On Thu, 2 Dec 1999, Andre' Poenitz wrote:
> > So am I, I just don't see much point in starting yet-another-word-processor
> > project when it's possible to improve an existing one.
>
> That's the point where opinions differ.
There are perhaps as many as two dozen word-processors around fighting for
developers and attention. There are at least 4 that are specifically
using LaTeX. LyX is probably closest to the holy grail already and moving
in that direction. Quite a bit of the work has already been done in the
old branch. Unfortunately the old branch is so unstable its been archived
and we are endeavouring to backport a small section at a time and get them
stable. This should prove considerably faster than trying to stabilise the
old branch.
[See Lars' post for answers to the rest of your email -- ie. I agree]
> Does anybody actually work on that?
I for one want to work on it full time but I have this silly PhD thesis
I'm supposed to finish before I can do that. Lars in particular has
pushed through a lot of the stuff he did from the old branch already.
> Even if we had backported those 10000 lines we would have a nice kernel,
> but to achieve GUI independence etc, more work would be needed. A lot of
> it, I'd say...
Well as one of the key gui-indep developers I can assure you that the
dialogs at least are almost a drop-in replacement from the old branch.
"Almost" because if we do it right and use the new libsigc++ we'll have to
modify the code a little as it's introduced. There are also likely to be
a few bug fixes or other small changes that need to be merged between the
two. Dialogs are comparatively easy although I really need to update that
gui-indep doc so I have a chance of offloading some of the work to
volunteers.
The hard work in gui-indep is the buffer rendering and main lyx window
(ie. the BufferView and the LyXView) but both these areas have been
explored in the old branch and you've partaken in the recent discussions
so you've heard this before.
Allan. (ARRae)
