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| author | Lute Kamstra | 2005-07-07 08:39:54 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Lute Kamstra | 2005-07-07 08:39:54 +0000 |
| commit | cf00671d1f6abf1b4f336ad66b37bae953fa13de (patch) | |
| tree | 10b4632f7542fa83d4322a8a0fb2731b12d07fa2 | |
| parent | 60b34e064f8b9b7d71aa3aea4ac8a757b609328e (diff) | |
| download | emacs-cf00671d1f6abf1b4f336ad66b37bae953fa13de.tar.gz emacs-cf00671d1f6abf1b4f336ad66b37bae953fa13de.zip | |
Delete file. The GNU Task List is obsolete and has been replaced by
http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/tasklist.
| -rw-r--r-- | etc/tasks.texi | 964 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 964 deletions
diff --git a/etc/tasks.texi b/etc/tasks.texi deleted file mode 100644 index c4ecca49ffe..00000000000 --- a/etc/tasks.texi +++ /dev/null | |||
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| 1 | \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- | ||
| 2 | @c %**start of header | ||
| 3 | @setfilename tasks.info | ||
| 4 | @settitle GNU Task List | ||
| 5 | @c This date is automagically updated when you save this file: | ||
| 6 | @set lastupdate October 24, 2002 | ||
| 7 | @c %**end of header | ||
| 8 | |||
| 9 | @c On behalf of the Volunteer Coordinators, I humbly request that anyone | ||
| 10 | @c who adds an entry to this file please add a pointer to some more info | ||
| 11 | @c about that project. People ask us (gvc@gnu.org) for more information | ||
| 12 | @c about these projects and it's embarrassing to ask around and find out | ||
| 13 | @c that nobody remembers what the project was supposed to be, or do. | ||
| 14 | @c We don't need a huge elaborate ISO-9001 document, just a couple of | ||
| 15 | @c paragraphs or a URL or something that explains what the e.g. ``stalker'' | ||
| 16 | @c project should do. It will save us all time in the future. | ||
| 17 | @c Thanks, toby@gnu.org | ||
| 18 | @c April 27, 2002 | ||
| 19 | |||
| 20 | @dircategory GNU organization | ||
| 21 | @direntry | ||
| 22 | * Tasks: (tasks). GNU task list. | ||
| 23 | @end direntry | ||
| 24 | |||
| 25 | @setchapternewpage off | ||
| 26 | |||
| 27 | @copying | ||
| 28 | The GNU task list, last updated @value{lastupdate}. | ||
| 29 | |||
| 30 | Copyright (C) 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, | ||
| 31 | 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. | ||
| 32 | |||
| 33 | @quotation | ||
| 34 | Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, | ||
| 35 | are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright | ||
| 36 | notice and this notice are preserved. | ||
| 37 | @end quotation | ||
| 38 | @end copying | ||
| 39 | |||
| 40 | @titlepage | ||
| 41 | @title GNU Task List | ||
| 42 | @author Free Software Foundation | ||
| 43 | @author last updated @value{lastupdate} | ||
| 44 | @page | ||
| 45 | @vskip 0pt plus 1filll | ||
| 46 | @insertcopying | ||
| 47 | @end titlepage | ||
| 48 | |||
| 49 | @contents | ||
| 50 | |||
| 51 | @ifnottex | ||
| 52 | @node Top, Intro, (dir), (dir) | ||
| 53 | @top GNU Task List | ||
| 54 | |||
| 55 | @insertcopying | ||
| 56 | |||
| 57 | See also | ||
| 58 | @uref{http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html#helpgnu} for other suggested tasks. | ||
| 59 | @end ifnottex | ||
| 60 | |||
| 61 | @menu | ||
| 62 | * Intro:: | ||
| 63 | * Highest Priority:: | ||
| 64 | * Documentation:: | ||
| 65 | * Unix-Related Projects:: | ||
| 66 | * Kernel Projects:: | ||
| 67 | * Extensions:: | ||
| 68 | * Java Projects:: | ||
| 69 | * X Windows Projects:: | ||
| 70 | * Network Projects:: | ||
| 71 | * Encryption Projects:: | ||
| 72 | * Other Projects:: | ||
| 73 | * Languages:: | ||
| 74 | * Education:: | ||
| 75 | * Games and Recreations:: | ||
| 76 | @end menu | ||
| 77 | |||
| 78 | @node Intro, Highest Priority, Top, Top | ||
| 79 | @chapter About the GNU Task List | ||
| 80 | |||
| 81 | If you did not obtain this file directly from the GNU project and | ||
| 82 | recently, please check for a newer version. You can ftp the task list | ||
| 83 | from any GNU FTP host in directory @file{/pub/gnu/tasks/}. The task | ||
| 84 | list is available there in several different formats: @file{tasks.text}, | ||
| 85 | @file{tasks.texi}, @file{tasks.info}, and @file{tasks.dvi}. | ||
| 86 | @c to fix an overfill, join the paragraphs -len | ||
| 87 | The task list is also available on the GNU World Wide Web server: | ||
| 88 | @uref{http://www.gnu.org/prep/tasks_toc.html}. | ||
| 89 | |||
| 90 | If you start working steadily on a project, please let @email{gvc@@gnu.org} | ||
| 91 | know. We might have information that could help you; we'd also like to | ||
| 92 | send you the GNU coding standards. | ||
| 93 | |||
| 94 | Because of the natural tendency for most volunteers to write programming | ||
| 95 | tools or programming languages, we have a comparative shortage of | ||
| 96 | applications useful for non-programmer users. Therefore, we ask you to | ||
| 97 | consider writing such a program. | ||
| 98 | |||
| 99 | Typically, a new program that does a completely new job advances | ||
| 100 | the GNU project, and the free software community, more than an | ||
| 101 | improvement to an existing program. | ||
| 102 | |||
| 103 | Typically, new features or new programs advance the free software | ||
