<a href="#gui">Building GUI applications with Mono</a><br>
<a href="#msft">Mono and Microsoft</a><br>
<a href="#platforms">Mono platforms</a><br>
+<a href="#compatibility">Compatibility</a></br>
<a href="#pnpproject">Mono and the Portable.NET Project</a><br>
<a href="#webservices">Web Services</a><br>
<a href="#asp">Mono and ASP.NET</a><br>
implement various technologies developed by Microsoft that have now
been submitted to the ECMA for standardization.
+ The Mono project has also sparked a lot of interest in developing
+ C#-based components, libraries and frameworks. Today Mono is not
+ limited to implement the .NET Framework, but also contains other
+ components. Some of the components of the Mono platform were
+ developed by the Mono team, and some others we have incorporated
+ from other open source efforts, the most important ones:
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a
+ href="http://remoting-corba.sourceforge.net/">Remoting.CORBA</a>: A
+ CORBA implementation for Mono.
+
+ <li>Ginzu: An implementation on top of Remoting for the <a
+ href="http://www.zeroc.com">ICE</a> stack
+
+ <li><a href="http://gtk-sharp.sf.net">Gtk#</a>: Bindings for
+ the popular Gtk+ GUI toolkit for Unix and Windows systems.
+ Other bindings are available: Diacanvas-Sharp and MrProject.
+
+ <li><a
+ href="http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SharpZipLib/Default.aspx">#ZipLib</a>:
+ A library to manipulate various kinds of compressed files and
+ archives (Zip and tar).
+
+ <li>GlGen (available from the Mono CVS): Bindings for OpenGL.
+
+ <li>Mono.LDAP: LDAP access for .NET apps.
+
+ <li>Mono.Data: We ship support for Postgress, MySql, Sybase,
+ DB2, SqlLite, Tds (SQL server protocol) and Oracle databases.
+
+ <li>Mono.Cairo: Bindings for the <a
+ href="http://www.cairographics.org">Cairo</a> rendering
+ engine (Our System.Drawing is implemented on top of this).
+
+ <li>Mono.Posix: Bindings for building POSIX applications using
+ C#.
+
+ <li>Mono.Http: Support for creating custom, embedded HTTP
+ servers and common HTTP handlers for your applications.
+ </ul>
+
Q: What is the difference between Mono and the .NET Initiative?
A: The ".NET Initiative" is a somewhat nebulous company-wide effort by
compiler, and a garbage collecting runtime.
* A class library that can work with any language
- which works on the CLR.
+ which works on the CLR. Both .NET compatible class
+ libraries as well as Mono-provided class libraries
+ are included.
* A compiler for the C# language. In the future we
might work on other compilers that target the Common
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/Q1 2004.
+
+ 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
CIL-enabled languages). System.Windows.Forms is an API defined
by Microsoft to build GUI applications.
+Q: Why not implement System.Windows.Forms on top of Gtk# or Qt#?
+
+A: There are several reasons for this.
+
+ First of all, Gtk+ and Qt are standard toolkits on Linux, and their
+ proponents want to use their favorite toolkits when writing
+ applications.
+
+ Related to this is the idea that System.Windows.Forms is
+ brain-dead in certain areas, such as internationalization.
+ System.Windows.Forms uses explicit sizes for all controls, as opposed
+ to Gtk+ and Qt which use a box/packing model, which can better deal with
+ the different string lengths different languages will have.
+
+ Next is compatibility. It is not possible to implement
+ System.Windows.Forms on top of Gtk+/Qt and have 100% compatibility,
+ because System.Windows.Forms exposes some Win32-isms, such as the
+ Win32 message loop. In order to maintain compatibility, Wine must be used,
+ and this is being done; see the
+ <a href="/winforms.html">System.Windows.Forms effort page</a>.
+
+Q: Wine applications do not look like native applications, what are
+ you going to do about this?
+
+A: We have already a few patches into our version of Windows.Forms
+ that makes Wine use the colors and font settings from your desktop,
+ improving the integration a lot. In the future, we will continue
+ to improve this interoperability scenario.
+
Q: Will I be able to run my smart clients on systems powered by Mono?
