@c %**start of header
@setfilename tasks.info
@settitle GNU Task List
-@c UPDATE THIS DATE WHENEVER YOU MAKE CHANGES!
-@set lastupdate 1 February 1997
+@c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
+@set lastupdate November 1, 1999
@c %**end of header
@setchapternewpage off
@end titlepage
@ifinfo
-@node Top, Preface, (dir), (dir)
+@node Top, Intro, (dir), (dir)
@top GNU Task List
This file is updated automatically from @file{tasks.texi}, which was
-last updated on @value{lastupdate}.
+last updated on @value{lastupdate}. See also
+@uref{http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html#helpgnu} for other suggested
+tasks.
@end ifinfo
@menu
-* Preface::
-* Documentation::
-* Unix-Related Projects::
-* Kernel Projects::
-* Extensions::
-* X Windows Projects::
-* Other Projects::
-* Compilers::
-* Games and Recreations::
+* Intro::
+* Highest Priority::
+* Documentation::
+* Unix-Related Projects::
+* Kernel Projects::
+* Extensions::
+* X Windows Projects::
+* Network Projects::
+* Encryption Projects::
+* Other Projects::
+* Languages::
+* Games and Recreations::
@end menu
-@node Preface, Documentation, Top, Top
+@node Intro, Highest Priority, Top, Top
@chapter About the GNU Task List
-Check with @code{gnu@@prep.ai.mit.edu}, for a possibly more current
-copy. You can also ftp it from a GNU FTP host in directory
-@file{/pub/gnu/tasks} - These files in different formats are available:
-@file{tasks.text}, @file{tasks.texi}, @file{tasks.info}, and
-@file{tasks.dvi}. It is also available on the GNU World Wide Web
-server: @file{http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu}.
-
-If you start working steadily on a project, please let @code{gnu@@prep}
+If you did not obtain this file directly from the GNU project and
+recently, please check for a newer version. You can ftp the task list
+from any GNU FTP host in directory @file{/pub/gnu/tasks/}. The task
+list is available there in several different formats: @file{tasks.text},
+@file{tasks.texi}, @file{tasks.info}, and @file{tasks.dvi}. The GNU
+HURD task list is also there in file @file{tasks.hurd}.
+@c to fix an overfill, join the paragraphs -len
+The task list is also available on the GNU World Wide Web server:
+@uref{http://www.gnu.org/prep/tasks_toc.html}.
+
+If you start working steadily on a project, please let @email{gvc@@gnu.org}
know. We might have information that could help you; we'd also like to
send you the GNU coding standards.
applications useful for non-programmer users. Therefore, we ask you to
consider writing such a program.
-In general, a new program that does a completely new job advances the
-GNU project more than an improvement to an existing program.
+Typically, a new program that does a completely new job advances
+the GNU project, and the free software community, more than an
+improvement to an existing program.
+
+Typically, new features or new programs advance the free software
+community more, in the long run, than porting existing programs. One
+reason is that portable new features and programs benefit people on many
+platforms, not just one. At the same time, there tend to be many
+volunteers for porting---so your help will be more valuable in other
+areas, where volunteers are more scarce.
+
+Typically, it is more useful to extend a program in functionality than
+to improve performance. Users who use the new functionality will
+appreciate it very much, if they use it; but even when they benefit from
+a performance improvement, they may not consider it very important.
+
+@node Highest Priority, Documentation, Intro, Top
+@chapter Highest Priority
+
+This task list mentions a large number of tasks that would be more or
+less useful. With luck, at least one of them will inspire you to start
+writing. It's better for you to work on any task that inspires you than
+not write free software at all.
+
+But if you would like to work on what we need most, here is a list of
+high priority projects.
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+If you are good at writing documentation, please do that.
+
+@item
+If you are very good at C programming and interested in kernels, you can
+help develop the GNU HURD, the kernel for the GNU system. Please have a
+look at @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html}, and
+then get a copy of the latest HURD task list from:
+
+@itemize @bullet
+
+@item
+@uref{http://www.gnu.org/prep/tasks.hurd.html}, via the World Wide
+Web.
