decided to develop a widget library, where
people could donate widgets, and they would be publicly available.
I am also open to keeping toolkits in the library as well.
One of the suggestions I got was to also develop a list of available
widgets, documentation, and interfaces that were comercially available.
I decided to do this as well, with the understanding that this is in
no way a comercial operation. I will keep list with such data as I
obtain, along with any addresses/phone numbers I get for contacts.
I will also keep a list of sites that archive or otherwise make
available X11 software, with access instructions, as I become aware
of them.
I am now soliciting widgets and toolkits for the library, and
information regarding toolkit & widget documentation, and commercial
widget sets and/or interfaces.
How to Access the PDWL
----------------------
First, some ground rules. At least initially, for disk space reasons,
the library will not be directly accessable to the net. Widgets will be
stored on a system that is connected via TCP/IP to our net interface
system, but the two do not currently have a mail interface, due to
the different mfr's ideas about what standard is (grrr).
So, there will be an account available to the net, to which submissions
or requests will be directed. I will then take care of moving new source
to the library, or mailing out widgets to those requesting them. A listing
of what is available will also be available upon request.
The account to send mail to is xwidgets. The Subject line must be one of the
following keywords:
help - send info describing how to use the library
dir - directory of available widgets, version level, and status
(untested, tested on Sun386, etc)
request - request for materials; second word should be either:
library - the whole thing, or
<name> - name of widget as published in the directory
submit - the body of the mail message contains a submission
bug - the body of the mail message contains a bug report
bug fix - the body of the mail message contains a bug fix
question - the body of the mail message contains some question about
the library system, a widget, or anything related
other - the body of the mail message contains anything else
Rules of the Game
-----------------
I do not see this as a place for stuff readily available elsewhere,
such as on the MIT tapes. This is for "the rest of us", just to make
life easier for us. Someone has suggested that I maintain uucp'able
copies of the stuff currently only available via ftp; as much as I
would love to do this, we have neither the disk nor the bandwidth
for the load that would bring.
If you have comments/suggestions/etc, please post them they ought to
be public, or else send me email at
gatech!stiatl!meo
and let me have your thoughts.
Obviously, I can support shar format. Other formats may be acceptable;
just remember that any compression that results in anything other than
7-bit ASCII codes may have problems getting across the net. Suggestions
are welcome. Right now I see shar as the main way to go.
While I will at least look at anything that comes in, portable,
well-documented stuff will get first priority. I have a Sun 386i
available, and will eventually be able to test compile on some
other systems, but in the meantime will have to depend on the stuff
working as advertised. If anybody else is interested in being a test
site for widgets on other systems, let me know.
I will commit to be honest and release nothing I even suspect to be
dangerous. Neither my employer nor I will assume any liability for
any code sent from the library. For obvious reasons, only source
code will be considered.
I will expect the following to be provided:
all necessary source files, other than system include files,
a Makefile, preferably with the following targets:
all
install
clean
(others, such as link and man, are of course welcome),
a man page (similar documentation from non-Unix systems will
be acceptable, but in addition to any input files, a printable
version will need to be included), and
a README file.
Optional, but highly recommended files include:
an AUTHORS file with info about who wrote it & how they can be reached, and
a patchlevel.h file with the current rev (may become mandatory).
To be mega-portable, filenames of no more than 12 characters are recommended.
A lot of people want an Imakefile as well. Please make your Makefile
or Imakefile as portable as possible before you send it; hard-to-port
stuff will be last priority, and may never become available if it is
at all hard to get running. Imakefiles make this easier to handle;
worst case, try to make sure only 1 or 2 variables at the top of the
Makefile need to be checked.
All source code and documentation must include a copyright notice.
If no copyright notice is provided, I will provide one, of my own
choosing. Essentially, if you don't copyright it, I assume I may
place it perpetually in the public domain, unless you say otherwise,
in which case, I have to wonder why it's even here!
EVEN more importantly, all source & documentation must include a
disclaimer, along the lines of the MIT X11 documentation, although
possibly shorter. If no disclaimer is provided, I will provide one
to protect my employer and myself, and hopefully you, but you will
certainly rest better knowing you have defended yourself against
litigous folks with nothing better to do than harass helpful strangers.
Any widgets meeting these criteria, that I can compile & run, that work
well, that don't cause trouble, will go in the library. Other stuff
may or may not make it - probably will, with status notes attached.
I will usually respond to library correspondence within 3 working days,
unless I am not here, in which case I will try to get someone else to
cover for me. I will try to respond within 1 working day; obviously
this depends on my schedule (my employer likes some of my time, too 8{).
If there is interest, I could look into making libraries available
on tape or floppy; there would probably be some charge for this.
I am also considering posting a notice about the library, a current
directory and a request for widgets, once a month in comp.sources.x
or comp.windows.x - which is the correct group for this?
-Miles O'Neal (gatech!stiatl!meo)
Sales Technologies, Inc
3399 Peachtree Road, N.E.
The Lenox Building, Suite 700
Atlanta, GA 30326
404-841-4000