A: As long as your applications are 100% .NET and do not make use
date yet. The current approach is using the Wine Library to implement
it.
+Q: Do you have a comparission chart about the various toolkit
+ offerings?
+
+A: A document explaining this is available at: <a
+ href="http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/toolkits.html">http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/toolkits.html</a>.
+
<a name="msft"></a>
** Mono and Microsoft
produced with the Mono tools. The only thing you will need is a
just-in-time compiler (JIT).
-Q: What is a 100% .NET application?
-
-A: A `100% .NET application' is one that only uses the APIs defined
- under the System namespace and does not use PInvoke. These
- applications would in theory run unmodified on Windows, Linux,
- HP-UX, Solaris, MacOS X and others.
-
Q: If Microsoft will release a port of their .NET platform under the
`Shared Source' license, why should I bother with anything else?
learn more about running Windows applications on Intel Unix systems
refer to <a href="http://www.winehq.com">the Wine Project</a>.
-Q: Will I be able to compile a Microsoft VB.NET application and execute
- the resultant MSIL file under MONO on Linux without converting to C#
- and recompiling?
-
-A: Once we have a complete VisualBasic runtime, yes.
-
Q: Can mono run the WebMatrix?
A: No. That requires System.Windows.Forms support which is not
Win32 libs. This is achieved by inserting -lunimono before
-lkerner32/user32 in the linker's specs file.
+Q: Why support Windows, when you can run the real thing?
+
+A: There are various reasons:
+
+ <ul>
+ <li> About half the contributors to Mono are Windows developers.
+ They have many different for contributing to the effort, and
+ we find it very important to let those developers run the runtime on Windows without forcing
+ them to use a new operating system.
+
+ <li> Supporting Windows helps us identify the portable portions
+ of Mono from the non-portable versions of it, helping Mono
+ become more portable in the future.
+
+ <li> Mono does not heavily modify the windows registry, update system DLLs,
+ install DLLs to the Windows/System32 path. Another words, I knew Mono would
+ not cause any legacy enterprise applications to stop working - and it
+ hasn't. However, our CIO er is againt it because of the changes that would
+ be made to Windows 2000, such as, affecting security.
+ </ul>
+
+<a name="compatibility"></a>
+** Compatibility
+
+Q: Can Mono run applications developed with the Microsoft.NET framework?
+
+A: Yes, Mono can run applications developed with the Microsoft .NET Framework
+ on Unix. There are a few caveats to keep in mind: Mono has not
+ been completed yet, so a few API calls might be missing; And in
+ some cases the Mono behavior *might* be incorrect.
+
+Q: Will missing API entry points be implemented?
+
+A: Yes, the goal of Mono is to implement precisely the .NET Framework
+ API (as well as compile-time selectable subsets, for those
+ interested in a lighter version of Mono).
+
+Q: If the behavior of an API call is different, will you fix it?
+
+A: Yes, we will. But we will need your assistance for this. If you find a bug
+ in the Mono implementation, please fill a bug report in <a
+ href="http://bugzilla.ximian.com">http://bugzilla.ximian.com</a>.
+ Do not assume we know about the problem, we might not, and using the bug tracking
+ system helps us organize the development process.
+
+Q: Can I develop my applications on Windows, and deploy on a supported
+ Mono platform (like Linux)?
+
+A: Yes, you can.
+
+ As of today, Mono is not 100% finished, so it is sometimes useful
+ to compile the code with Mono, to find out if your application
+ depends on unimplemented functionality.
+
+Q: Will applications run out the box with Mono?
+
+A: Sometimes they will. But sometimes a .NET application might invoke
+ Win32 API calls, or assume certain patterns that are not correct
+ for cross-platform applications.
+
+Q: What is a 100% .NET application?
+
+A: A `100% .NET application' is one that only uses the APIs defined
+ under the System namespace and does not use P/Invoke. These
+ applications would in theory run unmodified on Windows, Linux,
+ HP-UX, Solaris, MacOS X and others.
+
+ Note that this requirement also holds for all assemblies used by the
+ application. If one of them is Windows-specific, then the entire program
+ is not a 100% .NET application.
