Am Thu, Mar 09, 2006 at 01:41:06PM +0100 schrieb Jan Zerebecki:
I think a quote from http://www.winehq.org/site/download somewhat sums up the cencus on this list regarding Winetools: "WineTools [is] only recommended if installation or operability of Windows software failed on pure Wine. Since WineTools radically alters your Wine configuration please do not report bugs in programs with WineTools installed. Instead contact the author of WineTools Joachim von Thadden."
As there are arguments floating around about WineTools that are definitely not correct I think I have to make some things here clear.
Some other facts:
Winetools is only sporadically updated for new versions of Wine (as http://www.von-thadden.de/Joachim/WineTools/ indicates; this site also contains some warnings regarding the support status).
WineTools is not "sporadically" updated as it makes no sense to update it with every new Wine release. The purpose is not to keep track Wine, the purpose is to have a stable basis. As such WineTools often stays with a specific Wine version for a time. This is the same what Crossover-Office does. So you would also not include that if you were allowed to?
Winetools radically alters some vital Wine settings and thus makes many other apps fail.
This first part is true, the second definitely not. WineTools is at the moment the only way to have all major commercial windows programs run simultaneously with Wine under Linux if you do not want to pay for Crossover-Office.
If what you say is true then name the apps that fail with WineTools and run with *plain* Wine. I am waiting for your list. And I will include them in the next release (if I can download them legaly).
This leads to many users asking for help in #winehq on freenode. But nobody there wants to support winetools and thus can only suggest them to remove their .wine and redo it without winetools (which usually makes it work).
Yes, this is true. As we are a freetime project we have not the time to sit on an IRC channel. But there is always
a) this mailinglist where we sit and listen b) the possibility to mail us directly
Again: I am nosy to know which apps work after removing a WineTools .wine.
Currently no Winetools developer works closely with the Wine developers to correct problems of interaction between Winetools and Wine.
What does that mean? We are making a tool to make Windows programs run with Wine. We do not develop Wine and our main goal is not to achieve as much debugging informations as possible. The goal is to make the usage of Wine as easy as possible for users coming from Windows and who are customized to point and click interfaces. Again: The goal is not to develop Wine. The goal is to use it easy.
Regards Joachim von Thadden