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\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename tasks.info
@settitle GNU Task List
@c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
@set lastupdate September 22, 1998
@c %**end of header

@setchapternewpage off

@titlepage

* Kernel Projects::
* Extensions::
* X Windows Projects::
* Encryption Projects::
* Other Projects::
* Compilers::
* Games and Recreations::
@end menu

@node Intro
@chapter About the GNU Task List

If you are a Scheme fan, you can help develop Guile.  Please have a look
at the URL @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html}
and then contact the Guile developers at @email{guile@@gnu.org}.

@item
Help develop XmHTML.

@item
Help develop software to emulate Windows NT on top of GNU systems.
For example, you could help work on Willows Twin.

@item
Implement the Kermit data transfer protocol.  (See below.)

@ignore This is being done (Harmony)

This is leading to a serious problem, and a free replacement for Qt is
the only solution.  Hence the high degree of urgency of this project.
@end ignore

@item
Develop a free replacement for a semi-free program such as Xv or POV.
These semi-free programs are less restricted than typical proprietary
programs, but too restricted to be part of any free operating system.

@item
Develop a substitute, which runs on GNU systems, for some very popular
or very important application that many non-programmers use on Windows,
and which has no comparable free equivalent now.
@end itemize

We very urgently need documentation for many existing parts of the
system.

Note that there are proprietary manuals for many of these topics, but
proprietary manuals do not count, because we are not free to copy and
modify them along with the software they document.  For this reason,
we do not recommend any non-free manuals.

@itemize @bullet
@item
A C reference manual.  (RMS made a try at one, which you could start
with).

@item
Reference manuals for C++, Pascal, Fortran 77, and Java.

@item
A manual for Ghostscript.

@item

@item
A book on how GCC works and why various machine descriptions
are written as they are.

@item
A manual for programming X-window applications.

@item
Manuals for various X window managers.

@item

@itemize @bullet
@item
An emulator for Macintosh graphics calls on top of X Windows.

@item
A music playing and editing system.  This should work with LilyPond, a
GNU program for music typesetting.

@item
An ephemeris program to replace xephem (which is, alas, too restricted
to qualify as free software).

@item
A program to edit dance notation (such as labanotation) and display

@item
A program to display and edit Hypercard stacks.

@item
A program for graphic morphing of scanned photographs.
@end itemize

@node Encryption Projects
@chapter Encryption Projects

encryption, not the RSA algorithm, because the Diffie-Helman patent in
the US expired in 1997.  This library can probably be developed from
the code for the GNU Privacy Guard (now in development).

@item
A free secure telnet program more or less like ssh/sshd.  Since this
requires a public key encryption algorithm, it should be based
on the library above.

This program should follow the draft standard for ssh.  As always, it
cannot implement the RSA algorithm, but must instead support the
alternatives that will be patent-free in late 1997.  It cannot support
IDEA, but can use triple-DES and/or Blowfish or other non-patented
alternatives.

@item
Free software for doing secure commercial transactions on the web.
This too needs public key encryption.
@end itemize

A free replacement for PGP is no longer listed here because the GNU

If you think of others that should be added, please
send them to @email{gnu@@gnu.org}.

@itemize @bullet

@item
A program to reformat HTML source to make it easier to read as HTML.

@item
A simple PC BIOS.  On most new PCs, the BIOS is stored in writable
memory (misleadingly known as ``flash ROM'').  In order to have a wholly
free system on these PCs, we need a free BIOS.

alas, not free software).

@item
A free replacement for Glimpse, which is not free software.

@item
A program to typeset C code for printing, to make it easier to read on
paper.  For ideas on what to do, see the book,

@display

Ronald M. Baecker and Aaron Marcus,
Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10745-7
@end display

But you don't have to do exactly what they propose.

@ignore
@c This is now being worked on -- rms, 22 June 1998
@item
A program to convert Microsoft Word documents to text/enriched, TeX,

@item
Grammar and style checking programs.

@item
A translator from Scheme to C.

@item
A fast emulator for the i386 which works by translating
machine instructions into the machine language of the host machine.

@item
A program to receive data from a serial-line tap to facilitate the
reverse-engineering of communication protocols.
@end itemize

@node Compilers
@chapter Compilers for Other Batch Languages

Volunteers are needed to write parsers/front ends for languages such as
Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, or whatever, to be
used with the code generation phases of the GNU C compiler.

@example
finger -l fortran@@gnu.org
@end example

@node Games and Recreations
@chapter Games and Recreations

Video-oriented games that work with the X window system.

An ``empire builder'' system that makes it easy to write various kinds of
simulation games.

@item
Improve GnuGo, which is not yet very sophisticated.

@item
A Hierarchical Task Network package which can be used
to program play the computer's side in various strategic games.

23610:73c884a6f03c

\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename tasks.info
@settitle GNU Task List
@c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
@set lastupdate October 27, 1998
@c %**end of header

@setchapternewpage off

@titlepage

* Kernel Projects::
* Extensions::
* X Windows Projects::
* Encryption Projects::
* Other Projects::
* Languages::
* Games and Recreations::
@end menu

@node Intro
@chapter About the GNU Task List

If you are a Scheme fan, you can help develop Guile.  Please have a look
at the URL @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html}
and then contact the Guile developers at @email{guile@@gnu.org}.

@item
Help develop XmHTML.  See @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~ripley/XmHTML/}.

