RE: [Java-gnome-developer] timeline

[Jeffrey M. <Jef...@Br...>]

> hi,
>   I'm just wondering if you could possibly give a rough idea about the
> expected time line for Java-Gnome if all goes well. i.e. how 
> long is it
> likely to be until:
> * cvs code compiles

cvs does compile now although there is a nasty bug I wanted
to fix before turning it lose to everybody.  There is a change
in the build process.  The build uses ant to compile the java
portions of the bindings.  You will need to download it and
put the <install-dir>/bin directory in your path.  You can
download it at:

http://jakarta.apache.org/builds/jakarta-ant/release/v1.5/bin/

> * important widgets are done, you will be looking for more 
> help with the
> others

Hopefully I will have several of the primary widgets completed
by early next week.  If you want to contribute by working on 
some of the widgets you can get started now.

> * API reasonably stable (it will be possible to start work on
> applications)

This will depend on how much help I can get.  I have two developers
that are getting started with the project.  Based on the three
of use working on the project we are probably about two weeks away
from having the major widgets available and about six weeks away 
from having something close to a release.  More people on the project
could drastically shorten this timeline.

> * Java-Gnome released

See the above note.

> I know it's not easy to determine such things, but please 
> try. We won't
> mind if it takes longer than you suggest.
>
> I am currently planning the gui to a large open source application
> (backend code is currently been written). This is why I'm asking about
> the timeline.
> I want to use java-gnome; some other people in the team would prefer
> swing (although they all recognise the advantages of gtk); discussions
> have also taken place recently considering gtk in C (but this 
> would not
> work well with out backend code and we don't have people who are very
> experienced in either).

The last release of java-gnome was fairly stable although there are
many reasons for you to wait for the next release.  This release will
include a completely different public interface (I hope much simpler).
Another nice feature of the next release of java-gnome is that it
supports GTK2 and GNOME2.  Also, I do have plans to eventually support
GnomePrint, GConf and Bonobo.  This will not be included in the next 
release but are looming on the horizon.

Whether you use C/GTK or java-gnome is up to you.  With java-gnome you will
get a high-level OO interface to the same capabilities as you would have
with C.  If you use GCJ to compile to binaries you will also experience
performance that is very close to the C code.

Good luck.

-Jeff