This is the README file for the Blugs List Management Engine version 1.1.2.

Welcome!

There's not too much technical stuff that needs to be said; if you are smart enough to be
a Mac programmer then getting Blugs to compile should not be too horrible an experience.
I have supplied what CodeWarrior projects I can; the 68K targets for the Pro7 projects
have been removed because Metrowerks stopped supporting 68K compilation.
(Dude, that SUCKS!! Are these guys brain-damaged??)

Anyway, if you are putting together a project from scratch, just include all the files in
the source folder, with the exception of the single ".s" assembler source file, which is only
for MPW.

Use 68K alignment for every source file in the distro. This is for safety. I think all my
structs are 68K/PPC -agnostic but I always try to align stuff manually and you probably should
too if there is a chance you will produce a 68K build of something.

If anyone still uses MPW, then you can try my makefiles and make script. There *has* to be
a more elegant way of doing this! But MPW is dead (and it will be years before my anger at
"His Steveness" cools for this insult) and likely few folks will use it for builds.
But if you do then you may need to make some modifications, because I have made MPW precompiled
headers and the compiler rules refer to those.

If you use ProjectBuilder you are on your own for now. I don't think it deals well with
assembly language. I have tried to put in a few preprocessor defines to keep it away from
the asm modules, and just let it use C or Carbon functions.

***This is important***
I have some resource files in MacBinary format, and that is so I can tar and gzip all these
files without losing resource forks. Just de-binary them and toss out the .bin files.
I am not going to produce a .dmg; I am not going to make a self-mounting image; I am *not*
going to use StuffIt products. (Yeah I know I am getting a little obsessive about this kind
of thing. I use Linux at work. Stuffit on Linux is totally broken. As in don't even try.)

I like the free "NutCase" line of compression products from Black Diamond Software.
That is what I have been using. They have a bunch of good utils like that.

***This is even more important***
Please contribute if you use Blugs, and even if you don't. If you see something skanky,
tell me, or rewrite it, or suggest a better API. If you want to contribute source code,
graphic design, publicity, money, PB targets, optimizations, or (best of all)
cool ideas... anything at all is helpful!

I am serious -- I have sacrificed so much for Blugs, including the young woman I thought I
would marry -- it is tremendousloy important to me, to hear that you have been able to achieve
some totally cool app using Blugs.

The number one item on the "to do" list is handle window buffering properly on OS X.
There is no reason to use a GWorld at all (for Carbon CFM under X, and for any Mach-O build)
but modifying the sources to accommodate this is an incredibly difficult task. Aqua is
nasty anyway, because of all the stupid partially translucent elements -- you can't just
overwrite them, you have to erase and redraw which is darned inefficient if you ask me.
(Case in point: DrawThemeListBoxFrame, DrawThemeButton) If you are an expert on all this
silly stuff, I want to talk to you!!

The same holds true if you have just questions or comments. You can possibly understand how
wonderful it is to have someone express interest in this kind of work, when the world at large
is indifferent or even hostile to "computer geeks". Please drop me a line if you feel like it.

A big "thanks" to everyone who has had a kind word to say about Blugs.
It has really meant a lot to me.

Brian 'Moses' Hall
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
October, 2002
www.blugs.com