2003-07-17 Gonzalo Paniagua Javier <gonzalo@ximian.com>

[mono.git] / web / faq

diff --git a/web/faq b/web/faq
index af7cae0d056c47d1fe63a0c658a1488d3fe08a22..d34f5809fec7021d487e832ad2aae12337108e60 100644 (file)
--- a/web/faq
+++ b/web/faq
@@ -130,6 +130,17 @@ A: Different parts of Mono will achieve usability at different stages,
    Other higher level class libraries (ASP.NET, ADO.NET, WinForms) will
    be released when they become stable. 
 
    Other higher level class libraries (ASP.NET, ADO.NET, WinForms) will
    be released when they become stable. 
 

+Q: When will Mono 1.0 ship?
+
+A: We are planning on releasing Mono 1.0 (Mono Core) which will ship all the
+   components of Mono that are known to be stable in Q4 2003.
+
+   This release will lack System.Windows.Forms  and
+   Enterprise.Services, as they will not be production ready on this timeframe.
+
+   Mono 1.2 should come in Q2 2004 and include the missing components
+   libraries that will make Mono feature-compatible with .NET 1.0
+

 Q: What major components will you include in Mono?
 
 A: Hopefully everything that Microsoft ships on their Framework
 Q: What major components will you include in Mono?
 
 A: Hopefully everything that Microsoft ships on their Framework


@@ -715,6 +726,9 @@ A: With any luck, Free Software enthusiasts will contribute tools to
    initially using the Microsoft implementation of the CLI and then
    executed later with Mono.
 
    initially using the Microsoft implementation of the CLI and then
    executed later with Mono.
 

+   We are recommending people to use and contribute to existing
+   projects like SharpDevelop, Anjuta and Eclipse.
+

 Q: What kind of rules make the Common Intermediate Language useful for
    JITers?
 
 Q: What kind of rules make the Common Intermediate Language useful for
    JITers?
 


@@ -742,32 +756,14 @@ A: In Mono, xsp is just the name of the C# code generator for ASP.NET
    Pages" technology so as they are very different things, they don't 
    conflict.
 
    Pages" technology so as they are very different things, they don't 
    conflict.
 

-Q: What about using something like Jabber instead of the System.Messaging 
-   namespace?.
-
-A: In short, MSMQ is not something like Jabber, but asynchronous messaging 
-   through queues. Useful queues do more than serialize messages, they are 
-   also platform bridges.
-
-Q: Are you supporting XMLDocument and relatives?.
-
-A: Currently, we aren't implementing them yet. It would require updates to 
-   most of the XmlNode derivatives so it's not a trivial task. We are 
-   currently focusing on getting XPath support working. 
-

 Q: Is there any plan to develop an aspx server for Mono?.
 
 Q: Is there any plan to develop an aspx server for Mono?.
 

-A: The web server turned out to be very simple compared to the rest of the 
-   work. Gonzalo has got the page generator mostly done (a module called 
-   xsp, who has nothing to do with the XSP term used in the Apache Project).
-   Patrik has done a lot of the work to get the ProcessRequest to work.
-   You can try to help in the final touches to the System.Web classes and
-   writing regression tests for the widgets we have.
+A: The XSP reference server is available and you can also use mod_mono
+   with Apache.

 
 Q: Is there any way I can develop the class libraries using Linux yet?
 
 
 Q: Is there any way I can develop the class libraries using Linux yet?
 

-A: Yes. Some class libraries can be developed on Linux. Search for
-   Paolo's post (he lists which classes can be compiled fine now).
+A: Yes.  Mono has been self hosting since May 2002.

 
 Q: Is there any way I can install a known working copy of mono in /usr, 
    and an experimental copy somewhere else, and have both copies use 
 
 Q: Is there any way I can install a known working copy of mono in /usr, 
    and an experimental copy somewhere else, and have both copies use 


@@ -787,37 +783,27 @@ Q: Would it be too terrible to have another corlib signed as mscorlib?
 A: We rename corlib to mscorlib also when saving the PE files, in fact, 
    the runtime can execute program created by mono just fine.  
 
 A: We rename corlib to mscorlib also when saving the PE files, in fact, 
    the runtime can execute program created by mono just fine.  
 

