[fpc-pascal]FreeCLX

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Tue, 8 May 2001, Matt Emson wrote:

> > > Has anybody developing the FPC compiler given FreeCLX any thought??
> >
> > We did. We are trying to get it to compile.
>
> That's good ;)
>
> > > FreeCLX is the GPL'd portion of the CLX that comes with Kylix and will
> come
> > > with Delphi 6.
> >
> > We know. Actually, the GPL is a problem, since it explicitly forbids
> > development of commercial applications. the FPC license does.
>
> They have to make money somehow!!

I will not argue with that :)

>
> > > As Kylix rocks,
> >
> > Partly, yes. But I wouldn't try to develop serious applications with it
> yet,
> > given the long list of bugs and the fact that Kylix crashes still about 20
> > times a day. But it is definitely easier to make small apps.
>
> Sorry, not seen that at all. Never had it crash on me since FT 2 or 3. The
> release version is stable under Mandrake 7.2.

Yesterday I had - in 1 evening - about 10 crashes, while debugging a _very_
simple program. Mostly errors occur when debugging.

>
> > Actually, it is NOT so easy, since there are some issues:
> > - Multithreading support of FPC is not yet finished
> > - WideString support also is not done
> > - Variants are not yet integrated in the language.
> > These are the main issues, and they require some work on the compiler.
>
> All this is planned however?

Yes.

>
> FPC could be used to put FreeCLX onto platforms not yet supported by Borland
> (BSD etc.)

AFAIK, some german is trying to get Kylix to work on BSD.

>
> > You can use CVS to download the FreeCLX. I have a copy. If you look at the
> > bug list you'll also see a series of bugs I submitted, some of them quite
> > basic.
>
> Only looked at it really quickly.. nothing in the Files section.

I know, you need to pull the files directly with CVS. Instructions are found
on their page.

>
> > > The LCL/FCL status seems to be slow,.
> >
> > Actually, there is quite some progress, just the websites are not really
> > up-to-date.
>
> One good reason to update them then ;)

Maybe, but better do some work to get it ready first ...

>
> > I beg to differ. I have extensively worked with kylix, and it is _not_
> > release quality. Late-stage Beta at most, but not release.
>
> I'm currently using Kylix Desktop Developer - no problems at all. Not had
> any problems under Mandrake since FT 3 (the first one that was usable) and
> to be honest the release version works like a charm ;) Which distro are you
> using? Used Kylix under Mandrake 7.1 and 7.2.. wouldn't touch any other
> distro bar maybe Red Hat.. not really into sparse installers... (mind you
> Suse is probably better than it was last time I used it by now!)

I use SuSE 7.1, and the installer beats anything else I have seen, including
various Windows versions. But that is my personal opinion.

>
> > What is more, many essential parts (netclx, midas, reporting tools) are
> > missing from the commercial and free version.
>
> Not missing much. A whole bunch of SOAP and XML from the press release I
> have read.

Not missing much ? No reporting, No midware, no apache stuff ? This is
why people would buy Kylix ! You don't need kylix for a small app with 3
edits and a memo, you need kylix for the more serious work.

SOAP and XML are nice in the D6 version, but the Kylix version is far from what
D5 professional/enterprise offers...

>
> > > Just thought that Lazarus could do with a kick up the arse (joke!! no
> flames
> > > please!!) Having used Kylix for the last few months (yes beta) I can say
> it
> > > currently kick Lazarus/fpc's collective Linux butt :P
> >
> > But, may I remind you that
> > 1) Qt (the underlying building blocks of VisualCLX)
> >    is maintained since about 5-6 years by a commercial company.
> > 2) Kylix is managed by a company with about 800 employees, of which about
> >    50 on the R&D staff only.
> > 3) FPC is maintained by essentially 6-7 people in their spare time.
>
> There are only about 2 guys working on Delphi at any one time. More come
> release time, but on average two guys, for the whole product. (or so I was
> told by a Borland employee.)

This definitely conflicts with what I have _seen_ when I was at Borland.
Maybe he was talking about the compiler and IDE, but the VCL needs lots
of work and I doubt this can be done by 1-2 persons on average.

Michael.