I propose the following WineHQ patch to present and clarify Wine's goals. I'm submitting this to wine-devel first to get a feel of whether that would be a good addition and whether that sounds reasonable and accurate enough.
Index: templates/en/about.template =================================================================== RCS file: /home/wine/lostwages/templates/en/about.template,v retrieving revision 1.7 diff -u -r1.7 about.template --- templates/en/about.template 24 Mar 2003 22:49:03 -0000 1.7 +++ templates/en/about.template 30 Mar 2003 02:35:46 -0000 @@ -29,4 +29,70 @@ <a href="mailto:julliard@winehq.com">julliard@winehq.com</a>. For a list of current developers, see the <a href="?page=who">Wine Who's Who</a>.</p>
+ +<h1>Wine's Goals</h1> + +<p>As mentionned in many places, the primary goal of Wine is to make it +possible to run Windows applications on x86-based Unix systems. But there is +often confusion as to what this covers. So let's clarify things a bit: + +<ul> + <li>Wine does not try to be a better Windows than Windows. What this means + is that Wine will not try to extend, improve or 'fix' the Windows API in + an attempt to lure developpers into using it. While we think that it is + important to provide a way to reuse the legacy Windows applications that + are out there, we feel that for new developments there are better APIs + than Win32. + + <li>Wine Is Not a (CPU) Emulator. So no, we will not integrate a CPU + emulator in Wine any time soon. However we will do what we can to make it + possible to integrate Wine into a CPU emulation environment that would + provide the regular Unix services that Wine depends on. In such a scheme + both Wine and the Windows application would be run in that environment. + Two candidates that come to mind are <a + href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/%22%3EQEMU</a> and + <a href="http://www.transitives.com/tech_overview.htm">Dynamite</a> from + <a href="http://www.transitives.com/">Transitives Technologies</a>. + + <li>Wine's goal is to provide replacements for just those DLLs and APIs + that are needed to run Windows applications. This means that we will not + provide replacements for DLLs that are always shipped together with an + application. This also means that implementing an API that no application + ever uses is not a priority. Similarly, until there are applications out + there that use the Win64 API, it will not be a priority. That being said, + we will certainly try to keep our options open and to improve our API + coverage as we can. + + <li>Making it possible to use Windows device drivers or VxDs on Unix is not + part of Wine's goals. Device drivers don't use the same API that Windows + applications do, and run in ring 0 instead or ring 3. To make it possible + to use them on Unix, one would have to hack the kernel, implement a + completely different API. In other words, this would be a completely + separate project. However, if you want to reuse Windows drivers on + non-Microsoft operating systems we recommend that you have a look at + <a href="http://www.reactos.com/">ReactOS</a>. + + <li>Wine is not an operating system or a desktop environment. So writing + device drivers, file or window managers that look like Windows, are not + part of Wine's goals. If you are interested in those, the best would be to + contribute to the <a href="http://www.kernel.org/">Linux</a>, + <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> or + <a href="http://www.reactos.com/">ReactOS</a> kernels, or to the + <a href="http://www.gnome.org/">Gnome</a> or + <a href="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</a> desktop environments. You will get + the added benefit that your contribution will then be usable by everyone, + not just by Wine users. + + <li>Wine's focus is on Unix operating systems, and to some extent Linux + because that is what most of our developpers are using. However we welcome + ports to other architectures such as + <a href="http://www.reactos.com/">ReactOS</a> or + <a href="http://bewine.beunited.org/">BeWine</a>, and will try to make + it possible for them to reuse as much of Wine as possible. After all, + reimplementing the Windows API is a big enough task that it is best if we + can all work together on it. +</ul> + + <p> </p> +
On March 29, 2003 09:46 pm, Francois Gouget wrote:
I propose the following WineHQ patch to present and clarify Wine's goals.
Hi Francois,
While what you're stating here is correct, I feel it's way too negative (and large!) to be on the About page: we don't do this, nor that, etc. We already state what we do, that's fine. Some of these things are touched upon in the FAQ, and that's where we should address this sort of thing IMO.
On Sun, 30 Mar 2003, Dimitrie O. Paun wrote: [...]
While what you're stating here is correct, I feel it's way too negative (and large!) to be on the About page:
I think the about page too short <g>. Actually I think it would be better if we appended the 'Why Wine is important' section to it.
we don't do this, nor that, etc. We already state what we do, that's fine. Some of these things are touched upon in the FAQ, and that's where we should address this sort of thing IMO.
Makes sense. The FAQ format should be a good fit for it. I'll move it there the next time I get some spare time.
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Dimitrie O. Paun -
Francois Gouget