| 104 | community more, in the long run, than porting existing programs. One | ||
| 105 | reason is that portable new features and programs benefit people on many | ||
| 106 | platforms, not just one. At the same time, there tend to be many | ||
| 107 | volunteers for porting---so your help will be more valuable in other | ||
| 108 | areas, where volunteers are more scarce. | ||
| 109 | |||
| 110 | Typically, it is more useful to extend a program in functionality than | ||
| 111 | to improve performance. Users who use the new functionality will | ||
| 112 | appreciate it very much, if they use it; but even when they benefit from | ||
| 113 | a performance improvement, they may not consider it very important. | ||
| 114 | |||
| 115 | Finally, if you think of an important job that free software cannot | ||
| 116 | solve yet that is typically solved by proprietary software, please send | ||
| 117 | a short description of that job to @email{tasks@@gnu.org} so that we can | ||
| 118 | add it to this task list. | ||
| 119 | |||
| 120 | @node Highest Priority, Documentation, Intro, Top | ||
| 121 | @chapter Highest Priority | ||
| 122 | |||
| 123 | This task list mentions a large number of tasks that would be more or | ||
| 124 | less useful. With luck, at least one of them will inspire you to start | ||
| 125 | writing. It's better for you to work on any task that inspires you than | ||
| 126 | not write free software at all. | ||
| 127 | |||
| 128 | But if you would like to work on what we need most, here is a list of | ||
| 129 | high priority projects. | ||
| 130 | |||
| 131 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 132 | |||
| 133 | @item | ||
| 134 | |||
| 135 | If you are good at writing documentation, please do that. Pick a system | ||
| 136 | or program you like, and write a Free tutorial or manual for it. | ||
| 137 | |||
| 138 | @item | ||
| 139 | |||
| 140 | Help to finish the missing features of the @command{docbook2texi} so | ||
| 141 | that as many Docbook tags as possible can be translated into reasonable | ||
| 142 | Texinfo. See @uref{http://docbook2x.sourceforge.net/todo.html} for a | ||
| 143 | task list of what needs to be done. | ||
| 144 | |||
| 145 | @item | ||
| 146 | If you are very good at C programming and interested in kernels, you | ||
| 147 | can help develop the GNU HURD, the kernel for the GNU system. Please | ||
| 148 | have a look at @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html}, and | ||
| 149 | then join the HURD mailing lists at | ||
| 150 | @uref{http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-contact}. | ||
| 151 | |||
| 152 | @item | ||
| 153 | If you are a Scheme fan, you can help develop Guile. Please have a look | ||
| 154 | at the URL @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html} | ||
| 155 | and then contact the Guile developers at @email{guile-devel@@gnu.org}. | ||
| 156 | |||
| 157 | @item | ||
| 158 | Improve the facilities for translating other languages into Scheme, | ||
| 159 | so that Guile can provide support for a variety of languages. | ||
| 160 | |||
| 161 | @item | ||
| 162 | A package to convert programs written using MS Access into Scheme, | ||
| 163 | making use of a free data base system and the GTK toolkit. | ||
| 164 | |||
| 165 | @item | ||
| 166 | A general-purpose document viewing program that can handle PostScript, | ||
| 167 | DVI, PDF, HTML, RTF, Word format and Word Perfect format. | ||
| 168 | |||
| 169 | @item | ||
| 170 | Help develop software to emulate Windows NT on top of GNU systems. | ||
| 171 | For example, you could help work on Wine. | ||
| 172 | See @uref{http://www.winehq.org/}. | ||
| 173 | |||
| 174 | @ignore | ||
| 175 | @c panda is a PDF generator library released under the GPL | ||
| 176 | @c http://www.stillhq.com/cgi-bin/getpage?area=panda&page=index.htm | ||
| 177 | @item | ||
| 178 | A free replacement for pdflib. This is a library for generating PDF. | ||
| 179 | @end ignore | ||
| 180 | |||
| 181 | @item | ||
| 182 | Add gettext support to GNU programs that don't have it already. (Please | ||
| 183 | contact the developers of the specific packages that you want to work | ||
| 184 | on.) | ||
| 185 | |||
| 186 | @item | ||
| 187 | Develop a substitute, which runs on GNU systems, for some very popular | ||
| 188 | or very important application that many non-programmers use on Windows, | ||
| 189 | and which has no comparable free equivalent now. | ||
| 190 | @end itemize | ||
| 191 | |||
| 192 | @node Documentation, Unix-Related Projects, Highest Priority, Top | ||
| 193 | @chapter Documentation | ||
| 194 | |||
| 195 | We very urgently need documentation for many existing parts of the | ||
| 196 | system. | ||
| 197 | |||
| 198 | Note that there are proprietary manuals for many of these topics, but | ||
| 199 | proprietary manuals do not count, for the same reason proprietary | ||
| 200 | software does not count: we are not free to copy and modify them. | ||
| 201 | We do not recommend any non-free materials as documentation. | ||
| 202 | |||
| 203 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 204 | |||
| 205 | @item | ||
| 206 | A reference document for SQL for use as a standard for implementors of | ||
| 207 | free software versions of SQL. | ||
| 208 | |||
| 209 | @item | ||
| 210 | A manual for libstdc++. | ||
| 211 | |||
| 212 | |||
