Re: Motif v lesstif - was Re: Netscape Communicator 4.01b6 ...

[Alex Yukhimets <aqy6633@is5.nyu.edu>]

> On Sat, 5 Jul 1997, Alex Yukhimets wrote:
> 
> > > >>Well, true, but it was linked against Motif 1.2 which make it useless
> > > >>for most of us who has Motif 2.0 :(
> > > 
> > > >Works with lesstif too? ;)
> > > 
> > > I have seen several posts which claimed this couldn't be done.  What
> > > steps would one need to take to get this working?
> > 
> > What do you mean? Making Lesstif and Motif binary compatible?
> > You must have OSF source for that :)
> > 
> > Alex Y.
> 
> If one has the library call interface and specifications, it seems to me
> that it should be possible to write a library that is functionally
> identical to Motif. If this is not true, I'd like for someone to explain
> to me why.
> 
> --David
> 

I guess by functionally identical you mean binary compatible.

OK, one rude example. If among the set of library functions we also have
some global variables (for completely internal use, not documented), they
have to be linked to your program at compile-time, not run-time. 

But even the goal of source code compatibility with Motif I consider
unattainable (without examining Motif source code) due to the nature
of Xlib - the layer behind Motif. Each call to its routine changes
internal state of Xlib. If the same Motif library call implemented even
by different order of Xlib calls in Motif and Lesstif, the internal 
state of Xlib might very well be different after this call. If the
programmer also uses direct Xlib call after calling some Motif routine
(absolutely legal thing), the result of this call may also be different
in Lesstif and Motif implementations, which immediately breaks even source
code compatibility.

Alex Y. 


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