Fwd: GDL2 on MacOS X

(Discussion will take place on [email protected] mailing list - end 
of crossposting)

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Adam Fedor <[email protected]>
> Date: Wed Nov 20, 2002  04:21:46 Europe/Zurich
> To: Stéphane Corthésy <[email protected]>
> Cc: [email protected],  [email protected],  [email protected]
> Subject: Re: GDL2 on MacOS X
>
> Stéphane Corthésy wrote:
>> I have some questions now:
>> - What is the current state of gdl2?? How compatible is it with EOF 
>> 2? WebObjects 4.5's EOF implementation?
>> - Do gdl2 developers plan to support MacOS X? If they reply "no", no 
>> need to read remaining questions ;-)
>
> They (we?) should. Although I don't think any of the main developers 
> use MacOSX so we would rely on patches and bug reports from others.
>
> I don't think your patch will work though, since you  need the garbage 
> collecting classes for gdl2. We're working on a compatibility library 
> that you could compile on MacOSX to get this to work.
>
>> - Does it even compile on a GNUStep system?? I had to correct some 
>> code, independant of platform.
>
> Well, understand that it's not even a released version yet, it's just 
> in CVS.
>
>> - gdl2 depends on GNUStep-specific classes, like GCArray, etc. Can 
>> this dependency be removed? There are also references to methods not 
>> implemented in MacOS X, like subclassResponsibility:, but in these 
>> cases we could implement categories on MacOS X for GNUStep 
>> compatibility.
>
> see above.
>
>> - gdl2 is not consistent regarding retain/release and garbage 
>> collecting; sometimes macros are used for retain/release, sometimes 
>> method calls are used. How should it be done?
>
> macros should be used, since it's possible to compile GNUstep with 
> automatic garbage collection, so that retain/releases aren't even 
> needed.
>
>> Finally, I suppose there are a lot of Cocoa developers willing to use 
>> EOF... erh gdl2 ;-)
>> I suppose GNUStep people will find help among them. There are also a 
>> lot of former OpenStep/WO4 developers that could help, now that there 
>> is a concrete opensource EOF for Cocoa. So please, subscribe to that 
>> list, checkout gdl2 and give GNUStep developers needed help. I'll try 
>> to.
>
> Yes. Thanks!
>
>
> -- 
> Adam Fedor, Digital Optics Corp.      | I'm glad I hate spinach, 
> because
> http://www.doc.com                    | if I didn't, I'd eat it, and 
> you
>                                       | know how I hate the stuff.
>
>

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Adam Fedor <[email protected]>
> Date: Wed Nov 20, 2002  04:36:59 Europe/Zurich
> To: "Timothy J. Wood" <[email protected]>
> Cc: Stéphane Corthésy <[email protected]>,  [email protected],  
> [email protected],  [email protected]
> Subject: Re: GDL2 on MacOS X
>
> Timothy J. Wood wrote:
>>   How are you dealing with the fact that EOModel and EOEditingContext 
>> are patented (6,085,197; 5,956,728; 5,873,093)?
>
> I don't have a great answer for this. Heck, even things like the next 
> key view concept are patented. GNUstep has always been walking on thin 
> ice wrt Apple, which has always taken a dim view of any sort of 
> infringement. Perhaps it's because we're free software. Or perhaps 
> it's because we're really about the interface, not the implementation, 
> which can always be changed. Although in this case, it's very very 
> hard to make gdl2 work without infringing the patent: gdl2 was really 
> written over a year (maybe two?) ago - we just spent the last year 
> thinking about legal issues...
>
> I imagine any commercial users will have the hardest time deciding 
> whether to use this or not. After all, it's much better to sue people 
> who actually have money. Although, since gdl2 is a drop in replacement 
> and you wouldn't be distributing it yourself...ah, but then those 
> lawyers are wiley creatures...
>