🚀 go-pugleaf

The GNU Objective-C project was launched at a dinner September 1,
1992.  Attending were: Simson Garfinkle, Dennis Glatting, Mark Henry,
Geoffrey Knauth, Dave Pollak, Sunil Sivji, Richard Stallman, and Andy
Sudduth.  Bob Brown and Charles Perkins could not attend, but tried.

The project's initial goals are:

- to provide Objective-C tools as free software, under GNU Copyleft,
  with the relaxed restrictions of the libg++ license;
- machine independence:  the tools will run on any GNU system;
- support for X, which, as free software, is GNU's windowing system;
- a runtime system.  Dennis Glatting <dennis_glatting@trirex.com>
  has already donated this to the project, and it is undergoing
  final edits.  (For those who will ask, performance is comparable
  to NeXT's runtime system.)
- communications between Objective-C and C++ objects, so that the
  Objective-C library and libg++ can help each other; language
  enhancements to make this easy;
- a graphical object-oriented programming tool.  Those familiar with
  the NeXT computer would call it a kind of Interface Builder that
  will run on any GNU system, and that lacks the flaws of other
  interface builders.  This tool will produce stereotype code that
  does not need to be edited by the user, and which can be read back
  into the tool.  The tool will allow interfaces under construction
  to be tested with real objects.

Geoffrey Knauth <gsk@marble.com> is the FSF Objective-C administrator.
The administrator's duties are to collect software, provide quality
control, obtain releases and certifications of authenticity from
authors, submit releases to the FSF, and ensure community support and
recognition.

It would be insincere to launch an Objective-C project without
acknowledging the boost that NeXT Computer, Inc., has given to the
language, and to the popularization of object-oriented programming.
However, it is not possible for the GNU Objective-C project to accept
code that is dependent on the NeXTstep environment, because NeXTstep
is not free software.

Simson Garfinkle and Dave Pollak both generously offered collections
of their software to the project, but these collections were rejected,
for the moment, because of their dependence on NeXTstep.  Richard
Stallman said that an independent, free software project dependent on
NeXTstep could be started, but that it could not be part of GNU.

A subscriber's mailing list for persons interested in the project will
be announced in the near future.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Knauth, Marble Associates, Inc.                Member BCS-NeXT, LPF
gsk@marble.com, (617) 891-5555 work, (617) 547-5247 home   Standard Disclaimers

[ try this for the mailing list <gnu-objc-request@prep.ai.mit.edu> or
 drop the '-request' from the mailing list name if it bounces... -todd ]