Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!apple!bloom-beacon!SUN.COM!rprobst
From: rprobst@SUN.COM (Richard Probst)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: XView source availability
Message-ID: <8907071925.AA00450@paba.sun.com>
Date: 7 Jul 89 19:25:38 GMT
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 52


> Is XView available now?  If it is, would someone please tell me where can I ftp
> it?  If it is not available, does anyone know when will it be available?  

> > XView is Sun's toolkit for use with View2, their merged Sunview/X11
> > server. It is not yet available, and will be sold by Sun, I believe.
> > I don't think it will be PD...


XView is Sun's toolkit for use with X11/NeWS, our merged X11 and NeWS server.
View2 is a previous name for XView, before our marketing folks gave us a
better name.  (The confusion about a "merged Sunview/X11 server" may have
come from the fact that X11/NeWS also supports all SunView binaries.)

Sun will put the XView source on the X11 R4 distribution.  Our lawyers tell
me that we should not say "public domain", because that has a specific other
meaning.  Apparently none of the X11 software is PD, legally speaking.

But let me be very clear:  XView source will be available for free, with no
licensing restrictions and no royalty fees.  XView source will also be part
of System V release 4 (on the graphics supplement tape).  And XView libraries
compiled for all three Sun architectures will be available from Sun as part
of the OpenWindows product family, for the cost of the media and documentation.
This software will also be automatically included in future releases of SunOS.

We intend to donate the XView source in time for the R4 alpha release.  That
means the source should be available via ftp by the end of July.  It will be
in the standard contrib/toolkits sub-tree.  Naturally, we will announce the
source availability on this mailing list.

At the same time, Sun will also donate an OPEN LOOK and ICCCM-compliant window
manager.  XView is an ICCCM-compliant toolkit, and does not work with some
non-ICCCM-compliant window managers (it has been called "righteously compliant").
We intend to donate the OLWM window manager in time for the R4 alpha release.

Bug fixes for both XView and OLWM will be contributed in time for the final
R4 release.  In particular, while XView is quite stable, OLWM is still under
development, since this is not the same window manager used with X11/NeWS;
this one is being developed specifically for donation to the X community. 
Its primary goal is to serve as an example of a good ICCCM-compliant window
manager.

BTW, arrangements have been made to get early copies of XView source to some
hardware vendors and ISVs.  Ports to about 10 non-Sun systems are already under
way.  Several of these arrangements call for any changes needed to make XView
more portable to be returned to Sun.  We will incorporate these changes into
the XView source and make this updated version freely available in the future
(but perhaps after the R4 release).


	--Richard Probst		(rprobst@sun.com)
	  Manager, XView Engineering