| 213 | @ignore | ||
| 214 | @c the Indian TeX Users Group has completed a freely distributable version of a LaTex manual - http://www.tug.org.in/tutorials.html | ||
| 215 | @item | ||
| 216 | A unified manual for La@TeX{}. (Existing documentation is non-free.) | ||
| 217 | @end ignore | ||
| 218 | |||
| 219 | @ignore | ||
| 220 | @c docbook definitive guide http://www.docbook.org/tdg/en/html/ is now FDL | ||
| 221 | @item | ||
| 222 | A manual for Docbook SGML format. | ||
| 223 | @end ignore | ||
| 224 | |||
| 225 | @item | ||
| 226 | A tutorial introduction to Midnight Commander. | ||
| 227 | |||
| 228 | @item | ||
| 229 | A thorough manual for RCS. | ||
| 230 | |||
| 231 | @item | ||
| 232 | A reference manual for Mach. | ||
| 233 | |||
| 234 | @item | ||
| 235 | A reference manual for the GNU Hurd features in GNU libc. | ||
| 236 | |||
| 237 | @item | ||
| 238 | A manual for writing Hurd servers. | ||
| 239 | |||
| 240 | @ignore | ||
| 241 | @c this is done. | ||
| 242 | @item | ||
| 243 | A manual for GNU sed. | ||
| 244 | @end ignore | ||
| 245 | |||
| 246 | @item | ||
| 247 | Reference manuals for C++, Objective C, Pascal, Fortran 77, and Java. | ||
| 248 | |||
| 249 | @item | ||
| 250 | A tutorial manual for the C++ STL (standard template library). | ||
| 251 | |||
| 252 | @item | ||
| 253 | A tutorial manual for Gforth. | ||
| 254 | |||
| 255 | @item | ||
| 256 | GNU Objective-C Runtime Library Manual; this would be a reference manual | ||
| 257 | for the runtime library functions, structures, and classes. Some work | ||
| 258 | has been done on this job. | ||
| 259 | |||
| 260 | @item | ||
| 261 | Manuals for GNUstep: developer tutorial, developer programming manual, | ||
| 262 | developer reference manual, and user manual. | ||
| 263 | |||
| 264 | @item | ||
| 265 | A manual for Ghostscript. | ||
| 266 | |||
| 267 | @item | ||
| 268 | A manual for TCSH. | ||
| 269 | |||
| 270 | @item | ||
| 271 | A coherent free reference manual for Perl. Most of the Perl on-line | ||
| 272 | reference documentation can be used as a starting point, but work is | ||
| 273 | needed to weld them together into a coherent manual. | ||
| 274 | |||
| 275 | @c Bradley M. Kuhn is working on this. <bkuhn@gnu.org> Refer volunteers to | ||
| 276 | @c him. | ||
| 277 | |||
| 278 | @item | ||
| 279 | |||
| 280 | A good free Perl language tutorial introduction. The existing Perl | ||
| 281 | introductions are published with restrictions on copying and | ||
| 282 | modification, so that they cannot be part of a GNU system. bkuhn made a | ||
| 283 | start at a free tutorial, but a lot of work is needed. | ||
| 284 | |||
| 285 | |||
| 286 | @item | ||
| 287 | A manual for PIC (the graphics formatting language). | ||
| 288 | |||
| 289 | @item | ||
| 290 | A book on how GCC works and why various machine descriptions | ||
| 291 | are written as they are. | ||
| 292 | |||
| 293 | @item | ||
| 294 | A manual for programming applications for X11. | ||
| 295 | |||
| 296 | @item | ||
| 297 | Manuals for various X window managers. | ||
| 298 | |||
| 299 | @item | ||
| 300 | Reference cards for those manuals that don't have them: C | ||
| 301 | Compiler, Texinfo, Termcap, and maybe the C Library. | ||
| 302 | |||
| 303 | @item | ||
| 304 | Many utilities still need documentation. | ||
| 305 | @end itemize | ||
| 306 | |||
| 307 | @node Unix-Related Projects, Kernel Projects, Documentation, Top | ||
| 308 | @chapter Unix-Related Projects | ||
| 309 | |||
| 310 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 311 | @ignore | ||
| 312 | @item | ||
| 313 | Modify the GNU @code{dc} program to use the math routines of GNU | ||
| 314 | @code{bc}. | ||
| 315 | @end ignore | ||
| 316 | |||
| 317 | @item | ||
| 318 | Rewrite @code{indent} from scratch to make it cleaner. | ||
| 319 | |||
| 320 | @item | ||
| 321 | Write a free software replacement for the @code{agrep} program. | ||
| 322 | |||
| 323 | @item | ||
| 324 | Less urgent: make a replacement for the ``writer's workbench'' program | ||
| 325 | @code{style}, or something to do the same kind of job. Compatibility | ||
| 326 | with Unix is not especially important for this program. | ||
| 327 | |||
| 328 | @end itemize | ||
| 329 | |||
| 330 | @node Kernel Projects, Extensions, Unix-Related Projects, Top | ||
| 331 | @chapter Kernel-Related Projects | ||
| 332 | |||
| 333 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 334 | @item | ||
| 335 | An over-the-ethernet debugger stub that will allow the kernel to be | ||
| 336 | debugged from GDB running on another machine. | ||
| 337 | |||
| 338 | This stub needs its own self-contained implementation of all protocols | ||
| 339 | to be used, since the GNU system will use user processes to implement | ||
| 340 | all but the lowest levels, and the stub won't be able to use those | ||
| 341 | processes. If a simple self-contained implementation of IP and TCP is | ||
| 342 | impractical, it might be necessary to design a new, simple protocol | ||
| 343 | based directly on ethernet. It's not crucial to support high speed or | ||
| 344 | communicating across gateways. | ||
| 345 | |||
| 346 | It might be possible to use the Mach ethernet driver code, but it would | ||
| 347 | need some changes. | ||
| 348 | |||
| 349 | @item | ||
| 350 | A shared memory X11 server to run under MACH is very desirable. The | ||
