README 1.9.0

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996  Don Yacktman.  All Rights Reserved.  Version 1.9.0.

Important Release Notes

Note: the links from this document do not work yet. Sorry for the inconvenience!

This is the MiscKit version 1.9.0.  It is recommended that you place this folder ("MiscKit") in /LocalDeveloper/Source so that it is available to everyone who uses your system, though the MiscKit can be built and installed anywhere you like.

MiscString -left: and -right: now return empty strings ("") if requested to return strings of exactly zero length.  This may affect some legacy code, though the change is actually a minor one.

The new MiscTreeBrowser isn't working right when used off the palette, but it does work in the example program, which just uses a CustomView placeholder on its .nib. For the time being, just do as the example does and link against the library and use a CustomView.  Hopefully this will be fixed in the next release.

The installed MiscKit will require approximately 24 megabytes if compiled quad-fat. You will need about 13 megabytes in addition to that if you plan to keep the source code.  In order to do a successful quad fat "make install" from the MiscKit distribution, you will need nearly 70 megabytes free on your hard disk.  Doing a quad fat "make install" takes well over three hours on 25MHz Motorola hardware.  A quad-fat "make all" requires nearly 184 megabytes!  It is recommended that you do a "make install" and then build only the examples you are interested in--and then only after having done a "make distclean" to remove extraneous object files.

MiscKit 1.6.0 added a new libMiscString.a.  This library duplicates the MiscString code which is in libMiscKit.a.  It exists for people who use the MiscString object but not the other MiscKit objects.  Using the MiscString library in these cases will reduce the size of the linked file.  If you are linking against libMiscKit.a, do not link against libMiscString.a or you will get link conflicts!  It was chosen to do it this way, rather than removing the MiscString code from libMiscKit.a, to retain compatability with existing projects.

Some of the classes brought in from the MOKit--specifically the flexible document handling architecture--are not yet 100% ready for use.  They are here mostly for comments by MiscKit users.  They will be fully integrated and documented, with an example app, in an upcoming MiscKit release.  It is currently planned for the rest of the MOKit to be folded into the MiscKit within the next release or two.  (I'm waiting on permission to use some code from other, non-MOKit, objects to enhance the MOKit and MiscKit stuff in the process. --don)

You should either be running NEXTSTEP 3.[23] or expect to go through hassles.  To try and help you out, you can "su" to root and type "make prep" to attempt to install some things the Makefile expects to have that are only available under 3.2.  If you can't do this, expect to have to roll up your sleeves and tweak the Makefiles a little bit. (If you can't get the "prep" target to work and have modified the Makefile instead, you can do a "touch .prepped" in the top level to skip prepping on future builds.)  The MiscKit is built quad fat (m68k, i386, hppa, and sparc) by default.  Please see the notes on the current wrinkles involved in changing the target architectures, especially if you are running a version of NEXTSTEP before 3.3.

There are audio alerts initiated by the Makefile to encourage you to read this file.  As shipped, the Makefile is configured to play them.  If you haven't started the build yet then you can disable these alerts by simply changing the AUDIOALERTS variable at the start of the Makefile from "YES" to "NO".  The variable SHOWREADME controls whether or not you are forced to see this file.

The Temp folder contains works in progress which are not yet fully integrated into the kit, but may be useful to you nonetheless.  These items are documented at the end of the file Authors.rtf.  There are several interesting items in this area, so be sure to check it out!  In addition, the MOKit is in the process of merging with the MiscKit. The current MOKit is available from the regular NeXT archives.

Submissions.rtfd provides tips to make your submissions a bit better.  There is also a TableOfContents designed to help you navigate through the information in the MiscKit and answer Frequently Asked Questions (the FAQ).  If you have suggestions of things which could be added to these files, please submit them.

If you find any bugs or have any problems, please let us know!

MiscKit Feedback
(and mailing lists)

To  suggest improvements in the kit, direct your comments to the original author of the object(s) in question, as listed in Authors.rtf.  Be sure to state the version number of the MiscKit and the resource (object, bundle, etc.).

To suggest ideas for new objects or general comments for the entire development team, or to participate yourself, send mail to the MiscKit mailing list at misckit@listman.thoughtport.com (for list traffic) or, if you're not yet on the list, send mail to misckit-request@listman.thoughtport.com (to either get on or off the list).

Items in the MiscKit will be useful to some, and very lacking for others.  The best thing to do is to bug the various authors about features that you need fixed or implemented.  Submissions of your own objects are welcome and we also welcome ideas for new objects that you would find useful.  The areas most frequently requested will, of course, receive more attention.  So if you find any bugs, or have any problems with portions of the MiscKit, please let us know.

Other Notes

In spirit, license and use is utterly free.  Commercial, shareware, and freeware apps can all use this stuff as much as they want as long as they comply with the (very few) requirements detailed in the file License.rtf.  That also means there's no warranty, no support, and you are on your own.  (Of course, there are many helpful folk on the MiscKit mailing list, so support does exist, although it is not promised.)  If you use the MiscKit, you should acknowledge that fact in your app somewhere, but you have no other obligation to meet in order to use the MiscKit.

Despite the lack of official support, your feedback is very important.  It would be appreciated if you would send any changes you make in the MiscKit source code to the original author of the modified resource so that others may benefit from your changes.

Share and enjoy!^¦

-Don_Yacktman@byu.edu
MiscKit administrator

________
^¦Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  :-)