[LINUX5250] roadmap

[James Rich <james@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The recent talk about cvs branches has me thinking about the "roadmap". 
As pointed out in 
http://archive.midrange.com/linux5250/199910/msg00034.html Jason Felice 
suggested some time ago how he thinks tn5250 development should go.  I 
think since then things have changed (or not changed) and warrant a new 
roadmap.  So here are my ideas for changing the roadmap that Jason 
suggested:

1.  tn5250 version 1.0 should be focused on complete support of the 5250 
protocol and not much else.

2.  Forget about gnome and kde integration for now.  That is definately a 
post-1.0 goal.

3.  Likewise other language bindings should be post 1.0.

4.  Complete documentation is a must.

5.  A "reference" terminal that implements all the 5250 features that we 
add to lib5250 as part of (1) above.  Whether that terminal is cursesterm 
or slangterm or activex or x5250 it doesn't matter.  But we need one that 
is complete.

I think that tn5250 1.0 should focus on just one thing:  supporting 
everything the iSeries can throw at us.  Other things like key mapping, 
desktop integration, language bindings can wait until after.

So here is what I'm willing to work on to get us there:

1. completing support in lib5250 for the entire 5250 protocol
2. documentation (hopefully the HOWTO I wrote will help here)

Since I have a strong interest in x5250 that is the terminal I will spend 
the most time perfecting.  Not to say that I'm unwilling to work on the 
other terminals, just that since we have a way for the terminal to 
indicate to lib5250 that it doesn't support all features, I'm happy to 
leave them at that and focus on x5250.  In my opinion, x5250, winterm, and 
activex are the only terminals with the capabilities to use the enhanced 
5250 protocol anyway.

What does everyone else think?

James Rich

It's not the software that's free; it's you.
        - billyskank on Groklaw