RE: GTK on Win32 and Linux

[martyn 2 russell bt com]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Torrie [mailto:torriem cs byu edu]
> Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2002 5:59 AM
> To: Ian Molton
> Cc: gtk-app-devel-list gnome org
> Subject: Re: GTK on Win32 and Linux
>
>
> On Thu, 2002-05-23 at 18:49, Ian Molton wrote:
> > Hi.
> >
> > Im about to embark on a cross platform, CLOSED source 
> project (sorry, I
> > get paid a lot for this ands I dont think it'd be appreciated if the
> > competition got free perks).
> >
> > What I need to know, is:
> >
> > 1) Is the Win32 (cygwin?) environment production quality? 
> If not, can
> > GTK be used with MSVC?
> Well, cygwin's gcc is 2.95 and it can produce binaries that do not
> depend on cygwin's dll and are thus native.  So the compiler 
> is mature,
> I believe.  However gtk does work fine with MSVC.

I have been using MSVC 6.0 for almost a year now, not had any problems with
it, the main thing to consider is setting up the environment (which is
probably easier under cygwin).


> > 2) How much of GTK works on win32?
> I'll let someone who know answer this.

I have been using GLIB 2.0 with GTK1.3.  I have not yet ported my
application to GTK2 and have found that the stability is fine, the functions
are indifferent and all of what I have used works.  I use most of the
widgets available to GTK1.2/1.3.  The only problem I have had is with the
icon for each window, that is something that does not work the same as the
linux version.  All windows use a GTK provided generic icon.  I think this
has been improved in GTK2 (not sure). 
> > 3) Is there any pressing reason I should use GTK2? stability is
> > PARAMOUNT here. GTK1.2 is 'tried and tested?)
> The windows version is actually gtk2.  It started out from the 1.3
> sources, which were the betas leading up to gtk2.  I believe you can
> still get the 1.3 versions of gtk for windows which are pretty much
> compatible with gtk 1.2.  I think the most recent bits are now almost
> gtk2 (I think the win32 branch is a little bit behind the 
> unix branch).

I didn't go with GTK2 (month or so ago) because I was worried about
stability and versatility, this may not be the case now as there are always
new versions coming out and progress (it seems) is quite rapid.

> > 4) Is it legal to link with GTK and keep my code closed source?
> Short answer, yes.  Long answer is that the GTK is licensed under the
> LGPL, and linking to closed applications is permitted.  You 
> should read
> through the license, though, so you know exactly under what conditions
> it may be used.


> > 5) where can I get a toolchain / environment to do win32 dev. work?
> You can use either cygwin (www.cygwin.com) or the ming gnu compiler
> alone.  The ming compiler actually ships with a program called the
> BloodShed C++ IDE (available at www.bloodshed.net).  
>
> There are other possibilities you could consider, such as wxWindows
> (also LGPL) at www.wxwindows.org, and qt, which you'd have to purchase
> from www.trolltech.com.  wxWindows does have a native win32 
> look, so it
> will certainly fit on the win32 desktop better than gtk+. Dunno.
>
> cheers,
> Michael
>
> > Thanks in advance...
> > _______________________________________________
> > gtk-app-devel-list mailing list
> > gtk-app-devel-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-app-devel-list
> -- 
> Public key available from http://students.cs.byu.edu/~torriem

Regards,

Martyn