+
+ Furthermore, a 100% .NET application must not contain non-standard data
+ streams in the assembly. For example, Visual Studio .NET will insert a
+ <tt>#-</tt> stream into assemblies built under the "Debug" target.
+ This stream contains debugging information for use by Visual Studio .NET;
+ however, this stream can not be interpreted by Mono (unless you're willing
+ to donate support).
+
+ Thus, it is recommended that all Visual Studio .NET-compiled code be
+ compiled under the Release target before it is executed under Mono.
+
+Q: Can I execute my Visual Studio .NET program (Visual Basic .NET, Visual C#,
+ Managed Extensions for C++, etc.) under Mono?
+
+A: Yes, with some reservations.
+
+ The .NET program must either be a 100% .NET application, or (somehow) have
+ all dependent assemblies available on all desired platforms. (How to do so
+ is outside the bounds of this FAQ.)
+
+ For example, since Mono's System.Windows.Forms implementation will use
+ Wine, System.Windows.Forms is only as portable as Wine is. It's possible
+ that Mono may run on a platform, but Wine will not, in which case a
+ System.Windows.Forms app will not run on that platform. This is similarly
+ true for all assemblies that are not 100% managed code.
+
+ Mono must also have an implementation for the .NET assemblies used. For
+ example the System.EnterpriseServices namespace is part of .NET, but it
+ has not been implemented in Mono. Thus, any applications using this
+ namespace will not run under Mono.
+
+ With regards to languages, C# applications tend to be most portable.
+
+ Visual Basic .NET applications are portable, but Mono's
+ Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll implementation is incomplete. It is recommended
+ to either avoid using this assembly in your own code, only use the
+ portions that Mono has implemented, or to help implement the missing
+ features. Additionally, you can set 'Option Strict On', which
+ eliminates the implicit calls to the unimplemented
+ Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.ObjectType class.
+ (Thanks to Jörg Rosenkranz.)
+
+ Managed Extensions for C++ is least likely to operate under Mono. Mono
+ does not support mixed mode assemblies (that is, assemblies containing both
+ managed and unmanaged code, which Managed C++ can produce). You need a
+ fully-managed assembly to run under Mono, and getting the Visual C++ .NET
+ compiler to generate such an executable can be difficult. You need to use
+ only the .NET-framework assemblies, not the C libraries (you can't use
+ <b>printf</b>(3) for example.), and you need to use
+ the linker options <tt>/nodefaultlib /entry:main mscoree.lib</tt> in
+ addition to the <tt>/clr</tt> compiler flag. You can still use certain
+ compiler intrinsic functions (such as <b>memcpy</b>(3)) and the STL.
+ You should also see <a
+ href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vcmex/html/vcgrfconvertingmanagedextensionsforcprojectsfrommixed-modetopureil.asp"
+ >Converting Managed Extensions for C++ Projects from Mixed Mode to Pure
+ Intermediate Language</a> at MSDN.
+ Finally, you can use PEVERIFY.EXE from the .NET SDK to determine if the
+ assembly is fully managed.
+
+ Thanks to Serge Chaban for the linker flags to use.
<a name="pnpproject"></a>
** Mono and Portable.NET
It is easier to describe what is unique about Mono:
<ul>
- <li> A Just-in-Time compiler engine. This is important for
- making your applications fast.
+ <li> An advanced native-code compilation engine: Both
+ just-in-time compilation (JIT) and pre-compilation of CIL
+ bytecodes into native code are supported.
+
+ <li> A foundation for code optimization: The new code generator in
+ Mono builds on the experience of our first JIT engine, and enables
+ us to implement various advanced compiler optimization
+ tricks. With an SSA-framework, plenty of new optimizations are possible.
+
+ The current list of optimizations are: Peephole postpass,
+ Branch optimizations, Inline method calls, Constant folding, Constant
+ propagation, Copy propagation, Dead code elimination, Linear scan
+ global reg allocation, Conditional moves, Emit per-domain code,
+ Instruction scheduling, Intrinsic method implementations, Tail
+ recursion and tail calls, Loop related optimizations, Fast x86 FP
+ compares, Leaf procedures optimizations
<li> A self-hosting C# compiler written in C#, which is clean, easy
to maintain.
systems, while the interpreter works on SPARC, StrongARM,
s390 and PowerPC systems.