+
+@item
+@uref{ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/tasks/tasks.hurd}, via anonymous FTP.
+
+@item
+@email{gnu@@gnu.org} via e-mail.
+
+@end itemize
+
+@item
+If you are a Scheme fan, you can help develop Guile. Please have a look
+at the URL @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html}
+and then contact the Guile developers at @email{guile@@gnu.org}.
-@node Documentation
+@item
+A package to convert programs written using MS Access into Scheme,
+making use of a free data base system and the GTK toolkit.
+
+@ignore
+@item
+Help develop XmHTML. See @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~ripley/XmHTML/}.
+@end ignore
+
+@item
+Help develop software to emulate Windows NT on top of GNU systems.
+For example, you could help work on Willows Twin.
+See @uref{http://www.willows.com/}.
+
+@ignore The Kermit developers say they will provide a free program
+to do this.
+@item
+Implement the Kermit data transfer protocol. (See below.)
+@end ignore
+
+@ignore This is being done (Harmony)
+@item
+Develop a free compatible replacement for Qt, a GUI toolkit library. Qt
+is not free software, because users are prohibited from distributing
+modified versions. Thus, Qt cannot be included in a free operating
+system (adding it would make the system as a whole non-free).
+
+But some developers are writing free applications that use Qt and cannot
+run without it. These programs, although free software, are useless for
+free operating systems because there is no way to make them run.
+
+This is leading to a serious problem, and a free replacement for Qt is
+the only solution. Hence the high degree of urgency of this project.
+@end ignore
+
+@item
+Develop a substitute, which runs on GNU systems, for some very popular
+or very important application that many non-programmers use on Windows,
+and which has no comparable free equivalent now.
+@end itemize
+
+@node Documentation, Unix-Related Projects, Highest Priority, Top
@chapter Documentation
-We very urgently need documentation for some parts of the system
-that already exist or will exist very soon:
+We very urgently need documentation for many existing parts of the
+system.
+
+Note that there are proprietary manuals for many of these topics, but
+proprietary manuals do not count, for the same reason proprietary
+software does not count: we are not free to copy and modify them.
+We do not recommend any non-free materials as documentation.
@itemize @bullet
@item
-Completion of the documentation for CC-mode, a new Emacs mode for
-C, C++ and other languages.
+A manual for libstdc++.
@item
-A C reference manual. (RMS made a try at one, which you could start
-with).
+A unified manual for La@TeX{}. (Existing documentation is non-free.)
@item
-A manual for Ghostscript.
+A manual for Docbook SGML format.
+
+@item
+A tutorial introduction to Midnight Commander.
+
+@item
+A thorough manual for RCS.
+
+@item
+A reference manual for Mach.
+
+@item
+A reference manual for the GNU Hurd features in GNU libc.
+
+@item
+A manual for writing Hurd servers.
+@item
+A manual for GNU sed.
+
+@item
+Reference manuals for C++, Objective C, Pascal, Fortran 77, and Java.
+
+@item
+A tutorial manual for the C++ STL (standard template library).
+
+@item
+A tutorial manual for Gforth.
+
+@item
+GNU Objective-C Runtime Library Manual; this would be a reference manual
+for the runtime library functions, structures, and classes. Some work
+has been done on this job.
+
+@item
+Manuals for GNUstep: developer tutorial, developer programming manual,
+developer reference manual, and user manual.
+
+@item
+A manual for Ghostscript.
@item
A manual for TCSH.
@item
-A manual for PIC (the graphics formatting language).
+A coherent free reference manual for Perl. Most of the Perl on-line
+reference documentation can be used as a starting point, but work is
+needed to weld them together into a coherent manual.
+
+@item
+A good free Perl language tutorial introduction. The existing Perl
+introductions are published with restrictions on copying and
+modification, so that they cannot be part of a GNU system.
@item
-A manual for Oleo.
+A manual for PIC (the graphics formatting language).
@item
A book on how GCC works and why various machine descriptions
are written as they are.
@item
-A manual for programming X-window applications.
