[PD-dev] pd-devel status report #2

Hans-Christoph Steiner hans at eds.org
Thu Jan 15 04:49:57 CET 2009


To start with, I am working on Ubuntu/Intrepid/i386 and Mac OS X  
10.5.6/Intel.  First, it works!  You can open patches and run them!   
You can create patches, but its pretty glitchy still.  I am working on  
getting saving working right now.  So far, most of the work has been  
on rearchitecting the GUI and startup procedure.  This will make it  
much easier to do all sorts of fun stuff with the GUI, which is the  
inspiration behind this effort.

You can now start Pd either from Wish (Tk's shell for the GUI) or the  
'pd' program.  This gives us a convenient mechanism for checking  
whether there is already an instance of Pd running.  Basically, if you  
start the Pd GUI first, it will only allow one instance to run.  But  
if you start 'pd', which then starts the GUI, you can run many  
instances.

If you would like to try it yourself, here's how:

svn co http://pure-data.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pure-data/branches/pd-devel/0.41.4
cd 0.41.4/src
autoconf
./configure
make
../bin/pd    -OR- wish ../bin/pd.tk

In other news, there have been some minor changes to the C code.  Part  
of the idea of this effort was to only make changes to the Tcl/GUI  
side.  I think the C changes so far are in keeping with that spirit:

- deleted t_tk.h, t_tkcmd.c, t_main.c
- removed #include "t_tk.h" from the iemguis (g_*.c) (unneeded in any  
version of Pd)
- changed pdgui start line in s_inter to work on GNU/Linux

One thing that will have to change is s_inter.c since it handles the  
startup procedure.  Mostly, I think it'll be drastically simplified as  
most of the #ifdefs can be removed.  This will mostly happen when  
things get ported to Windows.

If you want to get involved there are lots of ways to contribute.   
Here are somethings that would be pretty easy and self-contained to  
take on, ranging from small to bigger:

- performance testing (to make sure the Tcl networking is up to snuff,  
it seems fast)
- find panel
- send message panel
- restructure Pd window for cleaner UI and code
- canvas scrollbar logic
- unified preference panel with tabs (like standard ones on GNOME, Mac  
OS X, and Windows)
- help browser
- overall naming/organization scheme for variables, functions, and  
packages

Or what do you want to work on?

.hc

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"[W]e have invented the technology to eliminate scarcity, but we are  
deliberately throwing it away to benefit those who profit from  
scarcity."        -John Gilmore






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