-Q: Is there a relatively straightforward way to repeat the steps taken 
-   by Paolo to get Mono completely self-hosted on Linux?
-
-A: To build the compiler and class libraries in Linux, run:
-   <ul><li>make -f makefile.gnu. To install them, run: </li>
-       <li>make -f makefile.gnu install prefix=/opt/mono</li>
-   </ul>
-
-   If you want to produce and distribute a monocharge tarball, run:
-   make -f makefile.gnu dist
-   Of course you have to run these in the top level mcs directory.
-

 Q: Is it possible to build a C# file to some sort of intermediate format which 
    can linked into a final module, like the traditional .c -> .o -> .so path? 
    
 Q: Is it possible to build a C# file to some sort of intermediate format which 
    can linked into a final module, like the traditional .c -> .o -> .so path? 
    

-A: You could do: mcs /target:module file1.cs, mcs /target:module file2.cs, 
-   mcs /target:exe file1.dll file2.dll /out:mybin.exe
+A: You can use: 
+
+       mcs /target:library file1.cs, mcs /target:library file2.cs, 
+       mcs /target:exe file1.dll file2.dll /out:mybin.exe

 
 

-Q: Is there any plans for implementing remoting in the near future?, When will 
-   work in System.Runtime.Remoting.dll start?
+Q: Is there any plans for implementing remoting in the near future?

 
 

-A: The remoting infrastructure is in place. Some of the channels and 
-   formatters are not.
+A: The remoting infrastructure is in place.  We have implementations
+   of the TcpChannel, HttpChannel and the Soap and Binary Formatters.
+   They are compatible with .NET.

 
 

-Q: I'm wondering if there are any plans to start using nant to build the
-   class lib + test lib. i think that every project need/should use an
-   automated build process and nant + a couple of tools enables this. is
-   the problem that the compiler can't run nant yet?
+   However, some classes from the library may have a different binary
+   representation, because they may have a different internal data
+   structure, so for example you won't be able to exchange a Hastable
+   object between Mono and MS.NET. It should not be a problem if you
+   are using primitive types, arrays or your own classes. In any case,
+   could you post a test case?

 
 

-A: Maybe well be doing some sort of automated build process + testing when
-   the summer finish.

 
 Q: My C code uses the __stdcall which is not availble on Linux, how can I
    make the code portable Windows/Unix across platforms?
 
 Q: My C code uses the __stdcall which is not availble on Linux, how can I
    make the code portable Windows/Unix across platforms?


@@ -848,6 +834,23 @@ A: From Carlos Perell
    This way you just execute: ./my-cool-mono-application.exe and it works
    without the need of any wrapper.</i>
 
    This way you just execute: ./my-cool-mono-application.exe and it works
    without the need of any wrapper.</i>
 

+Q: I see funny characters when I run programs, what is the problem?
+
+A: (From Peter Williams and Gonzalo Paniagua):
+
+   This is Red Hat 9 (probably) using UTF8 on its console; the bytes are
+   the UTF8 endianness markers.   You can do:
+ 
+        LC_ALL=C mono myexe.exe
+
+   And they wont show up.
+
+   Alternatively, you can do:
+
+        $ echo -e "\033%G"
+
+   to enable UTF-8 on the console.
+

 <a name="asp">
 ** Mono and ASP.NET
 
 <a name="asp">
 ** Mono and ASP.NET
 


@@ -1301,7 +1304,7 @@ A: First some background information.
    for the open source Mono platform, nor integration with today's
    Mono's rich support of Linux. 
 
    for the open source Mono platform, nor integration with today's
    Mono's rich support of Linux. 
 

-   The Mono strategy for dealing with these tehcnologies is as
+   The Mono strategy for dealing with these technologies is as

    follows: (1) work around the patent by using a different
    implementation techinque that retains the API, but changes the
    mechanism; if that is not possible, we would (2) remove the pieces
    follows: (1) work around the patent by using a different
    implementation techinque that retains the API, but changes the
    mechanism; if that is not possible, we would (2) remove the pieces


@@ -1416,3 +1419,6 @@ A: It's possible to run VC++ generated apps under Mono, but we do not
    or if you think that you found a bug, etc. Please visit the
    <a href="http://geneura.ugr.es/~jaime/deploy/mono-common-problems.html">Mono Common Problems</a> document and try there. 
 
    or if you think that you found a bug, etc. Please visit the
    <a href="http://geneura.ugr.es/~jaime/deploy/mono-common-problems.html">Mono Common Problems</a> document and try there. 
 

+** Credits
+
+   The FAQ contains material contributed by Miguel de Icaza, Jaime Anguiano, Lluis Sánchez.
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