@item
Help develop software to emulate Windows NT on top of GNU systems.
For example, you could help work on Willows Twin.
See @uref{http://www.willows.com/}.

@item
Implement the Kermit data transfer protocol.  (See below.)

@ignore This is being done (Harmony)

This is leading to a serious problem, and a free replacement for Qt is
the only solution.  Hence the high degree of urgency of this project.
@end ignore

@item
Develop a substitute, which runs on GNU systems, for some very popular
or very important application that many non-programmers use on Windows,
and which has no comparable free equivalent now.
@end itemize

We very urgently need documentation for many existing parts of the
system.

Note that there are proprietary manuals for many of these topics, but
proprietary manuals do not count, for the same reason proprietary
software does not count: we are not free to copy and modify them.
We do not recommend any non-free materials as documentation.

@itemize @bullet
@item
A unified manual for La@TeX{}.  (Existing documentation is non-free.)

@item
A tutorial introduction to Midnight Commander.

@item
A manual for GNU SQL.

@item
A thorough manual for RCS.

@item
A reference manual for Mach.

@item
A reference manual for the GNU Hurd features in GNU libc.

@item
A manual for writing Hurd servers.

@item
A C reference manual.  (RMS made a try at one, which you could start
with).

@item
Reference manuals for C++, Objective C, Pascal, Fortran 77, and Java.

@item
A tutorial manual for the C++ STL (standard template library).

@item
GNU Objective-C Runtime Library Manual; this would be a reference manual
for the runtime library functions, structures, and classes.  Some work
has been done on this job.

@item
Manuals for GNUstep: developer tutorial, developer programming manual,
developer reference manual, and user manual.

@item
A manual for Ghostscript.

@item

@item
A book on how GCC works and why various machine descriptions
are written as they are.

@item
A manual for programming applications for X11.

@item
Manuals for various X window managers.

@item

@itemize @bullet
@item
An emulator for Macintosh graphics calls on top of X Windows.

@item
A package that emulates the API of Visual C++, but operates on top of
X11.  It need not match the screen appearance of Visual C++.  Instead,
it would be best to use GTK, so as to give coherence with GNOME.

@item
A compatible replacement for Visual Basic, running on top of X11.
It need not match the screen appearance of Visual C++.  Instead,
it would be best to use GTK, so as to give coherence with GNOME.

@item
A music playing and editing system.  This should work with LilyPond, a
GNU program for music typesetting.

@item
An ear-training program for students of music.

@item
An ephemeris program to replace xephem (which is, alas, too restricted
to qualify as free software).

@item
A program to edit dance notation (such as labanotation) and display

@item
A program to display and edit Hypercard stacks.

@item
A program for graphic morphing of scanned photographs.

@item
Software for designing and printing business cards.
@end itemize

@node Encryption Projects
@chapter Encryption Projects

encryption, not the RSA algorithm, because the Diffie-Helman patent in
the US expired in 1997.  This library can probably be developed from
the code for the GNU Privacy Guard (now in development).

@item
Free software for doing secure commercial transactions on the web.
This too needs public key encryption.
@end itemize

A free replacement for PGP is no longer listed here because the GNU

If you think of others that should be added, please
send them to @email{gnu@@gnu.org}.

@itemize @bullet
@item
A simple PC BIOS.  On most new PCs, the BIOS is stored in writable
memory (misleadingly known as ``flash ROM'').  In order to have a wholly
free system on these PCs, we need a free BIOS.

alas, not free software).

@item
A free replacement for Glimpse, which is not free software.

@item 
Software for making "slide" presentations.  It need not be compatible
with the popular proprietary software to do this job, but it should do
the same job.

@item
Software for desktop publishing.  We are extending Emacs into a WYSIWYG
word processor, to handle primarily linear text; what this item proposes
is software focused on page layout.

@item
A program to typeset C code for printing, to make it easier to read on
paper.  For ideas on what to do, see the book,

@display

Ronald M. Baecker and Aaron Marcus,
Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10745-7
@end display

But you don't have to do exactly what they propose.

@item
A program to reformat HTML source to make it easier to read as HTML.

@ignore
@c This is now being worked on -- rms, 22 June 1998
@item
A program to convert Microsoft Word documents to text/enriched, TeX,

@item
Grammar and style checking programs.

@item
A program to calculate nutritional information from recipes.

There is a free (unambiguously public domain) database of nutritional
information compiled by the USDA at
@url{http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp}.

@item
A translator from Scheme to C.

@item
A fast emulator for the i386 which works by translating
machine instructions into the machine language of the host machine.

@item
A program to receive data from a serial-line tap to facilitate the
reverse-engineering of communication protocols.
@end itemize

@node Languages
@chapter Programming Languages

Volunteers are needed to write parsers/front ends for languages such as
Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, or whatever, to be
used with the code generation phases of the GNU C compiler.

@example
finger -l fortran@@gnu.org
@end example

We would like to have translators from various languages into Scheme.
These languages include TCL, Python, Perl, Java and Rexx.

We would like to have an implementation of Clipper, perhaps a GCC front
end, and perhaps a translator into Scheme.

@node Games and Recreations
@chapter Games and Recreations

Video-oriented games that work with the X window system.

An ``empire builder'' system that makes it easy to write various kinds of
simulation games.

@item
Improve GnuGo, which is not yet very sophisticated.

@item
Network servers and clients for board and card games for which such
software does not yet exist.

@item
A Hierarchical Task Network package which can be used
to program play the computer's side in various strategic games.