
Open source Cocoa implementation for Windows and Linux - daeken
http://code.google.com/p/cocotron/
======
js2
FYI,

[http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/04/options-for-porting-
objecti...](http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/04/options-for-porting-objective-
ccocoa.html)

[http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/04/design-of-multi-platform-
ap...](http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/04/design-of-multi-platform-app-
using.html)

[http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/04/porting-mac-program-to-
wind...](http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/04/porting-mac-program-to-windows-
using.html)

edited to put links in chronological order

~~~
tedge
<http://macdaddyworld.com/2008/10/27/adventures-in-cocotron/>

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spooneybarger
Does this exist because someone wanted an open source version of the Cocoa
apis that isn't GPL'd? Otherwise, I don't understand why they wouldn't just
direct their energies into GNUStep.

~~~
pavlov
The aims of the projects are quite different. Cocotron is designed purely as a
porting toolchain, whereas GNUstep provides a complete IDE and many other
cross-platform components.

This difference in philosophy becomes evident in some practical ways:

* Cocotron is designed for integration as a cross-compiler within Xcode. You can literally copy your Mac app or framework target and retarget it to Windows or Linux with a few clicks in Xcode. (GNUstep also does cross-compilers in theory, but integrating with Apple's IDE is not their prime focus because GNUstep traditionally has had its own Next-derived dev environment.)

* Cocotron has a minimum of dependencies and tries to be very lightweight. Its Foundation and AppKit DLLs are just a few megabytes.

* Cocotron aims for a platform-native look, at least as far as possible within the constraints of Mac OS X resource and code compatibility.

* Cocotron's stated goal is Cocoa compatibility. It does not have its own public API extensions, unlike GNUstep.

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makmanalp
Link to actual project page: <http://www.cocotron.org/>

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fredoliveira
This is the first time I hear about Cocotron - and it seems to have quite a
lot of activity based on the part of the changelog that I just looked at. I
wish there was a bit more information on the Wiki pages (there is none at this
point).

More info would certainly facilitate developer adoption to what seems like (at
the very least) a pretty interesting project. Kudos to the developers -
looking forward to hearing more about it.

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jws
_AppKit runs on Windows, Foundation on Windows, Linux and Solaris._

Translation: No GUI on Linux or Solaris.

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rbanffy
I understand Cocotron can't borrow code from GNUStep, but can't GNUStep borrow
code from Cocotron?

~~~
dkastner
GNUStep is licensed under the GPL and has not implemented as many Cocoa
features.

Cocotron is licensed under MIT. Assuming that the GNUStep authors want to
maintain a stricly GPL codebase, they would not want to borrow anything from
cocotron. The authors of cocotron chose MIT specifically to be friendlier for
commercial developers.

~~~
hakl
The GNUStep libraries are LGPL. And they've been implementing Cocoa for years,
so it would surprise me if Cocotron is more complete.

~~~
pyre
I know that the project is old, but I've personally never heard of much being
implemented using GNUStep. I was under the impression that it was an abandoned
project, though I never bothered to check their homepage.

[I assumed that AfterStep was implemented with GNUStep, but I just looked at
the dependency list, and it doesn't include GNUStep...]

~~~
malkia
Well if you use Ubuntu, then just search for gnustep, or ".app" or anything
that might require GNUStep and you would find a lot of apps.

The problem for me, is the menu system - in theory it really looks cool, that
you can detach menus, and leave them as commands (which modern UI's don't do,
except maybe Autodesk Maya).

But then I just can't get used to it - give me Window's menus, or Mac OS X
ones, or Gnome/KDE and I'm fine - I just can't adjust to the
NextStep/OpenStep/GNUStep (okay, my casing is bad here).

~~~
rbanffy
53 apps, according to aptitude.

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Calamitous
I'd really just rather have GTK work nicely on a mac, actually.

~~~
Zev
GTK is a UI toolkit. Cocoa is more than just UI.

~~~
sqrt17
GTK/Glib/whatever is more than just UI just as Cocoa/Foundation/whatever is
more than just UI.

Oh, and GTK runs on far more platforms than Cocoa (Cocoa runs on Macs and
iPhones/iPads, whereas you'd be able to use GTK on Mac, Windows, desktop and
handheld Linux, as well as other Unix flavors)

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malkia
As a way to develop on Windows with Cocotron is to use a dynamic language
which binds to Cocotron.

For example the Clozure Associates, have put in their open sourced common lisp
- ccl the cocotron, and it's available from there.

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dflock
Hmmm... Textmate for Windows, finally? Heh.

~~~
pornel
We're still waiting for Mac OS X release.