+A manual for programming applications for X11.
@item
Manuals for various X window managers.
Many utilities need documentation, including @code{grep} and others.
@end itemize
-@node Unix-Related Projects
+@node Unix-Related Projects, Kernel Projects, Documentation, Top
@chapter Unix-Related Projects
@itemize @bullet
-@item
-An improved version of the POSIX utility @code{pax}. There is one on
-Usenet, but it is said to be poorly written. Talk with
-@code{mib@@gnu.ai.mit.edu} about this project.
-
@ignore
@item
Modify the GNU @code{dc} program to use the math routines of GNU
@end ignore
@item
-A @code{grap} preprocessor program for @code{troff}.
-
-@item
-Various other libraries.
-
-@item
-An emulation of SCCS that works using RCS.
-
-@item
-Less urgent: @code{diction}, @code{explain}, and @code{style}, or
-something to do the same kind of job. Compatibility with Unix is not
-especially important for these programs.
+Less urgent: make a replacement for the ``writer's workbench'' program
+@code{style}, or something to do the same kind of job. Compatibility
+with Unix is not especially important for this program.
@end itemize
-@node Kernel Projects
+@node Kernel Projects, Extensions, Unix-Related Projects, Top
@chapter Kernel-Related Projects
@itemize @bullet
@item
An implementation of CIFS, the ``Common Internet File System,'' for the
HURD. This protocol is an offshoot of SMB.
+
+@item
+Support (in Linux?) for dumping the non-textual contents of an SVGA
+console.
@end itemize
-@node Extensions
+@node Extensions, X Windows Projects, Kernel Projects, Top
@chapter Extensions to Existing GNU Software
@itemize @bullet
distribution.
@item
-Rewrite GNU @code{sed} completely, to make it cleaner.
+Interface GDB to Guile, so that users can write debugging commands in
+Scheme. This would also make it possible to write, in Scheme, a
+graphical interface that uses GTK and is tightly integrated into GDB.
@item
-Rewrite Automake and Deja-GNU in Scheme, so they can run in Guile.
-Right now they are written in Perl and TCL, respectively. There are
-also other programs, not terribly long, which we would also like
-to have rewritten in Scheme.
+Extend Octave to support programs that were written
+to run on Khoros.
+
+@item
+Rewrite Automake in Scheme, so it can run in Guile. Right now it is
+written in Perl. There are also other programs, not terribly long,
+which we would also like to have rewritten in Scheme.
@item
Finish the partially-implemented C interpreter project.
@item
-Help with the development of GNUStep, a GNU implementation of the
+Help with the development of GNUstep, a GNU implementation of the
OpenStep specification.
@item
A queueing system for the mailer Smail that groups pending work by
destination rather than by original message. This makes it possible
to schedule retries coherently for each destination. Talk to
-@code{tron@@veritas.com} about this.
+@email{tron@@veritas.com} about this.
Smail also needs a new chief maintainer.
@code{ctrace}. (Some people are now working on this project.)
@end itemize
-@node X Windows Projects
+@node X Windows Projects, Network Projects, Extensions, Top
@chapter X Windows Projects
@itemize @bullet
An emulator for Macintosh graphics calls on top of X Windows.
@item
-A music playing and editing system.
+A package that emulates the API of Visual C++, but operates on top of
+X11. It need not match the screen appearance of Visual C++. Instead,
+it would be best to use GTK, so as to give coherence with GNOME.
+
+@item
+A compatible replacement for Visual Basic, running on top of X11.
+It need not match the screen appearance of Visual C++. Instead,
+it would be best to use GTK, so as to give coherence with GNOME.
+
+@item
+A music playing and editing system. This should work with LilyPond, a
+GNU program for music typesetting.
+
+@item
+An ear-training program for students of music.
+
+@ignore @c GNUskies should do this
+@item
+An ephemeris program to replace xephem (which is, alas, too restricted
+to qualify as free software).
+@end ignore
@item
A program to edit dance notation (such as labanotation) and display
dancers moving on the screen.
@item
-Port the Vibrant toolkit to work on X without using Motif.
