As of today, there's another platform in the abi src tree
of which we'll need to be considerate. The tree now builds
and links on BeOS, including both PowerPC and Intel. We
still maintain a strict "Don't break the tree" policy. In
the past, we've asked everyone to try to make sure that
your changes don't cause the tree to fail a build on other
platforms, even if it means coding a stub with an assert
in platform-specific code. Now, there are not just two
platforms to be considerate of, but three.
(BTW, there is some Mac code in the tree as well, but
it's really just a starting point for a port. It
doesn't link. We generally try to make sure that it
stays current, but until it's being actively developed
and maintained like the BeOS, Win32, and Linux ports,
the penalty for breaking the Mac build will be somewhat
less severe. :-) )
<disclaimers>
The BeOS port looks pretty rough right now. There are
a substantial number of bugs and several missing features.
However, it runs, and it's AbiWord.
</disclaimers>
<brag severity="blatant">
We've always had a passion for cross-platform development,
and this is very gratifying. The existence of a BeOS port,
even though it still needs a lot of work, means that
AbiWord now spans a wider reach of operating systems, APIs,
and compilers than ever. Our code is portable, and we're
very happy about that.
</brag>
<credit where="where it's due">
I had nothing to do with this. In fact, no one on the
AbiSource staff made any significant contributions to
getting this port going. All the real work was done by
Thomas Fletcher. Kudos to him for contributing to the
development and helping to make AbiWord a
community-developed project.
</credit>
-- Eric W. Sink, Software Craftsman eric@abisource.com