From: aa8vb at vislab.epa.gov (Randall Hopper)
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 08:06:09 -0400
Subject: GNU GUIs in Python (was Re: GUI other than Tkinter (wxPython))
In-Reply-To: <7fs9to$rlr$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>; from fm@synchrologic.com on Sat, Apr 24, 1999 at 11:28:58AM +0000
References: <3721567f.1748033@news> <7fs9to$rlr$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
Message-ID: <19990426080609.A503367@vislab.epa.gov>
Content-Length: 1825
X-UID: 624                                                  

fm at synchrologic.com:
 |mrfusion at bigfoot.com wrote:
 |> Well, I've just about given up on EVER getting Tkinter to work on my
 |> Win98 machine.  Is there any other GUI module that I can get that
 |> doesn't require TCL/TK  to be installed on my machine?  Isn't there
 |> something called GD?
 |
 |I am a real big fan of wxPython. I've gotten everyone at our company
 |hooked on it. We use it for prototyping apps now because it's so much
 |faster than any other tool (that is, VB). It has a full set of controls
 |(tree, list, grid).  Actually, wxWindows on which it's based is pretty
 |nice as well (though C++ requires 10-20 times more typing). Check out
 |http://www.alldunn.com/wxPython/ and
 |http://web.ukonline.co.uk/julian.smart/wxwin/. I think you'll be pretty
 |happy with it. Good luck.

On a related note, is wxWindows/wxPython GPLed?  It isn't bold in stating
it, but I noticed in the Copyright section:

  http://web.ukonline.co.uk/julian.smart/wxwin/manuals/html/wx2/wx1.htm#topic0

it says:

  "Please see the wxWindows licence files (preamble.txt, lgpl.txt, gpl.txt,
  licence.txt, licendoc.txt) for conditions of software and documentation
  use."

Many developers are familiar with the GNU license policy (you link with GNU
==> you're GNU) which discourages use of any GNU product for commercial
purposes where you need to link at the factory.

Has anyone taken a look at how/whether this affects scripting code like
Python scripts?  Here you're usually not "linking" to anything until the
program is run, and then it's the user actually responsible for the
linking.  This is similar to LKMs (loadable kernel modules) where the user
makes the choice.  (Though a snag might be if you have to relink the Python
interpreter at the factor [like Tkinter] to support use of the GUI in scripts.)

Randall




