Development Framework Release 1

[Harold Hunt <Harold at compasstechnologies dot com>]

The initial release of the development framework is now available.
Development framework release 1 includes buildable and runable source code
that allows any interested developers to begin implementing the Device
Dependent X (DDX) functions using Windows GDI functions; development
framework release 2 will hopefully add support for DirectDraw graphics
calls.  The development framework release is not a fully implemented and
operational X/Server; rather, as the name implies, the framework release
contains place holders for most of the functions that we must implement to
have a fully operational X/Server.

Development efforts for the framework should concentrate on using Windows
GDI function calls for graphics primitives (lines, arcs, polygons, etc.) and
DirectDraw function calls for bit block transfers and bitmap operations;
more information on which DDX functions nearly map to Windows GDI calls can
be found in the document titled "Design of eXcursion Version 2 for Windows,
Windows NT, and Windows 95"; a link to said document is included near the
end of this announcement.

Development framework releases produce XWin.exe only; xf_dx.dll is not
needed by the development framework releases, as much effort has been put
into allowing Win32 API calls directly from XWin.exe, rather than indirectly
through a seperate DLL like xf_dx.dll.  Development framework releases do
not currently support DirectDraw function calls; a ddraw.h header must be
added to Cygwin to allow DirectDraw function calls.

You can download Development Framework Release 1 from:
http://www.msu.edu/~huntharo/xwin/dfr/usr-include-w32api-diffs-26Nov2000.tar
.bz2
http://www.msu.edu/~huntharo/xwin/dfr/xc-include-diffs-26Nov2000.tar.bz2
http://www.msu.edu/~huntharo/xwin/dfr/xc-programs-Xserver-diffs-26Nov2000.ta
r.bz2
http://www.msu.edu/~huntharo/xwin/dfr/xwin-src-26Nov2000.tar.bz2

or from:
ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/cygwin/xfree/framework-xf86

The development framework consists of several tarballs, including whole
	source files as well as patches to existing header files
	and Imakefiles.

Installing patch tarballs (install-dir-diffs.tar.bz2):
cd install-dir/
bunzip2 install-dir-diffs.tar.bz2
tar -xf install-dir-diffs.tar
patch original-file original-file.diff

Installing whole files (install-dir-src.tar.bz2):
cd install-dir/
cd ..
mv install-dir install-dir-backup
mkdir install-dir
cd install-dir/
bunzip2 install-dir-src.tar.bz2
tar -xf install-dir-src.tar

If you already have a successful build enviroment for XWin.exe, you
	need only to rebuild your makefiles after unpacking the
	development framework files:
cd xc/programs/
make Makefiles		(should take a few minutes)

If you have never built XWin.exe you need to run the following commands
	to prepare your build environment:
cd xc/
make World

XWin.exe is not built by default; enter the following commands to build
XWin.exe:
cd xc/programs/Xserver/
make XWin.exe

Expected behaviour of the compiled development framework release XWin.exe:
A Windows window is drawn
The Window is filled with black lines
Status messages are displayed on your console
Windows cursor disappears on startup, toggles as you pass in and out of
	the client area of the Cygwin/XFree86 window
Execution may be *very* slow on Win9X machines as it is expensive to
	display status messages to the Win9X console; Win2000 does
	not appear to have this problem

How to contribute:
1)  Get "Definition of the Porting Layer for X v11 Sample Server", April 8,
1994, Digital Equipment Corporation, MIT X Consortium, X Consortium.  This
document is about 70 pages long and is available online as a PDF.
2)  Consider purchasing "X Window System - The Complete Reference to Xlib, X
Protocol, ICCCM, and XLFD for X11R5", 3rd Edition, 1992,
Butterworth-Heinemann and Digital Press, ISBN 1-55558-088-2.  This book
costs about $60; it has been replaced by a three book set costing around
$180; for most people the single book will be enough, considering the price
difference.  Note that these books are available online, in PDF form, for
free; the book is nice because it is much smaller and tidier than any
version that you could print yourself.
3)  Consider purchasing, if you don't already own it, "Programming Windows",
5th Edition, 1999, Charles Petzold, Microsoft Press, ISBN 1-57231-995-X.
4)  Read "Design of eXcursion Version 2 for Windows, Windows NT, and Windows
95" at http://www.digital.com/DTJL03/DTJL03PF.PDF.  We are attempting to
create a similar server; the primary differences between our implementation
and eXcursion are that the identified shortcomings of the Windows GDI have
been addressed for us by DirectDraw.
5)  Peruse the code in xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xwin/, paying particular
attention to wingetsp.c, winsetsp.c, and winfillsp.c, as these three files
contain the absolute minimum of functions that must be implemented to get a
somewhat working X Server.  Note that input processing code is already
finished and working; we only need to work on the output code.
6)  Pay attention to the mailing list and post your discoveries, if they
have not already been posted.
7)  Enjoy!

Thank you for your interest in the project,

Harold