Graphical user interface for Click

[Eddie Kohler]

Brecht!

I think this is so cool!! Congratulations! That GUI looks fun for a lot of
people.

> If you think this is interesting to publish (and maybe continue the
> development) as Open Source, we want to contribute.

I think this is so so so so so so cool!!!!

> However, there are still some questions :
> - would it be published as an extension to Click on the Click homepage
> or would we have an own homepage and provide links on both sites ?

However you would like. I think we would like to store at least a copy of
the tarball on our server.

> - you use a MIT license method - what is exactly the difference with GPL
> and how should this GUI be published then ?

You can read (a version of) our license at
http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/click/license.html

Our license gives users more choices than the GNU GPL. The GPL, for
example, restricts the ways that someone can redistribute the code: if they
distribute a binary to the public, then they must also distribute the
source upon request. With our license, companies could take a version of
Click and stick it in a product without showing anyone else source.

The arguments for and against these licenses could bore the least boreable
person in the universe. It is your choice.

> - some packaging problems : as CORBA is needed, there is need for a
> CORBA implementation (it works with C++ omniORB/Orbacus/TAO and the Java
> side needs Orbacus), so these are needed to compile and run the beast.
> E.g. Orbacus is free software for educational use, but not for
> commercial use (and the Java side uses Orbacus, however it should be
> possible to port these to a free Java ORB, but this is not yet tried).
> What would you propose about this ? There is also still some work to do
> to package it up, so the release wouldn't be for tomorrow :-).

Honestly, I would suggest that you provide an alternative to CORBA, namely
Click's existing ControlSocket. Don't throw away CORBA, of course -- let
people choose which they want to use. But ControlSocket was written exactly
to provide the functionality you're using CORBA for. Have you looked at the
ClickController Java program we distribute with Click? It looks like it
fell out of the latest tarball, but it is in anonymous CVS. Let us know
what you think about this.

(ControlSocket communicates with a user-level Click. However, there are
ways to use ControlSocket to communicate with a kernel Click.)

love,
ed