Re: GNUstep Web browser (was Re: WebKit Bounty)

[Richard Frith-Macdonald]

On 4 Mar 2007, at 11:09, hns@computer.org wrote:

> I thought that it is already LGPL since it is part of the mySTEP
> project - but I have found that it is nowhere mentioned explicitly the
> individual header files.
>
> I already have an FSF assignment for "changes to GNUstep" but I have
> no idea if adding a new framework is a change to GNUstep or a new
> project... That is something FSF has to decide.

Actually I think it's mostly up to you ... if Greg, as official  
maintainer is willing to accept it (I would be very surprised if he  
said no), and you want to contribute it, then I'm pretty certain that  
all you need  to do is announce that you want to contribute it as  
part of GNUstep,  change the headers to say that it is part of  
gnustep and the copyright is owned by the FSF, and your existing  
assignment will cover it.  There is no special paperwork or legal  
procedure to be done to make something part of GNUstep.

> What I did not understand was the comment of some guys in earlier
> mails that they do not like reimplementation but want to port WebKit.
> Then, they find that it not only needs ObjC++ but also Core
> Foundation. Therfore, they invent a wrapper for Base to have the CF
> API (Apple btw. does it the reversed way). So, this is no
> reimplementation...

I think Chris was doing the CoreFoundation stuff anyway ... nothing  
to do with the current 'WebKit Bounty' discussion directly but an  
interesting point to raise (in the context of porting webkit) that a  
CoreFoundation clone is already under development.

It's also good to remember when a bunch of people on the discussion  
list disagree with something, that all they are doing is giving their  
opinions.  Nothing that's said prevents people from getting on and  
doing what they want to do and contributing what they want.

To take that a step further ... even if some people are really  
hostile to an idea on the discussion list, that doesn't usually  
reflect the attitude of the project as a whole or that of the core  
developers, and it's highly likely that other people would welcome  
contributions that a small minority have loudly complained about.   
It's also easy to massively over-estimate the amount of opposition  
that the author of an email meant to communicate.

So, it would be a mistake to be put off by negative sounding  
comments.  Rather, you should assess them, take technical ideas from  
them where appropriate, and make up your own mind.

With GNUstep core we have a focus on implementing core libraries for  
MacOS-X compatibility, but even where ideas do not fit with this, we  
have plenty of options of adding projects alongside the core, with  
space in svn repositories for both gnu and non-gnu projects and with  
associated Etoile and Backbone projects for more desktop oriented code.