mdw@git.distorted.org.uk Git - ssr/blob - StraySrc/ssr-order

   1 From: mdw@excessus.ebi.ac.uk (Mark Wooding)
   2 Subject: Re: E is for Enlightenment
   3 Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 00:00:00 GMT
   4 Message-ID: <slrn69jenb.agt.mdw@excessus.ebi.ac.uk>
   5 References: <slrn69a3bm.eea.mdw@excessus.ebi.ac.uk>
   6 Organization: MRC Human Genome Mapping Project Resource Centre
   7 Reply-To: mdw@ebi.ac.uk
   8 Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.programmer
   9
  10
  11
  12 [This isn't really a follow-up to anyone in particular, although it
  13 belongs in the same thread.]
  14
  15
  16 I'm extremely heartened by the interest people have shown.  I've even
  17 had people throwing themselves at me and trying to persuade me not to do
  18 this.  This puzzled me.  That's not really the point.  Thanks to
  19 everyone.
  20
  21 I ought to try to explain in more detail how the Straylight Source
  22 Release (or SSR) is going to work.  There's nothing to see yet.
  23 Sources, when they appear, will be available by anonymous FTP from
  24 odie.barnet.ac.uk, in the directory /pub/Acorn/straylight.
  25
  26 The SSR will appear one chunk at a time, hopefully in a sensible order
  27 (so that you don't need to wait for the next chunk before building this
  28 one).  Some chunks are big, and some are small.  Each one will be a Zip
  29 file, accompanied by a detached PGP signature.
  30
  31 I don't have an exact timescale planned.  Some parts have to be delayed
  32 because they depend on earlier chunks.  Other chunks have licensing
  33 problems which I need to sort out.  In all, I reckon it'll take about
  34 three or four months for everything to appear.  Don't rush me.
  35
  36 The order of things will probably be like this:
  37
  38   * Base -- a collection of little libraries, header files and tools which
  39     you need to build everything else.
  40
  41   * BAS -- the Basic Assembler Supplement.  It's a macro library for
  42     BASIC assembler users which generates AOF and does some other
  43     stuff.
  44
  45   * Sculptrix -- Our 3D border module.  There's some lovely code in
  46     here, I think.  (Sculptrix has a mutual dependency with Sapphire,
  47     since the Setrix application is Sapphire-based, and Sapphire uses
  48     Sculptrix for its borders.)
  49
  50   * SDLS -- the Straylight Dynamic Linking System.  You know what this
  51     is, I hope.
  52
  53   * Sapphire -- Straylight's seriously neat library, written entirely in
  54     assembler.  I don't imagine anyone actually using this, although I'm
  55     sure some people will find it interesting.
  56
  57   * Dynamite -- the heap manager.  You know about this too.
  58
  59   * Toys -- some toys, some based on Sapphire.  Many of them are
  60     designed to test Sapphire features.
  61
  62   * STEEL -- our old library.  This is C-oriented, and only really
  63     released because Glass needs it.
  64
  65   * Glass -- the template editor.  Go fetch, use, enjoy.
  66
  67   * Toys -- more toys, mostly older ones, based on STEEL.
  68
  69 On licensing: sources will be available under the GPL, except for
  70 Sapphire and STEEL, which will be available under the Library GPL.
  71 Software currently available as binaries under different conditions will
  72 continue to be available under those conditions, although this will only
  73 apply to the unmodified binaries, not anything you compile yourself from
  74 the supplied sources.
  75
  76 I might as well point out that quite a lot of this isn't commercial-
  77 quality stuff.  There's hardly any documentation for anything, and
  78 there'll probably be lots of bugs.  I'm /not/ planning on doing much in
  79 the way of maintenance on any of this stuff.  If it breaks, you get to
  80 keep both pieces.
  81 --
  82 [mdw]
  83
  84 `It can't rain all the time.'
  85                 -- Eric Draven