+Make sure the Vibrant toolkit works with LessTif instead of Motif.
@item
A program to display and edit Hypercard stacks.
@item
-A paint program, supporting both bitmap-oriented operations and
-component-oriented operations. @code{xpaint} exists, but isn't very
-usable.
+A two-dimensional outliner program, which lets you draw
+graph structures of textual items, and then display them
+in various ways.
@item
-A vector-based drawing program in the spirit of Adobe Illustrator
-and Corel Draw.
+A program for graphic morphing of scanned photographs.
@item
-An interactive 3D modeling utility with rendering/raytracing capabilities.
+Software for designing and printing business cards.
+@end itemize
+
+@node Network Projects, Encryption Projects, X Windows Projects, Top
+@chapter Network Projects
+@itemize @bullet
+@ignore
+@c www.openh323.org is doing this. Craig Southeren <craigs@equival.com.au>
@item
-A program for graphic morphing of scanned photographs.
+A teleconferencing program which does the job of CU-SeeMe (which is,
+alas, not free software).
+@end ignore
+
+@ignore
+@c Bishop Bettini <bishop@synxcti.com> is working on this.
+@item
+A free ICQ-compatible server program. (The ICQ server itself is not
+free software.)
+@end ignore
+
@end itemize
-@node Other Projects
-@chapter Other Projects
+@node Encryption Projects, Other Projects, Network Projects, Top
+@chapter Encryption Projects
-If you think of others that should be added, please
-send them to @code{gnu@@prep.ai.mit.edu}.
+These projects need to be written outside the US by people who are not
+US citizens, to avoid problems with US export control law.
@itemize @bullet
@item
-A free program for public-key encryption.
+A free library for public-key encryption.
-This program should use the Diffie-Helman algorithm for public key
+This library should use the Diffie-Helman algorithm for public key
encryption, not the RSA algorithm, because the Diffie-Helman patent in
-the US will expire in 1997. It should use triple-DES, not IDEA, for
-block encryption because IDEA is patented in many countries and the
-patents will not expire soon. In other respects, it should be like PGP.
-
-This program needs to be written by someone who is not a US citizen,
-outside the US, to avoid problems with US export control law.
-
-Many people believe that PGP is free software, but that is not actually
-true. The distribution terms set by the copyright holders do not allow
-everyone to use and redistribute it.
+the US expired in 1997. This library can probably be developed from
+the code for the GNU Privacy Guard (now in development).
@item
-A program to convert compiled programs represented in OSF ANDF
-(``Architecture Neutral Distribution Format'') into ANSI C.
+An implementation of SSLv3 (more precisely, TLSv1) which is patent-free
+(uses the non-RSA algorithms) and has distribution terms compatible with
+the GNU GPL. We know of a GPL-covered implemention of a version of SSL
+that you can use as a starting point.
@item
-An imitation of Page Maker or Ventura Publisher.
+Free software for doing secure commercial transactions on the web.
+This too needs public key encryption.
+@end itemize
+The projects to provide free replacements for PGP and SSH are no longer
+listed here, because projects to do those jobs are well under way.
+
+@node Other Projects, Languages, Encryption Projects, Top
+@chapter Other Projects
+
+If you think of others that should be added, please
+send them to @email{gnu@@gnu.org}.
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@ignore OpenBIOS is doing this
+@item
+A simple PC BIOS. On most new PCs, the BIOS is stored in writable
+memory (misleadingly known as ``flash ROM''). In order to have a wholly
+free system on these PCs, we need a free BIOS.
+
+This task is made simpler by the fact that this BIOS need only support
+enough features to enable a boot-loader such as LILO or GRUB to finish
+loading the kernel. Neither Linux nor Mach actually uses the BIOS once
+it starts up. Also, it is not absolutely necessary to do all the many
+diagnostics that an ordinary BIOS does (though it would be useful to do
+some of them). However, there may be a need to configure certain data
+in the computer in a way that is specific to each model of computer.
+@end ignore
+
+@ignore Frank Cruz promises a free version
@item
-An imitation of @code{dbase2} or @code{dbase3} (How dbased!)