| 351 | machine specific parts should be kept well separated. | ||
| 352 | |||
| 353 | @item | ||
| 354 | An implementation of CIFS, the ``Common Internet File System,'' for the | ||
| 355 | HURD. This protocol is an offshoot of SMB. | ||
| 356 | |||
| 357 | @item | ||
| 358 | Support (in Linux?) for dumping the non-textual contents of an SVGA | ||
| 359 | console. | ||
| 360 | @end itemize | ||
| 361 | |||
| 362 | @node Extensions, Java Projects, Kernel Projects, Top | ||
| 363 | @chapter Extensions to Existing GNU Software | ||
| 364 | |||
| 365 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 366 | @item | ||
| 367 | Enhance GCC. See files @file{PROJECTS} and @file{PROBLEMS} in the GCC | ||
| 368 | distribution. | ||
| 369 | |||
| 370 | @item | ||
| 371 | Interface GDB to Guile, so that users can write debugging commands in | ||
| 372 | Scheme. This would also make it possible to write, in Scheme, a | ||
| 373 | graphical interface that uses GTK and is tightly integrated into GDB. | ||
| 374 | |||
| 375 | @item | ||
| 376 | Extend Octave to support programs that were written | ||
| 377 | to run on Khoros. | ||
| 378 | |||
| 379 | @item | ||
| 380 | Rewrite Automake in Scheme, so it can run in Guile. Right now it is | ||
| 381 | written in Perl. There are also other programs, not terribly long, | ||
| 382 | which we would also like to have rewritten in Scheme. | ||
| 383 | |||
| 384 | @item | ||
| 385 | Finish the partially-implemented C interpreter project. | ||
| 386 | |||
| 387 | @item | ||
| 388 | Help with the development of GNUstep, a GNU implementation of the | ||
| 389 | OpenStep specification. | ||
| 390 | |||
| 391 | @item | ||
| 392 | Add features to GNU Make to record the precise rule with which each file | ||
| 393 | was last recompiled; then recompile any file if its rule in the makefile | ||
| 394 | has changed. | ||
| 395 | |||
| 396 | @item | ||
| 397 | Add a few features to GNU @code{diff}, such as handling large input | ||
| 398 | files without reading entire files into core. | ||
| 399 | |||
| 400 | @item | ||
| 401 | An @code{nroff} macro package to simplify @code{texi2roff}. | ||
| 402 | |||
| 403 | @item | ||
| 404 | A queueing system for the mailer Smail that groups pending work by | ||
| 405 | destination rather than by original message. This makes it possible | ||
| 406 | to schedule retries coherently for each destination. Talk to | ||
| 407 | @email{tron@@veritas.com} and @email{woods@@weird.com} about this. | ||
| 408 | |||
| 409 | @end itemize | ||
| 410 | |||
| 411 | @node Java Projects, X Windows Projects, Extensions, Top | ||
| 412 | @chapter Java Projects | ||
| 413 | |||
| 414 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 415 | |||
| 416 | @item | ||
| 417 | The GNU Classpath Extensions project is looking for help. classpathx | ||
| 418 | builds free versions of Sun's java extension libraries, the packages | ||
| 419 | in the javax namespace. | ||
| 420 | |||
| 421 | @item | ||
| 422 | Write a replacement for the javadoc utility. The Classpath | ||
| 423 | (@uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath}) team has already made a | ||
| 424 | start to one. | ||
| 425 | |||
| 426 | |||
| 427 | @end itemize | ||
| 428 | |||
| 429 | @node X Windows Projects, Network Projects, Java Projects, Top | ||
| 430 | @chapter X Windows Projects | ||
| 431 | |||
| 432 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 433 | @item | ||
| 434 | An emulator for Macintosh graphics calls on top of X Windows. | ||
| 435 | |||
| 436 | @ignore | ||
| 437 | @c winelib does this http://www.winehq.org/ | ||
| 438 | @item | ||
| 439 | A package that emulates the API of Visual C++'s Foundation Classes | ||
| 440 | (MFC), but operates on top of X11. It need not match the screen | ||
| 441 | appearance provided by MFC. Instead, it would be best to use GTK, so as | ||
| 442 | to give coherence with GNOME. | ||
| 443 | @end ignore | ||
| 444 | |||
| 445 | @ignore | ||
| 446 | @c GNOME Basic is doing this | ||
| 447 | @item | ||
| 448 | A compatible replacement for Visual Basic, running on top of X11. | ||
| 449 | It need not match the screen appearance of Visual C++. Instead, | ||
| 450 | it would be best to use GTK, so as to give coherence with GNOME. | ||
| 451 | @end ignore | ||
| 452 | |||
| 453 | @ignore | ||
| 454 | @c Denemo is doing this. | ||
| 455 | @item | ||
| 456 | A music playing and editing system. This should work with LilyPond, a | ||
| 457 | GNU program for music typesetting. | ||
| 458 | @end ignore | ||
| 459 | |||
| 460 | @ignore @c GNUskies should do this | ||
| 461 | @item | ||
| 462 | An ephemeris program to replace xephem (which is, alas, too restricted | ||
| 463 | to qualify as free software). | ||
| 464 | @end ignore | ||
| 465 | |||
| 466 | @c Gepetto (@url{http://laurent.riesterer.free.fr/gepetto/intro-main.html}, | ||
| 467 | @c @email{laurent.riesterer@@free.fr}), according to @email{gnueval@@gnu.org}, | ||
| 468 | @c does the job of displaing dancers but does not allow editing notation. | ||
| 469 | |||
| 470 | |||
| 471 | @item | ||
| 472 | Make sure the Vibrant toolkit works with LessTif instead of Motif. | ||
| 473 | |||
| 474 | @item | ||
| 475 | A program to display and edit Hypercard stacks. | ||
| 476 | |||
| 477 | @item | ||
| 478 | A two-dimensional outliner program, which lets you draw | ||
