Wild Idea: A PM clone using the Qt library
Warning: This is only an idea. It is not validated if it can be implemented or not.
Objective
Making an open source clone of the Presentation Manager DLLs by using the Qt resources already ported to OS/2-eCS.
Implementation
The idea will be to create a "fake" PM layer between PM Application and the real PM DLLs, so PM applications will ask for the PM functions to the fake layer first, and if it had not be cloned yet, they will go forward to the original close source PM DLL.
Benefits
- Using the Qt library may simplify the reuse of components already created instead of creating them by scratch.
- The Qt library is a solid and proved open source library that has good adoption on the development of applications.
Pitfalls
- Qt for OS/2 requires PM. There has to be special attention to which PM functions does the Qt port uses on OS/2-eCS.
- It requires good knowledge of both, PM functions and the Qt functions.