+A free program that can transfer files on a serial line
+using the same protocol that Kermit uses.
+@end ignore
@item
-A program to reformat Fortran programs in a way that is pretty.
+An imitation of Page Maker or Ventura Publisher.
@item
-A bulletin board system. There are a few free ones, but they don't have
-all the features that people want in such systems. It would make sense
-to start with an existing one and add the other features.
+An imitation of @code{dbase2} or @code{dbase3}. (How dbased!)
+@uref{http://www.startech.keller.tx.us/xbase/xbase.html} may contain
+some useful stuff to start with.
+@ignore @c being done by Jonas etc.
@item
A general ledger program, including support for accounts payable,
account receivables, payroll, inventory control, order processing, etc.
+@end ignore
@item
-A teleconferencing program which does the job of CU-SeeMe (which is,
-alas, not free software).
+A free replacement for Glimpse, which is not free software.
+
+@item
+Software for desktop publishing. We are extending Emacs into a WYSIWYG
+word processor, to handle primarily linear text; what this item proposes
+is software focused on page layout.
+@ignore It looks like TruePrint will fill this gap
@item
-A program to typeset C code for printing.
-For ideas on what to do, see the book,
+A program to typeset C code for printing, to make it easier to read on
+paper. For ideas on what to do, see the book,
@display
Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs,
Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10745-7
@end display
-(I don't quite agree with a few of the details they propose.)
+But you don't have to do exactly what they propose.
+@end ignore
+
+@ignore
+@c This is now being worked on -- rms, 22 June 1998
+@item
+A program to convert Microsoft Word documents to text/enriched, TeX,
+LaTeX, Texinfo, or some other format that free software can edit.
+@end ignore
+
+@ignore
+@c People are helping the developer of siff release it as free software.
+
+@item
+A free replacement for siff (sometimes called sif). This would be a
+program to find similar files in a large file system, ``similar''
+meaning that the files contain a significant number of common substrings
+that are of a certain size or greater. You can find some information
+about siff (which is, unfortunately, not free software) at
+@uref{ftp://ftp.cs.arizona.edu/reports/1993/TR93-33.ps.Z}.
+@end ignore
+
+@ignore
+@c This is being developed -- rms, 3 May 1998
+@item
+A free replacement for the semi-free Qt library.
+@end ignore
+
+@item
+High-quality music compression software.
+(Talk with @email{phr@@netcom.com} for relevant suggestions.)
+Unfortunately we cannot implement the popular MP3 format
+due to patents, so this job includes working out some other
+non-patented format and compression method.
+
+@item
+A program to play sound distributed in ``Real Audio'' format.
+@item
+A program to generate ``Real Audio'' format from audio input.
+
+@item
+Programs to handle audio in RTSP format.
+
+@ignore @c Software patents have made this domain off limits to free software.
+@item
+An MPEG III audio encoder/decoder (but it is necessary to check, first,
+whether patents make this impossible).
+
+@c Chris Hofstader is working on this.
@item
Speech-generation programs (there is a program from Brown U that you
could improve).
+@c We have a project now.
@item
Speech-recognition programs (single-speaker, disconnected speech is sufficient).
+@end ignore
@item
-A program to play sound distributed in ``Real Audio'' format.
+A braille translation and formatting system which can convert marked up
+documents into braille. This should let the user customize the braille
+translation rules; it would be good to divide it into a
+device-independent part plus drivers. Contact Jason White,
+@email{jasonw@@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU}.
+@ignore Being done
@item
-A program to generate ``Real Audio'' format from audio input.
+A program to display text word by word, always showing just one word at
+a time. This method permits much faster reading than ordinary text
+display. If you want to work on this, contact @email{stutz@@dsl.org} to
+learn more.
+@end ignore
@item
More scientific mathematical subroutines.
@item
Statistical tools.
+@item
+A scientific data collection and processing tool,
+perhaps something like Scientific Workbench and/or Khoros,
+
+@item
+A program to calculate properties of molecules by solving
+the Schroedinger equation.