| 479 | graph structures of textual items, and then display them | ||
| 480 | in various ways. | ||
| 481 | |||
| 482 | @ignore @c done | ||
| 483 | @item | ||
| 484 | A program for graphic morphing of scanned photographs. | ||
| 485 | @end ignore | ||
| 486 | |||
| 487 | @ignore @c Done by gLabels | ||
| 488 | @item | ||
| 489 | Software for designing and printing business cards. | ||
| 490 | @end ignore | ||
| 491 | @end itemize | ||
| 492 | |||
| 493 | @node Network Projects, Encryption Projects, X Windows Projects, Top | ||
| 494 | @chapter Network Projects | ||
| 495 | |||
| 496 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 497 | @ignore | ||
| 498 | @c Cornell has released a program for this. | ||
| 499 | @item | ||
| 500 | A teleconferencing program which does the job of CU-SeeMe (which is, | ||
| 501 | alas, not free software). | ||
| 502 | @end ignore | ||
| 503 | |||
| 504 | @ignore | ||
| 505 | @c Bishop Bettini <bishop@synxcti.com> is working on this. | ||
| 506 | @item | ||
| 507 | A free ICQ-compatible server program. (The ICQ server itself is not | ||
| 508 | free software.) | ||
| 509 | @end ignore | ||
| 510 | |||
| 511 | @ignore | ||
| 512 | @c if anyone knows what this means please send email to gvc@gnu.org | ||
| 513 | @item | ||
| 514 | Free software like Stalker for operating a web server for email | ||
| 515 | services. | ||
| 516 | @end ignore | ||
| 517 | |||
| 518 | @end itemize | ||
| 519 | |||
| 520 | @node Encryption Projects, Other Projects, Network Projects, Top | ||
| 521 | @chapter Encryption Projects | ||
| 522 | |||
| 523 | These projects need to be written outside the US by people who are not | ||
| 524 | US citizens, to avoid problems with US export control law. | ||
| 525 | |||
| 526 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 527 | @ignore | ||
| 528 | @c libcrypt is doing this. | ||
| 529 | @item | ||
| 530 | A free library for public-key encryption. This library can probably be | ||
| 531 | developed from the code for the GNU Privacy Guard. | ||
| 532 | @end ignore | ||
| 533 | |||
| 534 | @ignore | ||
| 535 | @item | ||
| 536 | @c GNUtls is doing this. | ||
| 537 | An implementation of SSLv3 (more precisely, TLSv1) which has | ||
| 538 | distribution terms compatible with the GNU GPL. We know of a | ||
| 539 | GPL-covered implemention of a version of SSL that you can use as a | ||
| 540 | starting point. | ||
| 541 | @end ignore | ||
| 542 | |||
| 543 | @ignore | ||
| 544 | @c akopia interchange appears to do this. if you'd like to re-open this | ||
| 545 | @c item please let the GVC know what you want (in some detail) | ||
| 546 | @item | ||
| 547 | Free software for doing secure commercial transactions on the web. | ||
| 548 | This should be based on libgcrypt and GNUtls. | ||
| 549 | @end ignore | ||
| 550 | |||
| 551 | @end itemize | ||
| 552 | |||
| 553 | @node Other Projects, Languages, Encryption Projects, Top | ||
| 554 | @chapter Other Projects | ||
| 555 | |||
| 556 | If you think of others that should be added, please | ||
| 557 | send them to @email{tasks@@gnu.org}. | ||
| 558 | |||
| 559 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 560 | |||
| 561 | @ignore | ||
| 562 | @c vcg as of version 1.30 (current as of 2002-10-24) is GPL | ||
| 563 | @c toby 2002-10-24 | ||
| 564 | @item | ||
| 565 | A library for automatic graph layout. VCG version 1.0, which was free | ||
| 566 | software, might provide a base for this. | ||
| 567 | @end ignore | ||
| 568 | |||
| 569 | @item | ||
| 570 | A data visualization program along the lines of xgobi or ggobi. | ||
| 571 | |||
| 572 | @item | ||
| 573 | A graph visualization program, which would use that library and | ||
| 574 | provide a front end for manual and interactive intervention so as to | ||
| 575 | provide a full substitute for equivalent proprietory software. It | ||
| 576 | would be good to support DOT format as input, and perhaps other | ||
| 577 | formats. | ||
| 578 | |||
| 579 | @c Such proprietary software is daVinci and graphviz, but are uncommon enough | ||
| 580 | @c that we don't mention them here publicly. | ||
| 581 | @c http://www.research.att.com/~erg/graphviz/info/lang.html | ||
| 582 | @c Some useful information about graph drawing programs can be found here | ||
| 583 | @c http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/graphviz/gdlinks.html | ||
| 584 | |||
| 585 | @c At the time of making this entry, VCG's website was | ||
| 586 | @c http://rw4.cs.uni-sb.de/users/sander/html/gsvcg1.html | ||
| 587 | |||
| 588 | @item | ||
| 589 | |||
| 590 | A ``one stop shopping system'' for advocates involved with social | ||
| 591 | justice or other non-profit campaigns. The idea would be to create an | ||
| 592 | easy-to-use interface to software that would allow someone to register a | ||
| 593 | domain for their organisation, build a website, and set up mailing | ||
| 594 | lists. The software would need options to easily do all this, and be | ||
| 595 | made easy for non-hackers. Mainly the work would involve bringing | ||
| 596 | together a number of existing tools with an overriding configuration | ||
| 597 | program. | ||
| 598 | |||
| 599 | @ignore LinuxBIOS is doing this | ||
| 600 | @item | ||
| 601 | A simple PC BIOS. On most new PCs, the BIOS is stored in writable | ||
| 602 | memory (misleadingly known as ``flash ROM''). In order to have a wholly | ||
