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The Linux Game SDK Project FAQ
by Stéphane Peter (speter@essi.fr)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Q: What is the aim of this project?
We're aiming to create a consistent, universal, efficient environment
to make games (and other intensive graphics/multimedia applications)
under the Linux operating system, taking maximum advantage of the
installed hardware. The primary platform for development is currently
Linux/Intel, but some parts of the project will probably be able to run
on other hardware architectures as well (even on other Unices). To
achieve this goal, we're gathering as much information and volunteers
as possible from other related projects that could be useful for the
GSDK.
* Q: Where can I get up-to-date information?
Most info is (or will be ;) available from the main GSDK Web page, on
http://www.ultranet.com/~bjhall/GSDK. There are located my first
proposals for the project. Most of them are now out to date
(particularly the whole design is strongly influenced by my past
experience of DirectX). You can have a look at the GSDK mailing list
archives there. Even better, you can subscribe to this list, by sending
a mail to majordomo@endirect.qc.ca with the following in the body of
your message (leave the Subject line blank) :
subscribe linux-gsdk
You will get back an email with basic instructions for the
mailing-list. To unsubscribe from the list, send the same mail,
replacing the keyword "subscribe" by "unsubscribe". Be careful, when
subscribed to the list, you'll got lots of GSDK mails in your mailbox
(you can easily recognize them because of their "GSDK" prefix on the
subject line).
Of course, keep an eye on this FAQ and the other (forthcoming) FAQs
from the various GSDK teams.
New: The Graphics Team Home Page and The Sound Team Page
* Q: Where can I get a copy?
Errrrr.... There is still no concrete GSDK library available. The
project is currently in the design stage, i.e. we're talking about
specs, how we'll implement graphics, and so on...
* Q: What is the GSDK's current status?
As stated above, we're still in the design stage. No concrete
GSDK library has been built yet. We think the design stage is the most
important of all for that kind of project. We need to start on a good
and stable basis, to ensure that we won't make fatal errors, like
Microsoft did with his DirectX APIs. However, the first pieces of API
code are getting out, and we'll hopefully get a minimal library for
some parts of the projects within a few weeks or so.
* Q: Will you use work from the GGI project for your low-level 2D
graphics layer?
For sure. Lots of people have incented me to use GGI instead of SVGAlib
for that purpose. The developers of the GGI project are subscribed to
the GSDK mailing list, and we will cooperate for the graphics and input
devices part. However, the GSDK will not be based upon GGI; it will
only be one method amongst others for low-level hardware access. We're
planning to make X11 versions of the GSDK (using extensions like MITSHM
and DGA). GGI will finally be adopted as our standard for non-X
graphics if it proves itself as a stable and widespread API for Linux
graphics, but we don't want to depend on it.
* Q: Will you use a custom library for the 3D engine?
This is what I first thought, but I was convinced that another 3D API
is really the last thing we need to attract developers. That's why
we're turning out to a Mesa/OpenGL-based 3D engine.
* Q: Will you use OpenGL as your low-level API for 3D ?
Yes. We're planning to use work from the Mesa project (an OpenGL clone
freely available on Linux and other Unixes), which now supports 3D
hardware acceleration. OpenGL is becoming the de facto standard for
computer graphics, so this is naturally the way to go for the 3D API.
* Q: Will this library be compatible with MS DirectX ?
Our goal is not to make a DirectX clone for Linux; we're providing
roughly the same features but in our own, consistent way. The use of
OpenGL for graphics is a better choice than cloning MS Direct3D
proprietary API. However, when the GSDK will be functionnal, a wrapper
library that could look close to DirectX could be written.
* Q: Is the GSDK a cross-development tool for Win95/DOS/whatever ?
This is a Linux specific project. This means development will be made
on Linux machines, even if we'll try to keep the APIs as general as
possible to ease porting to other platforms. Anyway, those ports are
not the main goals of the GSDK teams. But it will be possible to make
ports to non-Unix platforms afterwards, but this won't directly involve
the GSDK main development teams.
* Q: Will it be compatible with existing DOS-based development kits?
Most likely not. Due to the big differences between the DOS and
Linux/Unix operating systems, there will be some features of the GSDK
(threads, sockets...) that won't be directly supported under DOS.
However, we'll perhaps get inspired by existing 32 bit APIs for games
under DOS. See the previous question about cross-development.
* Q: I want to contribute! How can I join your team?
Join the GSDK mailing list (see section "Where can I get up-to-date
information?" upper for the procedure), and then decide which team you
want to join. Then send a mail to the team leader to inform him you
want to help.
Team leaders are currently been chosen, so this is not an issue yet.
* Q: Who is this project's leader?
I don't consider myself as the project leader. I'm just the project
coordinator, which means I made the first proposals, set up the mailing
list and made the appropriate announcement to gather people. This is an
open project, and this means that anybody can come in and share its
opinion with us. We accept critics as long as they're
constructive. There is no big Chief who decides what is absolutely
wrong or right; I hope this project will lead to a real group work, and
that it will be the result of the cooperation of many people. We're
going to split the project in specific, dedicated parts: Graphics
(2D/3D), Sound, Documentation, and Input Devices. Each subproject will
have its own project leader. I will also participate to some of those
subprojects, as a regular developer, but my main occupation will be
project coordination. That's why you should mail to me for general
GSDK-related topics.
* Q: I sent mail to Stéphane Peter but I got no reply. Is he dead?
Don't worry, I'm still alive, but I'm getting buried under my mailbox.
Since I've made this project public, I receive more email than you can
imagine (up to 60 mails a day). As a student in computer science, I
don't have all the time I'd want to read and reply to all those mails.
Be sure I read them all, but I have to choose carefully which one I
have to reply. Most of the time, I will make public replies on the
mailing list, and I will also reply as soon as possible to private
e-mail, but if you don't get mail back from me, this probably means
your mail was not of enough interest to me. I especially won't reply to
mails asking me things that are present on the GSDK public documents
(including this FAQs). Forgive me for this inconvenience.
* Q: What kind of software will be GSDK-enabled?
Of course, every kind of game you can imagine: shoot'em'ups, strategy
games, RPGs, wargames, shower simulators, etc... But every multimedia
or graphics intensive applications can also benefit from the GSDK. We
hope that every application that could be written using DirectX on
Win95 will be able to be written for Linux using the GSDK.
* Q: Where can I find games written with the GSDK?
Right now, absolutely nowhere. When the GSDK will be ready, you'll
hopefully find thousands of games for Linux everywhere in the world ;-)
* Q: Can I write commercial game software with the GSDK?
Definitely YES. The license of the GSDK will allow commercial game
companies to distribute binary programs written using the GSDK library,
without requiring to distribute the source code along with it. As the
GSDK is likely to be a set of ELF shared libraries (.so), this won't be
a problem.
* Q: Why should I make games under Linux ?
If you're a Linux enthusiast (as I am), this should be obvious to you:
as a free OS, Linux is getting more and more used all over the world,
and it is probably the operating system of choice for hackers (game
programmers are a kind of hackers) : with its perfect 32 bit system,
multitasking, security and flexibility and its exceptionnal free
development environnement, it outperforms other commercial OSes that
claim to be the perfect OSes for games. And think of all those poor
Linux users that have to reboot their computer to be able to decently
play modern games... ;-)