- <li> Supports Linux, Windows and Solaris at this point.
+ Our new compilation engine is being ported to the PowerPC.
+
+ <li> Supports Linux, BSD, Windows and Solaris at this point.
<li> The JIT engine is written using a portable instruction
- selector which not only generates good code (we are told
- that we are faster than Rotor, but it is hard to tell) but
+ selector which not only generates good code but
is also the foundation to re-target the JIT engine to other
systems.
- The system employed is described in various compiler
- books and it is very similar to what is described in the
- book that covers LCC, the ANSI C retargetable C compiler.
-
- <li> The JIT engine supports in-lining, constant folding and propagation,
-
- <li> Full support for remoting in the runtime, but the class
- libraries are still behind.
+ <li> Full support for remoting in the runtime.
<li> The C# compiler, the JIT engine and the class libraries are
- mature enough that the whole system is self-hosting. This means that
- we develop Mono completely with itself at this point.
+ mature enough that the whole system has been self-hosting
+ since April 2002. This means that we develop Mono
+ completely with itself at this point.
- <li> We are not yet done, and there is a lot of work left to be
- done
+ By forcing ourselves to use our own code to develop our
+ tools, we bug fix problems rapidly, and the system is
+ overall more robust and tested than if we did not.
<li> We have a great community of developers, without which Mono
would not be possible.
-
- <li> We are working on an ahead of time compilation mode to
- pre-compile code for the target architecture (this is part
- of our new code generation effort).
</ul>
+ In general, Mono is more mature and complete since it has been used
+ to develop itself, which is a big motivator for stability and
+ correctness, while Portable.NET remains pretty much an untested
+ platform.
+
+Q: I hear Mono keeps changing the P/Invoke API, why?
+
+A: We are just fixing our implementation to be compatible with the
+ Microsoft implementation. In other words, the Mono P/Invoke API is
+ more complete when compared to the Portable.NET version, hence
+ various pieces of software that depend on this extended
+ functionality fail to work properly with Portable.NET.
+
<a name="webservices"></a>
** Web Services
exposing it to other RPC systems (like CORBA) is really simple, and
does not even require support from an object.
- We will be implementing CORBA inter-operation as an extension to the
- Mono classes so that we can integrate with Bonobo, just like
- Microsoft provides COM inter-operation classes and support
- mechanisms.
+ <a href="http://remoting-corba.sourceforge.net/">Remoting.CORBA</a> is
+ a CORBA implementation that is gaining momentum.
+
+ Building an implementation of the Bonobo interfaces once this is ready
+ should be relatively simple.
Q: Can I serialize my objects to other things other than XML?
Q: Will Mono use ORBit?
-A: No. Mono will be using a new implementation of CORBA that isn't still started.
+A: There are a few advantages in using ORBit, like reusing existing code
+ and leveraging all the work done on it. Michael Meeks has posted
+ a few <a href="http://lists.ximian.com/archives/public/mono-list/2002-September/008592.html">reasons</a>,
+ as well as some <a href="http://lists.ximian.com/archives/public/mono-list/2002-September/008657.html">ideas</a>
+ that could be used to reuse ORBit.
+
+ Most users are likely to choose a native .NET solution, like <a href="http://cvs.gnome.org/bonsai">Remoting.CORBA</a>
+
<a name="monodoc"></a>
** MonoDoc
Q: What is MonoDoc?
-A: MonoDoc is a graphical documentation editor and viewer. Currently, MonoDoc
- consists of a Gtk# application and is in heavy development. There is also a
- Qt# version of it.
-
+A: MonoDoc is a graphical documentation browser for the Mono class
+ libraries. Currently, monodoc consists of a Gtk# application and is
+ in heavy development.
<a name="devel"></a>
** Development Tools and Issues
+Q: I am having trouble compiling a new version of Mono from CVS, it
+ complains about my runtime being out of sync.