| 603 | free system on these PCs, we need a free BIOS. | ||
| 604 | |||
| 605 | This task is made simpler by the fact that this BIOS need only support | ||
| 606 | enough features to enable a boot-loader such as LILO or GRUB to finish | ||
| 607 | loading the kernel. Neither Linux nor Mach actually uses the BIOS once | ||
| 608 | it starts up. Also, it is not absolutely necessary to do all the many | ||
| 609 | diagnostics that an ordinary BIOS does (though it would be useful to do | ||
| 610 | some of them). However, there may be a need to configure certain data | ||
| 611 | in the computer in a way that is specific to each model of computer. | ||
| 612 | @end ignore | ||
| 613 | |||
| 614 | @item | ||
| 615 | An imitation of Page Maker or Ventura Publisher. | ||
| 616 | |||
| 617 | @item | ||
| 618 | An imitation of @code{dbase2} or @code{dbase3}. (How dbased!) | ||
| 619 | Harbour, a free replacement for Clipper, would provide a useful start. | ||
| 620 | @uref{http://www.harbour-project.org/}. | ||
| 621 | |||
| 622 | @ignore @c being done by Jonas etc. | ||
| 623 | @item | ||
| 624 | A general ledger program, including support for accounts payable, | ||
| 625 | account receivables, payroll, inventory control, order processing, etc. | ||
| 626 | @end ignore | ||
| 627 | |||
| 628 | @item | ||
| 629 | A free replacement for Glimpse, which is not free software. | ||
| 630 | Swish does some parts of the job, but not all. | ||
| 631 | |||
| 632 | @item | ||
| 633 | Software for desktop publishing. We are extending Emacs into a WYSIWYG | ||
| 634 | word processor, to handle primarily linear text; what this item proposes | ||
| 635 | is software focused on page layout. | ||
| 636 | |||
| 637 | @ignore It looks like TruePrint will fill this gap | ||
| 638 | @item | ||
| 639 | A program to typeset C code for printing, to make it easier to read on | ||
| 640 | paper. For ideas on what to do, see the book, | ||
| 641 | |||
| 642 | @display | ||
| 643 | Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs, | ||
| 644 | Ronald M. Baecker and Aaron Marcus, | ||
| 645 | Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10745-7 | ||
| 646 | @end display | ||
| 647 | |||
| 648 | But you don't have to do exactly what they propose. | ||
| 649 | @end ignore | ||
| 650 | |||
| 651 | @ignore | ||
| 652 | @c This is now being worked on -- rms, 22 June 1998 | ||
| 653 | @item | ||
| 654 | A program to convert Microsoft Word documents to text/enriched, TeX, | ||
| 655 | LaTeX, Texinfo, or some other format that free software can edit. | ||
| 656 | @end ignore | ||
| 657 | |||
| 658 | @ignore | ||
| 659 | @c People are helping the developer of siff release it as free software. | ||
| 660 | |||
| 661 | @item | ||
| 662 | A free replacement for siff (sometimes called sif). This would be a | ||
| 663 | program to find similar files in a large file system, ``similar'' | ||
| 664 | meaning that the files contain a significant number of common substrings | ||
| 665 | that are of a certain size or greater. You can find some information | ||
| 666 | about siff (which is, unfortunately, not free software) at | ||
| 667 | @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.arizona.edu/reports/1993/TR93-33.ps.Z}. | ||
| 668 | @end ignore | ||
| 669 | |||
| 670 | @ignore | ||
| 671 | @c This is being developed -- rms, 3 May 1998 | ||
| 672 | @item | ||
| 673 | A free replacement for the semi-free Qt library. | ||
| 674 | @end ignore | ||
| 675 | |||
| 676 | @ignore | ||
| 677 | @c Ogg Vorbis is doing this, see @url{http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/index.html} or contact @email{Monty <monty@xiph.org>}. | ||
| 678 | |||
| 679 | @item | ||
| 680 | High-quality music compression software. | ||
| 681 | (Talk with @email{mt@@sulaco.org} for relevant suggestions.) | ||
| 682 | Unfortunately we cannot implement the popular MP3 format | ||
| 683 | due to patents, so this job includes working out some other | ||
| 684 | non-patented format and compression method. | ||
| 685 | @end ignore | ||
| 686 | |||
| 687 | @item | ||
| 688 | A program to play sound distributed in ``Real Audio'' format, if only | ||
| 689 | because there is a large corpus of data encoded in this format. We | ||
| 690 | ask that you encode audio data in Ogg/Vorbis format since it is | ||
| 691 | publically documented and there are Free Software encoders and | ||
| 692 | decoders available. | ||
| 693 | |||
| 694 | @ignore | ||
| 695 | @c we do NOT want to provide software to encode data into proprietary secret formats. People should use ogg/vorbis or another well-documented format instead | ||
| 696 | @item | ||
| 697 | A program to generate ``Real Audio'' format from audio input. | ||
| 698 | @end ignore | ||
| 699 | |||
| 700 | @item | ||
| 701 | Programs to handle audio in RTSP format. | ||
| 702 | |||
| 703 | @ignore @c Software patents have made this domain off limits to free software. | ||
| 704 | @item | ||
| 705 | An MPEG III audio encoder/decoder (but it is necessary to check, first, | ||
| 706 | whether patents make this impossible). | ||
| 707 | |||
| 708 | @c Chris Hofstader is working on a non-Festival speech-generation program. | ||
| 709 | @c Mario Lang <lang@zid.tu-graz.ac.at> reports that Festival needs only | ||
| 710 | @c to be 2-5 times faster to work well with Emacspeak. | ||
| 711 | @item | ||
