
Hello.

I am aware of the discussion raging on these lists in  regard  to
XGRASS  and  feel  that a statement of CERL intent is required. I
also feel that it is necessary to preamble this discussion with a
bit of history (a typical move made by political candidates...).

HISTORY:

XGRASS was a product of a CERL R&D work effort that was  focusing
on  issues  larger  than (but included) user interface. This work
was designed to provide a set of tools for application developers
that  would  enable more focused application integration. This is
why XGRASS included a configurable menu system interface and  the
XCLIP tool.

This effort was defunded due to  political  pressures  that  have
nothing  to  do  with the GRASS community (other than causing the
current uncertainty).

Tcl/Tk  GRASS  was  developed  by  LAS,  Inc.  and  mirrors   the
functionality  of  XGRASS, adding some functionality not found in
the original.

INTENT:

CERL would like, very much, to continue the  XGRASS  development.
The  problem  is that we don't currently have the funds needed to
do so.  We have been working to find a better funding stream  and
support  for  GRASS, but have not been successful to date. If and
when we do find funding sufficient to continue the XGRASS effort,
it is likely that we will base further developments on the Tcl/Tk
side for the following reasons.

1) Tcl/Tk is also public domain software (meaning that users will
be free from the licensing restrictions/costs of Motif).

2) Tcl/Tk is a higher level development and execution environment
(meaning  that  making  tools  interoperable is *much* easier and
less costly).

3) LAS has taken tcltkgrass farther than XGRASS  in  some  areas;
why reinvent the wheel?

So, to summarize.  CERL  will  continue  to  pursue  funding  for
improved  GUI  technologies  for  GRASS. If successful, CERL will
proceed in the Tcl/Tk direction, barring objection  from  funding
partners (ala, SCS, NPS, USGS, etc.).

Hope this helps,

Kurt

PS: If anyone in the community has $$ or  programming  cycles  to
help  forward  the  GUI  effort,  please  email  me  directly  at
kurt@zorro.cecer.army.mil

----------------------------------------
  Kurt Buehler, Principal Investigator
   USACERL
   ATTN: CECER-EC-S (Buehler)
   PO Box 9005 (or 2902 Newmark Dr.)
   Champaign, IL 61826-9005
  email: kurt@zorro.cecer.army.mil
  phone: +1-800-USA-CERL x6713 or
         +1-217-373-6713
  fax: +1-217-373-7222
----------------------------------------


