| Home | Press | Mailing List | Documentation | Screenshots | People | SourceForge | Downloads |
GTK+ is a popular API for developing graphical applications for Linux. It was originally developed to support GIMP. GTK+ is used in CinePaint and many other applications. GTK+ is the foundation of GNOME. Our primary motivation for developing GTK+OSX is to enable CinePaint to run natively on the Mac.
GTK+ has not been available running natively on the Macintosh, although there is a native port of GTK+ for Windows. CinePaint currently uses Fink and the XDarwin X server on the Mac, a technology that enables X Windows programs to run on the Mac almost seamlessly. The Mac's native interface is called Aqua, and unlike X is proprietary to Apple. The relationship between Darwin/Aqua is roughly the same as Linux/X. Like Linux, Darwin is open source. XDarwin enables X to run on Darwin, and it may run "rootless" on the Aqua desktop if a user wishes to run both. However, there's overhead and complexity to running two graphics systems simultaneously. That's why it is desirable to have GTK+ run natively on the Mac without X.
GTK+OSX was based on the abandoned mac-gtk project, an OS 9 effort that has laid dormant since 2000. Unlike the GTK-Quartz effort, GTK+OSX is Carbon-based and does not use Objective C. Our approach is compatible with GTK+ applications as they are deployed today.
Although we are on friendly terms, the GTK+ project and the GTK+OSX project are independent efforts with different teams and different goals. Our GTK+ Mac port is based on version 1.x, not the latest GTK+ 2.x version. The position of the GTK+ project is that 1.x is obsolete and unsupported by them. GNOME2 is the best known application to support GTK+ 2.x. Although many applications are moving toward GTK+ 2.x, GTK+ 1.x is what is commonly in use in GTK+ applications today.
GTK+OSX isn't completely finished yet, but enough is there to start building native Macintosh GTK+ apps with it today. Well known GTK+ apps include Gaim, Evolution, GnuCash, gPhoto, GnoFin, XChat, Abiword, Dia, Gnumeric, GnoPIM, and Gnome-DB. Please build your favorite GTK+ application with GTK+OSX and let us know the results on the mailing list.
Most questions or comments would be better directed to mailing lists that I monitor.
Thanks!
Robin Rowe
GTK+OSX project manager
