[gl4java-usergroup] Re: Is GL4Java dead ?

[<aco...@mi...>]

>> OpenGL 2 WILL BE available in
>> GL4Java if I have to do it myself, but I would appreciate help.
>> Shaders are trivial to implement, if you look at the code you
>> will see exactly how to do it.  Add the necessary functionality
>> to the OpenGL_JauJNI14_funcs.c file and the GLFunc*.java
>> files and rebuild.  It IS NOT dead, as long as you are willing
>> to do what it takes to use it.

>In the current state it's not that straightforward. Well actually it is

>but there are some complications. The OpenGL_*_funcs.c file is largely 
>autogenerated, so you have to add the new code that you program by hand

>to the files in the C2J/manual(iirc) directory. To me this is what 
>initially caused the most confusion, because everything (generated
bits, 
>manual bits and concatenated files) is all checked in to the cvs 
>repository. This is the reason why I cleaned up (imho) the build
process.
>I've been wondering if it's worth it to keep this autogenerating stuff.

>The C2J parser is great to generate the inital version of the file, but

>is it worth it to have it in the cvs with the rest of the code and 
>actually invoke it in the makefile?

Gerard Ziemsky (who has ported gl4java to MacOSX for those who don't
know) told me lately : 
" i have pretty much given up on gl4java and have no intentions of
supporting it any further. gl4java grew too complex and too hard to
support. however, there is an ongoing work on a new gl binding for java.
i'll be porting that one to MacOS X. the new binding will work with
Swing. i can't say when it will be ready or anything more about it since
it is not my project"
After asking him, this new binding is not LWJGL, but a third OpenGL
binding.

I guess we are seeing the emergence of these 2 competing OpenGL bindings
because people are no longer satisfied/confident with the gl4java
project, otherwise I guess they wouldn't bother wasting their time
working on a new binding.

As Gerard Ziemsky said, gl4java has grown too complex. I think we should
learn the lessons of what's going on and improve gl4java so people feel
satisfied and confident with it and programmers don't get scared by the
complexity of the build process.

Since some people are being interested by keeping the compatibility with
older Java VMs, I suggest we could start a new module on the official
gl4java sourceforge CVS that we may call "gl4java2", without modifying
the regular gl4java module. People in need with prior JDK compatibility
would stick to the current stable release. People in need for the latest
OpenGL features and better performance would go for the gl4java2
version.

This new module would have the following features :

	- true "plug and play" cross platform compilation script (ANT
based)
	- clean build process (remove the complicate C2J generation)
	- code lighter and easier to maintain (remove code compatibility
for VMs prior to 1.4, and ensure compatibility with Java 1.4 and future
releases) 
 	- support for OpenGL 1.4 with shaders and, when appropriate,
OpenGL 2.0.

Though I barely have any free time, I could handle the ANT compilation
script. But I need some of you to provide me a "C2J free" version of
gl4java.

Alban.