more about libs

[Johnny Taporg <taporg@yahoo.com>]

As an addendum to my earlier mail, I'm including a
listing of the portability and API stability of each
of the libraries/SDKs.  I expect this to help a number
of people out.

For API stability, I'm using the following scale, in
order of increasing stability:

D = Developmental.  The API could change wildly between
    releases.
C = mostly Complete.  Still developmental, but the API
    looks for the most the way that it'll end up. 
S = Stable.  The API is stable.
M = Mature.  The API is stable, and it's been around
    long enough that you know it'll stay that way.

This is not intended to be authoritative, so if anyone
has more accurate information, please feel free to step
in.  Without further ado:

X11
  API stability: M
  portability:   Standard on most *nixes, and will run
                 on other systems with the right libs.

SVGAlib
  API stability: M(?)
  portability:   Linux, limited to certain display
                 cards.

GGI
  API stability: S (as of 2.0beta)
  portability:   Several *nix variants.

SDL
  API stability: S
  portability:   Linux, Solaris, Win32, BeOS

ClanLib
  API stability: C(?)
  portability:   Win32 and Linux (I believe it's just
                 Linux, and not *nix in general,
                 correct me if I'm wrong)

PTC
  API stability: C
  portability:   X11, Win32, DOS, Amiga, BeOS, Java

PenguinPlay
  API stability: D
  portability:   Officially, only Linux.  More likely, 
                 everything that GGI runs on.  Also
                 requires a C++ compiler conformant to
                 the recent standard.

GAMES
  API stability: C(?)
  portability:   X11

OpenGL/Mesa
  API stability: M
  portability:   OpenGL is a universal standard, in
                 theory good for any platform.
                 Interface libraries exist for specific
                 windowing systems (ie GLX).  Mesa
                 itself runs on most major platforms.

Glide
  API stability: M
  portability:   Linux, Win32, DOS, Mac

CrystalSpace
  API stability: D
  portability:   Not sure.  In some places, I'm hearing
                 that it runs on Linux, Win32, DOS,
                 BeOS, OS2, Amiga, Mac, *BSD, Sun,
                 SGI, TRS-80, and AlienOS from ID4.  In
                 other places, I hear that although
                 it's supposed to be really portable,
                 many of the ports don't function.  I
                 know for sure that it runs on Linux!

PS. is there a way to access an archive of this mailing
list?

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