+
@item
Software to replace card catalogues in libraries.
+@item
+A simulator for heating and air conditioning systems for buildings.
+
+@item
+A package for editing genealogical records conveniently.
+This could perhaps be done as a Gnome program, or perhaps
+as an Emacs extension.
+
+@item
+A project-scheduling package that accepts a list of project sub-tasks
+with their interdependencies, and generates Gantt charts and Pert charts
+and all the other standard project progress reports.
+
@item
Grammar and style checking programs.
@item
-An implementation of the S language (an interpreted language used for
-statistics).
+A diagnostic program to test a hard disk.
@item
-A translator from Scheme to C.
+A fast emulator for the i386, which would make it possible
+to emulate x86 code on other CPUs, and also to more easily
+debug kernels such as Linux more conveniently.
+
+To make this faster, it could work by translating machine instructions
+into the machine language of the host machine.
@item
Optical character recognition programs; especially if suitable for
CAD software, such as a vague imitation of Autocad.
@item
-Software for comparing DNA sequences, and finding matches and
-alignments.
+A program to receive data from a serial-line tap to facilitate the
+reverse-engineering of communication protocols.
@end itemize
-@node Compilers
-@chapter Compilers for Other Batch Languages
+@node Languages, Games and Recreations, Other Projects, Top
+@chapter Programming Languages
Volunteers are needed to write parsers/front ends for languages such as
-Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, or whatever, to be used
-with the code generation phases of the GNU C compiler. (C, C++, and
-Objective-C are done; Fortran 77 is mostly done; Ada, Pascal, and Java
-are being worked on.)
+Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, Delphi, Modula 2, Modula 3,
+RPG, and any other languages designed for compilation, to be used with
+the code generation phases of the GNU C compiler.
-@c Fortran status is here so gnu@prep and the volunteer coordinators
+@c Fortran status is here so gnu@gnu.org and the volunteer coordinators
@c don't have to answer the question -len
You can get the status of the Fortran front end with this command:
@example
-finger -l fortran@@gnu.ai.mit.edu
+finger -l fortran@@gnu.org
@end example
-@node Games and Recreations
+We would like to have translators from various languages into Scheme.
+These languages include TCL, Python, Perl, Java, Javascript, and Rexx.
+
+We would like to have an implementation of Clipper, perhaps a GCC front
+end, and perhaps a translator into Scheme.
+
+@node Games and Recreations, , Languages, Top
@chapter Games and Recreations
Video-oriented games that work with the X window system.
@itemize @bullet
-@item
-A Doom-compatible display game engine, for running the many free
-levels people have written for Doom.
-
@item
Empire (there is a free version but it needs upgrading)
Improve GnuGo, which is not yet very sophisticated.
@item
-Imitations of popular video games:
+Network servers and clients for board and card games for which such
+software does not yet exist.
+
+@item
+A Hierarchical Task Network package which can be used
+to program play the computer's side in various strategic games.
+
+@item
+Write imitations of some popular video games:
@itemize -
@item
@item
Plane shoots at lots of other planes, tanks, etc.
@item
-Wizard fights fanciful monster.
+Wizard fights fanciful monsters.
@item
A golf game.
+@ignore Being done by jhall1@isd.net
@item
Program a robot by sticking building blocks together,
then watch it explore a world.
+@end ignore
@item
-Biomorph evolution (as in Scientific American).
+Biomorph evolution (as in Scientific American and @cite{The Blind
+Watchmaker}).
@item
A program to display effects of moving at relativistic speeds.
@end itemize
-
-@item
-Intriguing screen-saver programs to make interesting pictures.
-Other such programs that are simply entertaining to watch.
-For example, an aquarium.
@end itemize
We do not need @code{rogue}, as we have @code{hack}.
@contents
@bye
+Local variables:
+update-date-leading-regexp: "@c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:\n@set lastupdate "
+update-date-trailing-regexp: ""
+eval: (load "/gd/gnuorg/update-date.el")
+eval: (add-hook 'write-file-hooks 'update-date)
+End:
HCoop / bpt / emacs.git / blobdiff