[rgui-dev] Backend Debouch

[Tom Sawyer]

along with API Time, is also time to march out the backend debate.

this is a tuff one. i have gone around in circles with myself trying to
figure it out.

here's the scoop as i see it. currently there are only two stable GUI
backends in existence for ruby use: Gtk/Ruby (Gtk+) and FXRuby (FOX). (i
discredit QT b/c of licensing issues)

then there are the ones we have in the works: Ruby-Wise, wxRuby
(wxWindows), and ParaGUI/Ruby (ParaGUI). but none of these are ready:

Ruby-Wise is still alpha, although the examples i've run work well, with
only a few bugs, it is still lacking many of even the basic features we
would need. It would be nice if this were further along, as a clean pure
ruby GUI would make a great start for GUtopIa. But how long would it
take to get it up to speed?

wxRuby on the other hand is in the wrapper development stage, and i
haven't heard any word on its progress, so at this point i can only
assume there is little. (although, i know many people are hoping for
this library asap). also i gave the python bindings a whirl and found me
some segmentation faults. :-( i don't know where the problem lies, but
that's not too good of a sign. yet, i am sure those could see quick
fixes. but just the same without wxRuby itself, we ain't going
anywheres.

finally, there's ParaGUI/Ruby. The bindings for this are flying along
and looking good. That's a very good sign. ParaGUI itself though is
still a bit of a youngster. Leon has it working fairly well, but my test
caused my system to slow to a crawl. obviosuly there are some bugs in
ParaGUI itself that need working out. Currently the version is 1.0.2. so
i don't expect it to be up to par until, say, 1.2, which could take some
time to reach.

so that looks to be the lay of land. please express your opinions on
what i've said here. what kind of time frames do you expect on these
developing GUIs?

so, we have to make some choices. should we use a GTK or FOX or both
backends now in order to get GUtopIa "out the door" sometime soon? or
should we patiant and wait for the others to develop? then there is the
general question of which to support. All of them? or should we focus on
just one? or just a few?

thoughts, please.

~transami