| 712 | Speech-generation programs that are faster than the Festival engine. | ||
| 713 | This might be done by optimizing Festival. | ||
| 714 | |||
| 715 | @c We have a project now. | ||
| 716 | @item | ||
| 717 | Speech-recognition programs (single-speaker, disconnected speech is sufficient). | ||
| 718 | @end ignore | ||
| 719 | |||
| 720 | @item | ||
| 721 | A braille translation and formatting system which can convert marked up | ||
| 722 | documents into braille. This should let the user customize the braille | ||
| 723 | translation rules; it would be good to divide it into a | ||
| 724 | device-independent part plus drivers. Contact Jason White, | ||
| 725 | @email{jasonw@@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU}. | ||
| 726 | |||
| 727 | @ignore Being done | ||
| 728 | @item | ||
| 729 | A program to display text word by word, always showing just one word at | ||
| 730 | a time. This method permits much faster reading than ordinary text | ||
| 731 | display. If you want to work on this, contact @email{stutz@@dsl.org} to | ||
| 732 | learn more. | ||
| 733 | @end ignore | ||
| 734 | |||
| 735 | @item | ||
| 736 | More scientific mathematical subroutines. | ||
| 737 | (A clone of SPSS is being written already.) | ||
| 738 | |||
| 739 | @item | ||
| 740 | A scientific data collection and processing tool, | ||
| 741 | perhaps something like Scientific Workbench and/or Khoros, | ||
| 742 | |||
| 743 | @item | ||
| 744 | A free replacement for SciRun, which is not free software. | ||
| 745 | |||
| 746 | @item | ||
| 747 | A program to calculate properties of molecules by solving | ||
| 748 | the Schroedinger equation. | ||
| 749 | |||
| 750 | |||
| 751 | @ignore | ||
| 752 | @c the Koha project appears to satisfy this need. see www.koha.org | ||
| 753 | @c toby 2002-06-21 | ||
| 754 | |||
| 755 | @item | ||
| 756 | Software to replace card catalogs in libraries. | ||
| 757 | @end ignore | ||
| 758 | |||
| 759 | |||
| 760 | @item | ||
| 761 | A simulator for heating and air conditioning systems for buildings. | ||
| 762 | |||
| 763 | @ignore | ||
| 764 | @c Pat Deegan @email{pat@@psychogenic.com} is working on this. | ||
| 765 | @c no URL yet, the status is updated in @file{volunteers} | ||
| 766 | |||
| 767 | @item | ||
| 768 | A program for voting and tabulating election results. | ||
| 769 | |||
| 770 | @end ignore | ||
| 771 | |||
| 772 | @ignore | ||
| 773 | @c at least 4 GPL program exist for this purpose (one of | ||
| 774 | @c which, gramps, has a GNOME UI): | ||
| 775 | @c http://www.gnu.org/search/fsd-search.py?q=geneology | ||
| 776 | @c 2002-06-27 toby | ||
| 777 | |||
| 778 | @item | ||
| 779 | A package for editing genealogical records conveniently. | ||
| 780 | This could perhaps be done as a Gnome program, or perhaps | ||
| 781 | as an Emacs extension. | ||
| 782 | |||
| 783 | @end ignore | ||
| 784 | |||
| 785 | @ignore | ||
| 786 | @c ToutDoux aims to do this. | ||
| 787 | @c also Minkowsky (at least simple project management) - toby | ||
| 788 | |||
| 789 | @item | ||
| 790 | A project-scheduling package that accepts a list of project sub-tasks | ||
| 791 | with their interdependencies, and generates Gantt charts and Pert charts | ||
| 792 | and all the other standard project progress reports. | ||
| 793 | @end ignore | ||
| 794 | |||
| 795 | @item | ||
| 796 | Grammar and style checking programs. | ||
| 797 | |||
| 798 | @item | ||
| 799 | A diagnostic program to test a hard disk. | ||
| 800 | |||
| 801 | @item | ||
| 802 | Optical character recognition programs; especially if suitable for | ||
| 803 | scanning documents with multiple fonts and capturing font info as well | ||
| 804 | as character codes. Work is being done on this, but more help is needed. | ||
| 805 | |||
| 806 | @c Some of the OCR work being done: | ||
| 807 | @c Luis Cearra <luisjc@lem.eui.upm.es>, http://lem.eui.upm.es/ocre.html | ||
| 808 | @c The status of these projects is updated in @file{/gd/gnuorg/volunteers} | ||
| 809 | |||
| 810 | @item | ||
| 811 | A program to scan a line drawing and convert it to editable Postscript, | ||
| 812 | or some other editable format. | ||
| 813 | |||
| 814 | @item | ||
| 815 | A program to recognize handwriting (we don't believe PocketLinux's | ||
| 816 | handwriting capability is ready for non-PocketLinux environments, yet). | ||
| 817 | |||
| 818 | |||
| 819 | @item | ||
| 820 | A program that can translate from one natural language, into another. | ||
| 821 | For example, a program to translate French into English. | ||
| 822 | |||
| 823 | @item | ||
| 824 | CAD software, such as a vague imitation of Autocad. | ||
| 825 | |||
| 826 | @item | ||
| 827 | A program to receive data from a serial-line tap to facilitate the | ||
| 828 | reverse-engineering of communication protocols. | ||
| 829 | |||
| 830 | @item | ||
| 831 | A database program designed to store and retrieve patent information. | ||
| 832 | |||
| 833 | @item | ||
| 834 | A free software package to run on a Palm Pilot in place of its usual | ||
| 835 | software, doing more or less the usual jobs. (Linux, the kernel, has | ||
| 836 | apparently been ported, but according to what we hear this port is not | ||
| 837 | useful yet.) | ||
| 838 | |||
| 839 | @end itemize | ||
| 840 | |||
| 841 | @node Languages, Education, Other Projects, Top | ||
| 842 | @chapter Programming Languages | ||
