From owner-freebsd-hackers Mon Dec 18 09:38:40 1995 Return-Path: owner-hackers Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id JAA08937 for hackers-outgoing; Mon, 18 Dec 1995 09:38:40 -0800 (PST) Received: from covina.lightside.com (covina.lightside.com [198.81.209.1]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id JAA08932 for ; Mon, 18 Dec 1995 09:38:36 -0800 (PST) Received: by covina.lightside.com (Smail3.1.28.1 #6) id m0tRjWA-0009bIC; Mon, 18 Dec 95 09:38 PST Date: Mon, 18 Dec 1995 09:38:29 -0800 (PST) From: Jake Hamby To: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Motif and multiple platforms (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk This isn't as applicable to FreeBSD as it is to NetBSD, but I thought I should mention a thread on the NetBSD mailing list here. NetBSD users have been concerned because there is no Motif port, and the user base is too small (and also spread out among too many incompatible architectures) for any commercial companies to invest in a port. The conclusion was that investing in a source code license of Motif and figuring out the logistics to get it translated to every NetBSD platform, and then setting up a mechanism to PAY for it would be too complex. The best solution is to back LessTif, as it is a lot farther along than most people realize. I know there is at least one port of Motif 2.0 to FreeBSD, but I would highly recommend everyone to check out LessTif. There should be a new release in early January, and each release brings it much closer to their intent, namely a free Motif-1.2.4 workalike, which would be a great benefit to the entire Free OS community. In the meantime it isn't too usable other than to hack around on, but I understand that nearly every Motif program will compile and link, even if it doesn't run correctly as of now.. :) Finally, the more people that support the core team, and if you have time, contribute patches or new widget functionality, the sooner we will have a working product we can include with FreeBSD as a port/package, which I think will enhance FreeBSD's reputation immensely. http://www.hungry.com:8000/products/lesstif/ ---Jake