Re: GtkText 1.2.8 bug list

[Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>]

Davina Armstrong <davina lickey com> writes:
> I'm writing an application that will make extensive use of the GtkText
> widget.  My understanding from reading these mailing lists is that the
> current (1.2.8) version is quite buggy & unstable, and that the 2.0
> version will be vastly improved.  I have also seen it suggested that app
> developers use GtkExText.  I'm trying to decide whether to use the 1.2.8
> GtkText (and fix all the bugs), the latest CVS GtkText, or GtkExText. 
> To this end, I was hoping someone could tell me where to find a list of
> bugs reported against GtkText for 1.2.8.  I looked at bugs.gnome.org,
> but could only find the list of open bugs.
>
> Also, if anyone has an opinion about what I should do, I'd love to hear
> it!

We aren't even really tracking GtkText bugs, because fixing them is
such a disaster. It would basically be faster to rewrite the widget
than to try to fix it. The API for GtkText is very simple, so a basic
gapped text buffer reimplementation using say NEdit or KWrite as a
codebase would probably take a month or two or so, not that bad.
Maybe faster if you're willing to ditch the properties (colors, etc.)
API and just port some existing text widget in a straightforward way.

The new version in 2.0 is not GtkText, it is a new text widget with a
different API; GtkText will continue to be broken. The new text widget
is probably a solid order of magnitude more complicated and has about
a zillion features. It handles bidi text and stuff like that.

ExText is more or less GtkText with a bunch of bugs fixed, as I
understand it.

Havoc