title: freedesktop.org software
lastupdated: 2008-05-26


A list of <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software">freedesktop.org software</a>, and comments on how it can be used (if at
all) by GNUstep.  Since there is a lot of software, I'm only listing the ones
that can be used at all.

<p>
This is mostly just a brainstorming activity.  Most of these are not
necessarily suggestions for what GNUstep <i>should</i> do, but rather what GNUstep
<i>could</i> use.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.avahi.org/">Avahi</a> (mDNS service discovery)
<ul>
<li>
this implements what Apple calls Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous)
</li>
<li>
also known as Zeroconf
</li>
<li>
Apple provides the <code>NSNetService</code> API for accessing this, so GNUstep should
implement this (<b>already implemented</b>)
</li>
<li>
might be able to replace parts of <code>gdomap</code> with Avahi
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://cairographics.org/">cairo</a>
<ul>
<li>
obviously, the cairo backend uses this
</li>
<li>
would be nice to have cairo be able to draw to GNUstep surfaces
<ul>
<li>
I started <a href="/gnustep/">implementing this</a>, but it still needs a lot of work
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus">DBus</a>
<ul>
<li>
I guess this is the domain of the <a href="http://code.google.com/soc/2008/gnustep/appinfo.html?csaid=EA050F9F957181D7">other GSoC-er</a>
</li>
<li>
could probably do some DO-related stuff with DBus.  Whether or not it's a
good idea is a different story&hellip;
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dvfs">Desktop VFS</a>
<ul>
<li>
no real implementation, so no point in trying to use it
</li>
<li>
but GNUstep may want to think about a common VFS at some point, since it
needs to support URL schemes
</li>
<li>
GNOME's new GVFS may also be usable
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.abiword.org/enchant/">Enchant</a> &mdash; spell checking library
<ul>
<li>
Enchant provides better support for certain languages than aspell
</li>
<li>
should be used for <code>NSSpellChecker</code> instead of aspell
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/fontconfig">Fontconfig</a>
<ul>
<li>
should be used by GNUstep, but I suppose that cairo already uses it, so the
caire backend would use it
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://fribidi.org/">GNU FriBidi</a>
<ul>
<li>
GNUstep should have some sort of bidi support (I don't know if it would be
automatically done by cairo or HarfBuzz/Pango)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/">GStreamer</a>
<ul>
<li>
could be used for <code>NSSound</code>, <code>NSMovie</code>, <code>QTMovie</code> (instead of audiofile,
portaudio)
</li>
<li>
(see also my <a href="gstreamer.html">GStreamer page</a>)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/hal">HAL</a>
<ul>
<li>
can be used for any GNUstep hardware-related stuff, removable media stuff,
etc.
</li>
<li>
e.g. <code>[(NSWorkspace) mountNewRemovableMedia]</code>
</li>
<li>
needs DBus support
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/HarfBuzz">HarfBuzz</a>/<a href="http://www.pango.org/">Pango</a> &mdash; OpenType Layout engine
<ul>
<li>
should be used to do text layout, so that we can share effort with the
other desktop libraries
</li>
<li>
HarfBuzz is the new common layout engine to be used by Pango and KDE, so
GNUstep could either use HarfBuzz by itself, or use Pango, whichever is
easier
</li>
<li>
this would probably be a <i>big</i> project
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://hieroglyph.freedesktop.org/">Heiroglyph</a> &mdash; PostScript rendering library
<ul>
<li>
can be used for <code>NSEPSImageRep</code>
</li>
<li>
unfortunately, doesn't seem to be very active, and still only alpha quality
</li>
<li>
(should also use GNU PDF for <code>NSPDFImageRep</code> when that becomes usable)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://elektra.sf.net/">libkdb</a> (a.k.a. the Elektra project) &mdash; common configuration storage
<ul>
<li>
could be used in place of current <code>.GNUstepDefaults</code> file
</li>
<li>
(but I don't know if there would be any advantage to this)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://pcmanfm.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pcmanfm/trunk/src/mime-type/">libmimetype</a>
<ul>
<li>
could be used if we want to support the "shared MIME database" fdo spec
</li>
<li>
(see <a href="fdospecs.html">list of fdo specs</a>)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/LibXklavier">libxklavier</a>
<ul>
<li>
does GNUstep need to set any keyboard layout options?
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.mesa3d.org/">Mesa</a>
<ul>
<li>
for whatever 3D API that Apple uses
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://poppler.freedesktop.org/">poppler</a>
<ul>
<li>
unfortunately, licensed under GPL2 only, so can't be used
</li>
<li>
(but we should use GNU PDF when that becomes usable)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://portland.freedesktop.org/wiki/">portland</a> (a.k.a. xdgutils) &mdash; freedesktop.org utilities
<ul>
<li>
various utilities that could be used when installing, if we put things in
freedesktop.org locations (such as icon themes)
</li>
<li>
some utilities that could be used during runtime
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0/xdg-open.html">xdg-open</a> could be used for <code>[(NSWorkSpace) openFile]</code>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0/xdg-email.html">xdg-email</a> could be used for <code>mailto:</code> URLs, or for <code>NSMailDelivery</code>
(however, <code>NSMailDelivery</code> is deprecated)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.scim-im.org/">SCIM</a>/<a href="http://uim.freedesktop.org/">uim</a>
<ul>
<li>
it would be nice if GNUstep supported an input mechanism other than XIM
</li>
<li>
(SCIM and uim both have XIM compatibility, but I haven't managed to get
SCIM's working)
</li>
<li>
(and it would be nice to support one or both of these natively)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://hal.freedesktop.org/docs/PolicyKit/index.html">PolicyKit</a>
<ul>
<li>
corresponds approximately to Apple's <a href="http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Security/Conceptual/authorization_concepts/01introduction/chapter_1_section_1.html">Authorization Services</a>
<ul>
<li>
(see also Apple's <a href="http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2002/tn2095.html">Technical Note 2095</a>)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
I don't know how well the API's match
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>