| 843 | |||
| 844 | Volunteers are needed to write parsers/front ends for languages such as | ||
| 845 | Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, Delphi, Modula 2, Modula 3, | ||
| 846 | RPG, and any other languages designed for compilation, to be used with | ||
| 847 | the code generation phases of the GNU C compiler. | ||
| 848 | |||
| 849 | @ignore | ||
| 850 | @c Fortran status is here so gnu@gnu.org and the volunteer coordinators | ||
| 851 | @c don't have to answer the question -len | ||
| 852 | @c as of 2002-09 this doesn't work anymore - toby | ||
| 853 | You can get the status of the Fortran front end with this command: | ||
| 854 | |||
| 855 | @example | ||
| 856 | finger -l fortran@@gnu.org | ||
| 857 | @end example | ||
| 858 | @end ignore | ||
| 859 | |||
| 860 | We would like to have translators from various languages into Scheme. | ||
| 861 | These languages include TCL, Python, Perl, Java, Javascript, and Rexx. | ||
| 862 | Perhaps Clipper as well. | ||
| 863 | |||
| 864 | @node Education, Games and Recreations, Languages, Top | ||
| 865 | @chapter Education | ||
| 866 | |||
| 867 | Programs for studying, teaching or doing administrative tasks in schools. | ||
| 868 | See @uref{http://www.gnu.org/education/} for additional information. | ||
| 869 | |||
| 870 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 871 | @item | ||
| 872 | A program to organize automatically the schedule of a school given | ||
| 873 | constraints about teachers, rooms, times, and students. | ||
| 874 | |||
| 875 | @item | ||
| 876 | A program to edit dance notation (such as labanotation) and display | ||
| 877 | dancers moving on the screen. Gepetto does some of this work. Contact | ||
| 878 | @email{gvc@@gnu.org} if you are interested in helping finish the job. | ||
| 879 | |||
| 880 | @end itemize | ||
| 881 | |||
| 882 | @node Games and Recreations, , Education, Top | ||
| 883 | @chapter Games and Recreations | ||
| 884 | |||
| 885 | Video-oriented games that work with the X window system. | ||
| 886 | |||
| 887 | @itemize @bullet | ||
| 888 | @item | ||
| 889 | Empire (there is a free version but it needs upgrading) | ||
| 890 | |||
| 891 | @item | ||
| 892 | An ``empire builder'' system that makes it easy to write various kinds of | ||
| 893 | simulation games. | ||
| 894 | |||
| 895 | @item | ||
| 896 | Improve GnuGo @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo/gnugo.html}. | ||
| 897 | |||
| 898 | @item | ||
| 899 | Network servers and clients for board and card games for which such | ||
| 900 | software does not yet exist. | ||
| 901 | |||
| 902 | @item | ||
| 903 | A Hierarchical Task Network package which can be used | ||
| 904 | to program play the computer's side in various strategic games. | ||
| 905 | |||
| 906 | @item | ||
| 907 | A game like Mill/Nine Men's Morris. | ||
| 908 | |||
| 909 | @item | ||
| 910 | A realistic train-driving simulator. | ||
| 911 | |||
| 912 | @item | ||
| 913 | Write imitations of some popular video games: | ||
| 914 | |||
| 915 | @itemize - | ||
| 916 | @item | ||
| 917 | Space war, Asteroids, Pong, Columns. | ||
| 918 | @item | ||
| 919 | Defending cities from missiles. | ||
| 920 | @item | ||
| 921 | Plane shoots at lots of other planes, tanks, etc. | ||
| 922 | @item | ||
| 923 | Wizard fights fanciful monsters. | ||
| 924 | @ignore Peter Sundling peter.sundling@telia.com expressed interest in this. | ||
| 925 | @item | ||
| 926 | A golf game. | ||
| 927 | @ignore Being done by jhall1@isd.net | ||
| 928 | @item | ||
| 929 | Program a robot by sticking building blocks together, | ||
| 930 | then watch it explore a world. | ||
| 931 | @end ignore | ||
| 932 | @item | ||
| 933 | Biomorph evolution (as in Scientific American and @cite{The Blind | ||
| 934 | Watchmaker}). | ||
| 935 | @end itemize | ||
| 936 | @end itemize | ||
| 937 | |||
| 938 | We do not need @code{rogue}, as we have @code{hack}. | ||
| 939 | |||
| 940 | |||
| 941 | @bye | ||
| 942 | @c LocalWords: dir texi lastupdate uref http www org html helpgnu ifinfo ftp | ||
| 943 | @c LocalWords: dvi hurd toc gvc URL GTK XmHTML xs nl ripley NT com gettext Qt | ||
| 944 | @c LocalWords: GUI libstdc Docbook SGML libc sed STL Gforth GNUstep TCSH Perl | ||
| 945 | @c LocalWords: Ghostscript PIC GCC Texinfo grep dc bc ethernet GDB IP CIFS CU | ||
| 946 | @c LocalWords: SMB SVGA Khoros Automake OpenStep diff roff Smail tron veritas | ||
| 947 | @c LocalWords: cxref ctrace API LilyPond xephem labanotation LessTif outliner | ||
| 948 | @c LocalWords: Hypercard morphing SeeMe ICQ Diffie Helman RSA SSLv TLSv GPL | ||
| 949 | @c LocalWords: OpenBIOS BIOS LILO dbase dbased Harbour harbour WYSIWYG ISBN | ||
| 950 | @c LocalWords: TruePrint Baecker siff sif cs arizona edu TR ps mt sulaco MP | ||
| 951 | @c LocalWords: RTSP MPEG jasonw ariel ucs unimelb AU stutz dsl TCL Javascript | ||
| 952 | @c LocalWords: Rexx GnuGo jhall isd Biomorph regexp eval gd gnuorg | ||
| 953 | |||
| 954 | Local variables: | ||
| 955 | eval: (add-hook 'write-file-hooks 'time-stamp) | ||
| 956 | time-stamp-start: "@set lastupdate " | ||
| 957 | time-stamp-end: "$" | ||
| 958 | time-stamp-format: "%:b %:d, %:y" | ||
| 959 | compile-command: "make just-tasks" | ||
| 960 | End: | ||
| 961 | |||
| 962 | @ignore | ||
| 963 | arch-tag: 7ed10085-fa7c-47d4-9ed5-39e885603e5c | ||
| 964 | @end ignore | ||