+
+A: Jonathan Pryor has provided the following answer:
+
+ To upgrade your class libraries and compiler, see the See
+ README.building in the MCS directory.
+
+ The single biggest source of confusion seems to be the "Your
+ runtime is out of sync" messages. Realize that this is *normal*
+ while BUILDING. Think about it: you're building a new class
+ library with the old runtime. If the new class library references
+ a function that the old runtime knows nothing about, the runtime
+ system issues this warning.
+
+ Basically what needs to happen is for a new mono runtime to be
+ compiled, then the corlib class library be compiled, and once this
+ is done, install the new runtime, followed by corlib.
+
+ Once this is done, you can continue building your entire
+ environment.
+
Q: Will it be possible to use the CLI features without using byte codes
or the JIT?
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?
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?.
-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?
-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
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?
-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:
-Q: Is there any plans for implementing remoting in the near future?, When will
- work in System.Runtime.Remoting.dll start?
+ mcs /target:library file1.cs, mcs /target:library file2.cs,
+ mcs /target:exe file1.dll file2.dll /out:mybin.exe
-A: The remoting infrastructure is in place. Some of the channels and
- formatters are not.
+Q: Is there any plans for implementing remoting in the near future?
-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?
+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.
+
+ 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?
#define STDCALL __attribute__((stdcall))
#endif
+Q: I want to be able to execute Mono binaries, without having to use the "mono"
+ command. How can I do this?
+
+A: From Carlos Perelló:
+
+ <i>I think that the best solution is the binfmt feature with the
+ wrapper that exists with Debian packages at:
+
+ <a href="http://www.debianplanet.org/mono/dists/unstable/main/source/admin/">http://www.debianplanet.org/mono/dists/unstable/main/source/admin/</a>
+
+ If you want use it with Big endian machines, you should apply a patch
+ (<a href="http://carlos.pemas.net/debian/mono/binfmt-detector-cli.c.diff">http://carlos.pemas.net/debian/mono/binfmt-detector-cli.c.diff</a>)
+
+ It works really good and lets you use wine also, it reads the .exe file
+ headers and check if it's a .net executable.
+
+ 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
Q: Can I run Apache 1 and Apache 2 on the same machine?
- You can always keep a copy of Apache 2 running in paralell with your Apache
+ You can always keep a copy of Apache 2 running in parallel with your Apache
1.3 (either different port or using a reverse proxy).
You can also bind the two servers to different IP addresses on the
Q: Could Java target the CLI?
-A: Yes, Java could target the CLI. We have details on a <a
- href="ideas.html#guavac">project</a> that someone could take on to
- make this happen.
+A: Yes, Java could target the CLI, Microsoft's J# compiler does that.
- Microsoft has an implementation of the Java language called J# that
- can target the CIL execution engine.
+ The <a href="http://weblog.ikvm.net/">IKVM</a> project builds a
+ Java runtime that works on top of .NET and on top of Mono. IKVM is
+ essentially a JIT compiler that translates from JVM bytecodes into
+ CIL instructions, and then lets the native JIT engine take over.
Q: Is it possible to write a JVM byte code to CIL converter?
be translated into the equivalent "meaning" in CLR-land.
</ul>
+ See also the <a href="http://weblog.ikvm.net/">IKVM project</a>
+
Q: Could mono become a hybrid CIL/java platform?
A: No. It is quite far from the philosophy of the project. The idea of Mono
Q: Do you plan to implement a Javascript compiler?
-A: Yes. Eto Demerzal has started a Rhino port to C#.
- After this is completed, we will begin developing
- the JavaScript compiler.
+A: Yes. The beginnings of the JScript compiler can be found on CVS.
+ Cesar coordinates this effort.
Q: Can Mono or .NET share system classes (loaded from mscore.dll and other
libs) or will it behave like Sun's Java VM?
encourage you to make those classes operate correctly well in both
Mono and .NET.
+ Today Mono ships with a number of extra libraries that were
+ developed either by members of the Mono community, or other
+ groups.
+
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 selfhosting since March 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: What do I need to watch out for when programming in VB.NET so that I'm
sure to be able to run those apps on Linux?
