110 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
110 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
The Wine project is an attempt to write something with similar
|
|
functionality to the WABI that was developed by Sun. The basic goal
|
|
is to be able to take a MS-Windows binary and run it under X-Windows.
|
|
Currently Wine is supported by two operating systems: Linux and NetBSD.
|
|
Other operating systems may be supported in the future. The finished
|
|
product will essentialy consist of two parts:
|
|
|
|
a) A program loader, which will load the Windows binary into
|
|
the virtual memory of the user process, provide a means for adjusting
|
|
the ldt of the processor so that the 16-bit segments that are
|
|
typically used with Windows binaries will work correctly, and provide
|
|
a means for calling the Windows binary in the first place, allowing
|
|
the Windows binary to call back to the 32-bit mode program, and
|
|
finally allow the 32-bit mode program to call back again to the
|
|
Windows binary (i.e. Windows callbacks). In each case, the arguments
|
|
being passed will have to be pulled from the appropriate stack and
|
|
loaded on to the other stack (there will be a 16 bit and a 32 bit
|
|
stack). Finally some application specfic DLL libraries will have to
|
|
be loaded, and dynamic linking will have to be performed.
|
|
|
|
b) The second part of the finished product is an emulation
|
|
library, which takes calls to Windows functions, and somehow
|
|
translates these into calls to X11 in one fashion or another, so that
|
|
equivalent functionality is achieved.
|
|
|
|
It should be pointed out that the Windows binary will be
|
|
running directly - there will be no need for machine level emulation
|
|
of the instructions. Sun has reported better performance with their
|
|
version of WABI than is actually achieved under MS-Windows -
|
|
theoretically the same result is possible under Wine.
|
|
|
|
The project got started as a result of discussions on
|
|
comp.os.linux in early June of 1993. A mail channel was set up for
|
|
discussions, and this directory was created. At the moment, all of
|
|
the files that are uploaded are in the private directory in a hidden
|
|
directory. The reason for this is that the program is really only of
|
|
use to developers right now. Once something is ready for public
|
|
consumption, it will be uploaded to a publicly visible directory.
|
|
The final product will almost certainly be under the GNU Public License
|
|
(or GPL for short).
|
|
|
|
***************************************************************
|
|
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
|
|
|
|
If you are interested in contributing to this project,
|
|
join the linux activists' WABI channel. If you have never joined
|
|
a channel before, send mail to linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi.
|
|
It will reply with a help message. New releases are approximately
|
|
every Tuesday. All releases are announced to the WABI channel.
|
|
Also, I will do my best to answer any question mailed to me.
|
|
My address is "bob@amscons.com".
|
|
|
|
If you don't have time to donate, how about money or equipment?
|
|
This project has exploded into one of great general interest. We
|
|
have attracted the attention of many individuals and several
|
|
prominent organizations. Although I have turned down monetary
|
|
contributions in the past, I will now accept them to pay contributors
|
|
for their time. Equipment is also needed. Most notable disk
|
|
space is a big problem. If you would like to make a contribution,
|
|
please contact me by email.
|
|
|
|
***************************************************************
|
|
WHO'S WHO
|
|
|
|
Thanks to the following people for their generous
|
|
contributions of time to this project.
|
|
|
|
Martin Ayotte
|
|
Andrew Bulhak
|
|
John Brezak
|
|
John Burton
|
|
Miguel de Icaza
|
|
Alexandre Julliard
|
|
Scott A. Laird
|
|
Peter MacDonald
|
|
David Metcalfe
|
|
Yngvi Sigurjonsson
|
|
Linus Torvalds
|
|
Eric Youngdale
|
|
|
|
***************************************************************
|
|
|
|
Status Report - September 28, 1993
|
|
|
|
Thanks to the work of John Brezak, NetBSD is now capable
|
|
of running Wine. NetBSD-current has John's patches for running
|
|
Wine. It looks like the Linux kernel modifications are
|
|
complete. Linux 0.99.13 now runs Wine "out of the box".
|
|
Other versions of Unix may soon support Wine as well.
|
|
|
|
Windows Solitaire is barely playable. Special thanks go to
|
|
Alexandre Julliard, Eric Youngdale, David Metcalfe and Peter MacDonald
|
|
for their work on this project. If you live near one of these people,
|
|
buy them a beer.
|
|
|
|
A large number of the drawing functions are complete. Work
|
|
on control windows is now picking up steam. When all of the controls
|
|
have been implemented, dialog boxes will be implemented.
|
|
|
|
A new version of GDB capable of debugging Wine is in the works.
|
|
This should help us locate the bugs that still elude us.
|
|
|
|
Please forgive the infrequent status announcements, but work is slow.
|
|
All contributors are donating their time without compensation. I
|
|
would estimate that at the current rate that we are six months to
|
|
a year from a first general release.
|
|
|
|
-Bob Amstadt
|
|
bob@amscons.com
|