rationale for ASU (and change from GTK to Qt)

[Joachim Steiger]

Esben Stien wrote:
> "Ron K. Jeffries" <rjeffries at gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> the rationale for the decision to switch from the original GTK based
>> OpenMoko

its not really switching from gtk to something. gtk is still included
and supported. there is 'just' no app which uses it in some of the
images by default.

the real change was from "everything gtk" to 'a mixture of libs which
get used for "what they're good at"
e-foo for custom-ui and qt-foo because its gsm-middleware works for now
till the FSO is 'complete' and 'some people like it' (qt).. also some
people 'like gtk'.

linux on the desktop would never have been as big as it is now when
there would not have been gtk AND qt. gnome AND kde. its not a total
friendship everywhere, but also not a enmity. its something which makes
both parties want the same thing, but try different ways. who follows
which way doesnt matter, aslong as both want the same thing: write some
app. in the end its an evolutionary process to better, free software
(atleast on the idealistic side ;).

so: gtk is still there and fully supported in openmoko.
just install some app like tango-gps. its gtk and should 'just work'

> There will be a fork here at one point. There's a good bunch of us who
> wants a standard GTK+ environment as the main guis' for the
> phone. There's even some that don't want any QT on the phone, at
> all;).
i can understand that. but there is no need to fork. just submit
patches. we do not bite. on the contrary.

> I just hope that the existing applications has been properly
> engineered, separating the core from the UI (MVC, three tier, PCMEF)
> so that it's just a matter of speaking a common protocol.
me too ;)
that would revamping them to fso middleware easier.

kind regards

-- 

Joachim Steiger
Openmoko Central Services