-A: Not making any PInvoke or DLL calls should and not using anything in
+A: Not making any P/Invoke or DLL calls should and not using anything in
the Microsoft.* namespaces should suffice. Also do not use any
Methods/Classes marked as "This type/method supports the .NET Framework
infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code."
patents filed now, or changes made by Microsoft specifically to
create patent problems)?
-A: No. First, its basic functional capabilities have pre-existed too
- long to be held up by patents. The basic components of Mono are
- technologically equivalent to Sun's Java technology, which has been
- around for years.
-
- Mono will also implement multi-language and
- multi-architecture support, but there are previous technologies
- such as UCSD p-code and ANDF that also support multiple languages
- using a common intermediate language. The libraries are similar
- to other language's libraries, so again, they're too similar to
- be patentable in large measure.
-
- However, if Microsoft does patent some technology, then our plan is
- to either (1) work around it, (2) chop out patented pieces, (3)
- find prior art that would render the patent useless.
+A: First some background information.
+
+ The .NET Framework is divided in two parts: the ECMA/ISO covered
+ technologies and the other technologies developed on top of it like
+ ADO.NET, ASP.NET and Windows.Forms.
+
+ Mono implements the ECMA/ISO covered parts, as well as being a
+ project that aims to implement the higher level blocks like
+ ASP.NET, ADO.NET and Windows.Forms.
+
+ The Mono project has gone beyond both of those components and has
+ developed and integrated third party class libraries, the most
+ important being: Debugging APIs, integration with the Gnome
+ platform (Accessibility, Pango rendering, Gdk/Gtk, Glade, GnomeUI),
+ Mozilla, OpenGL, extensive database support (Microsoft only
+ supports a couple of providers out of the box, while Mono has
+ support for 11 different providers), our POSIX integration
+ libraries and finally the embedded API (used to add scripting to
+ applications and host the CLI, or for example as an embedded
+ runtime in Apache).
+
+ The core of the .NET Framework, and what has been patented by
+ Microsoft falls under the ECMA/ISO submission. Jim Miller at
+ Microsoft has made a statement on the patents covering ISO/ECMA,
+ (he is one of the inventors listed in the patent): <a
+ href="https://mailserver.di.unipi.it/pipermail/dotnet-sscli/msg00218.html">here</a>.
+
+ Basically a grant is given to anyone who want to implement those
+ components for free and for any purpose.
+
+ The controversial elements are the ASP.NET, ADO.NET and
+ Windows.Forms subsets. Those are convenient for people who need
+ full compatibility with the Windows platform, but are not required
+ for the open source Mono platform, nor integration with today's
+ Mono's rich support of Linux.
+
+ The Mono strategy for dealing with these technologies is as
+ follows: (1) work around the patent by using a different
+ implementation technique that retains the API, but changes the
+ mechanism; if that is not possible, we would (2) remove the pieces
+ of code that were covered by those patents, and also (3) find prior
+ art that would render the patent useless.
Not providing a patented capability would weaken the
interoperability, but it would still provide the free software /
open source software community with good development tools, which
is the primary reason for developing Mono.
+ The patents do not apply in countries where software patents are
+ not allowed.
+
+ For Linux server and desktop development, we only need the ECMA
+ components, and things that we have developed (like Gtk#) or Apache
+ integration.
+
+Q: Is Mono only an implementation of the .NET Framework?
+
+A: Mono implements both the .NET Framework, as well as plenty of class
+ libraries that are either Unix specific, <a
+ href="http://www.gnome.org">Gnome</a> specific, or that are not
+ part of the .NET Framework but people find useful.
+
+ The following map shows the relationship between the components:
+
+ <img src="http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/tmp/map.png">
+
<a name="etc"></a>
** Miscellaneous Questions
Q: Is it possible to use Visual C++ with Mono?.
-A: Well, It's possible to run VC++ generated apps under Mono though.
+A: It's possible to run VC++ generated apps under Mono, but we do not
+ provide a Manager C++ compiler ourselves.
<a name="problems"></a>
** Mono Common Problems
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.
projects / mono.git / blobdiff