Show HN: Geeonx a Multiplatform C GUI-Library (Linux, Windows, macOS) | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Geeonx a Multiplatform C GUI-Library (Linux, Windows, macOS)

geeonx.org

23 pointsNikGeeonx14 comments

Why should I use this library over the more well-known free and open-source cross-platform GUI toolkits? With wx I can get fully native widgets on Win/Mac/GTK/Qt/even embedded systems. With Qt and Qt-quick I can have rapid development (and native enough widgets). Even GTK is at least well-documented. What's your edge supposed to be?

1. The shared library is very lean: 154 kb regarding Linux 64 bit, 260 kb Windows, 140 kb macOS.

2. It is a real C library, not C++ like Qt.

3. The programmer is released from any window update stuff. Just do gee_draw_and_screenup_selected_window(myapp); and any change in content (text or pictures) will be updated.

4. The library offers text processing functionalities including multi-column text processing.

5. It is well documented. Take a look at http://geeonx.org/Geeonx_Create2.pdf

6. The library is based on the established and reliable SDL library https://www.libsdl.org .

7. Please just make an install and try geeonxdemo.

Kind regards Nik

If you want people to check your project out, I’d advise you to put the documentation, license, and installation instructions prominently on the website and link to the source code.

I immediately passed on looking at your project because the website just wants me to download things.

Also, for the love of god, don’t document source code with PDFs.

You can find documentation about installing and programming prominently on the website.

The Geeonx Library can be used free of charge for private and business purposes.

For more information:

https://geeonx.org/EULA_Lib099-286.pdf

Where is the documentation online? I don't want to download anything or leaf through a PDF to understand what I'm looking at. Even just running Doxygen on the headers would be fine.

To get a quick impression of a Geeonx application glance at the sourcecode of the small GeeonxDemo application:

https://geeonx.org/geeonx_demo2-57allos.c

The headerfile of the library:

https://geeonx.org/geeonx_public2-124.h

Are you going to make the source available?

Very few developers are willing depend on a library whose source is not available.

If the code is good you should be able to charge for the source under one of the various licenses available.

Pirated source code is something that can't be avoided but it is way better than something which will not be used if source is not available.

That is something that Delphi component developers learned. Without source no one will be interested in your code because they will be left with a product they cannot fix if there are bugs and you are not ready, willing or able to fix them.

Sorry, the library is a closed source project.

Nik

While it looks somewhat interesting, I'm afraid that there are some aspects that don't sit well with me.

The license is unclear. And I can't find the referenced EULA_Lib.pdf. "The use of the Geeonx library and the programs geeonx_demo andgeeonx_creator is subject to the corresponding license agreements:EULA_Lib.pdf, EULA_Geeonx_Demo.pdf, EULA_Geeonx_Creator.pdf."

The instructions for linux installation are a little bizarre, and include changing the ownership of several directories under /usr/.

You can find the EULA in the download package. The EULA grants a simple usage right for the shared library to the user free of charge. Hence, anyone can download and install the library for private or business purposes. Please don't hesitate to contact me for any license questions.

Nik (info at geeonx de)

Changing the ownership of /use/local is neither bizarre nor dangerous. It (used to be) a very common thing to do for workstations in a domain type environment (school or business etc), we do this where I work for end user Linux desktops.

Interesting to see another cross-platform GUI library here, but if the source is unavailable for inspection, then it is difficult to trust from a developer and user's perspective. Thus, it is equivalent to a malware library.

I hope this changes soon. But for now, no thanks and no deal.

The same could be said about any closed source library, including the ones that ship with the macOS and Windows SDKs. There's no need to bash this particular project and sow doubt that it contains malware.

"I wish sources were available so I could understand more about the code I would be linking into my application, like I can with GTK and Qt."

As many drivers are also closed they are equivalent to malware library.

IOS and Windows are both malware libraries which continuously upload stuff you don't know about to their servers.

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