On Nov 8, 2004, at 11:47 AM, Michael Barton wrote:
Thanks Jeshua for your efforts for Mac.
Thank you Michael.
However, we need to make sure this works well with the distribution that
Lorenzo Moretti has developed for Mac OSX. One big issue is that Lorenzo's
version of GRASS is now installed into the /Applications folder. This is the
standard location for applications under OSX rather than the Unix/Linux
standard of /usr/local/. While one can debate the merits or disadvantages of
this from a standardization perspective, it is where most Mac users look for
applications and overcomes the annoying reality that Apple chose to hide the
/usr directory from normal Mac users, while the /Applications directory is
accessible without dropping into the terminal or specifying a special path
to the Mac GUI.
IMHO I think that it is best _not_ to put GRASS in the Applications folder, as GRASS really requires a terminal, and I think it is in the users best interest to start and use GRASS from a terminal. I think it is valuable for the user to know how to do this.
Remember GRASS is not exactly Microsoft Word.
Using Aqua would be desirable if it were difficult to get and xwindows
version of tcltk installed (This was the case about a year ago). However,
Lorenzo has developed nice *.dmg versions of needed GRASS libraries,
including x11 standard tcltk. If this is not moving all of GRASS to Aqua and
out of x11, I'm not sure what is gained now by patching it for a
non-standard tcltk. Perhaps Glynn or others could speak to this.
I really can not disagree with you more. The average Mac user would pick the Aqua version over the Unix version, _anyday_; I am sure,
With Apple's version of X11 and the Aqua version of TCL/TK, it offers much more of a true "Mac Experience". You would hardly ever know you where in a X11/Wish environment instead of a fully native Mac OS X Cocoa application.
For example, the choose file dialog is a native Mac OS X cocoa "Choose File" dialog, which offers the user far more connivence and familiarity than the Wish/X11 choose dialog box. The Mac version allows you to sort by date, drag files and folders to select them, has all of the users shortcuts and recently used files. This reason alone is more than enough to justify WHY one would prefer to use the Aqua version of TCL/TK.
Of course, suite your self. My customers demand more.
Mac preferred browser support already works for GRASS 5.7, but it would
certainly be nice to have this for 5.4 too.
Hmm - that is odd, because it seems that I still had to patch the same file the same way that I did with Grass 5.0-5.4.
This may just need a bit of
tweaking to tcltkgrass for 5.4 or it might need something more complex.
Its done. It works. It is simple. Look at the patches. It's worked since Grass 5.0. I also explained it on this list when I first submitted the patch. See "[GRASS5] More Mac OS X Tcltkgrass Tweaks", April 27, 2003, from me.
Though rather than using "launchURL", I now just call "open".
Support for spaces and other non alphanumeric characters is also nice, but I
think that there is no longer a problem with this in either 5.4 or 5.7.
Hmm, again that is weird, because I had to patch the same bits of the tcltk interface as I did with Grass 5.0.
Finally, I'm not sure what is meant by automatically bringing the GUI to the
front. Currently, I can bring it to the front like any other application by
clicking on it with a mouse, or hide it as needed. Perhaps I misunderstand.
When you execute "tcltkgrass &", the GUI starts, but you have to click on the "Wish" icon to bring it to the foreground so that you may use it. Our solution brings it to the front, like you might expect it to.
Perhaps Lorenzo, Kirk, or other GRASS Mac users will be able to offer
additional clarifications. I am not trying to be negative and welcome anyone
who can help make GRASS more useable on the Mac or any platform. There are
indeed places where Mac support for GRASS can be improved. But I'm not sure
that the 4 items listed here are ones that need to be fixed (preferred
browser support for 5.4 being the primary exception to this). I guess I
would be cautious about altering the source code for these items without
more information.
They have been fixed. They work. They have been tested. They have worked since Grass 5.0. I have provided more information in the past. Look at the patches. They are extremely simple. Its not rocket science or anything.
My users and myself appreciate the changes.
We will continue to use them, I am just contributing what we develop and will continue to do so.
You may not know me, but I was the first person to get GRASS working on Mac OS X Public Beta, and I have professionally lived and breathed Mac OS X since then.
Sincerely,
Jeshua Lacock __________________________
Programmer/Owner Phone: 877.240.1364
http://OpenOSX.com Fax: 415.462.6211
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