1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename tasks.info
4 @settitle GNU Task List
5 @c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
6 @set lastupdate February 13, 1999
13 @author Free Software Foundation
14 @author last updated @value{lastupdate}
18 @node Top, Intro, (dir), (dir)
21 This file is updated automatically from @file{tasks.texi}, which was
22 last updated on @value{lastupdate}.
29 * Unix-Related Projects::
32 * X Windows Projects::
34 * Encryption Projects::
37 * Games and Recreations::
40 @node Intro, Highest Priority, Top, Top
41 @chapter About the GNU Task List
43 If you did not obtain this file directly from the GNU project and
44 recently, please check for a newer version. You can ftp the task list
45 from any GNU FTP host in directory @file{/pub/gnu/tasks/}. The task
46 list is available there in several different formats: @file{tasks.text},
47 @file{tasks.texi}, @file{tasks.info}, and @file{tasks.dvi}. The GNU
48 HURD task list is also there in file @file{tasks.hurd}.
49 @c to fix an overfill, join the paragraphs -len
50 The task list is also available on the GNU World Wide Web server:
51 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/prep/tasks_toc.html}.
53 If you start working steadily on a project, please let @email{gvc@@gnu.org}
54 know. We might have information that could help you; we'd also like to
55 send you the GNU coding standards.
57 Because of the natural tendency for most volunteers to write programming
58 tools or programming languages, we have a comparative shortage of
59 applications useful for non-programmer users. Therefore, we ask you to
60 consider writing such a program.
62 Typically, a new program that does a completely new job advances
63 the GNU project, and the free software community, more than an
64 improvement to an existing program.
66 Typically, new features or new programs advance the free software
67 community more, in the long run, than porting existing programs. One
68 reason is that portable new features and programs benefit people on many
69 platforms, not just one. At the same time, there tend to be many
70 volunteers for porting---so your help will be more valuable in other
71 areas, where volunteers are more scarce.
73 Typically, it is more useful to extend a program in functionality than
74 to improve performance. Users who use the new functionality will
75 appreciate it very much, if they use it; but even when they benefit from
76 a performance improvement, they may not consider it very important.
78 @node Highest Priority, Documentation, Intro, Top
79 @chapter Highest Priority
81 This task list mentions a large number of tasks that would be more or
82 less useful. With luck, at least one of them will inspire you to start
83 writing. It's better for you to work on any task that inspires you than
84 not write free software at all.
86 But if you would like to work on what we need most, here is a list of
87 high priority projects.
91 If you are good at writing documentation, please do that.
94 If you are very good at C programming and interested in kernels, you can
95 help develop the GNU HURD, the kernel for the GNU system. Please have a
96 look at @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html}, and
97 then get a copy of the latest HURD task list from:
102 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/prep/tasks.hurd.html}, via the World Wide
106 @uref{ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/tasks/tasks.hurd}, via anonymous FTP.
109 @email{gnu@@gnu.org} via e-mail.
114 If you are a Scheme fan, you can help develop Guile. Please have a look
115 at the URL @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html}
116 and then contact the Guile developers at @email{guile@@gnu.org}.
119 A package to convert programs written using MS Access into Scheme,
120 making use of a free data base system and the GTK toolkit.
123 Help develop XmHTML. See @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~ripley/XmHTML/}.
126 Help develop software to emulate Windows NT on top of GNU systems.
127 For example, you could help work on Willows Twin.
128 See @uref{http://www.willows.com/}.
131 Implement the Kermit data transfer protocol. (See below.)
133 @ignore This is being done (Harmony)
135 Develop a free compatible replacement for Qt, a GUI toolkit library. Qt
136 is not free software, because users are prohibited from distributing
137 modified versions. Thus, Qt cannot be included in a free operating
138 system (adding it would make the system as a whole non-free).
140 But some developers are writing free applications that use Qt and cannot
141 run without it. These programs, although free software, are useless for
142 free operating systems because there is no way to make them run.
144 This is leading to a serious problem, and a free replacement for Qt is
145 the only solution. Hence the high degree of urgency of this project.
149 Develop a substitute, which runs on GNU systems, for some very popular
150 or very important application that many non-programmers use on Windows,
151 and which has no comparable free equivalent now.
154 @node Documentation, Unix-Related Projects, Highest Priority, Top
155 @chapter Documentation
157 We very urgently need documentation for many existing parts of the
160 Note that there are proprietary manuals for many of these topics, but
161 proprietary manuals do not count, for the same reason proprietary
162 software does not count: we are not free to copy and modify them.
163 We do not recommend any non-free materials as documentation.
167 A unified manual for La@TeX{}. (Existing documentation is non-free.)
170 A tutorial introduction to Midnight Commander.
173 A manual for GNU SQL.
176 A thorough manual for RCS.
179 A reference manual for Mach.
182 A reference manual for the GNU Hurd features in GNU libc.
185 A manual for writing Hurd servers.
188 Reference manuals for C++, Objective C, Pascal, Fortran 77, and Java.
191 A tutorial manual for the C++ STL (standard template library).
194 GNU Objective-C Runtime Library Manual; this would be a reference manual
195 for the runtime library functions, structures, and classes. Some work
196 has been done on this job.
199 Manuals for GNUstep: developer tutorial, developer programming manual,
200 developer reference manual, and user manual.
203 A manual for Ghostscript.
209 A coherent free reference manual for Perl. Most of the Perl on-line
210 reference documentation can be used as a starting point, but work is
211 needed to weld them together into a coherent manual.
214 A good free Perl language tutorial introduction. The existing Perl
215 introductions are published with restrictions on copying and
216 modification, so that they cannot be part of a GNU system.
219 A manual for PIC (the graphics formatting language).
222 A book on how GCC works and why various machine descriptions
223 are written as they are.
226 A manual for programming applications for X11.
229 Manuals for various X window managers.
232 Reference cards for those manuals that don't have them: C
233 Compiler, Make, Texinfo, Termcap, and maybe the C Library.
236 Many utilities need documentation, including @code{grep} and others.
239 @node Unix-Related Projects, Kernel Projects, Documentation, Top
240 @chapter Unix-Related Projects
245 Modify the GNU @code{dc} program to use the math routines of GNU
250 A @code{grap} preprocessor program for @code{troff}.
253 Less urgent: make a replacement for the ``writer's workbench'' program
254 @code{style}, or something to do the same kind of job. Compatibility
255 with Unix is not especially important for this programs.
258 @node Kernel Projects, Extensions, Unix-Related Projects, Top
259 @chapter Kernel-Related Projects
263 An over-the-ethernet debugger stub that will allow the kernel to be
264 debugged from GDB running on another machine.
266 This stub needs its own self-contained implementation of all protocols
267 to be used, since the GNU system will use user processes to implement
268 all but the lowest levels, and the stub won't be able to use those
269 processes. If a simple self-contained implementation of IP and TCP is
270 impractical, it might be necessary to design a new, simple protocol
271 based directly on ethernet. It's not crucial to support high speed or
272 communicating across gateways.
274 It might be possible to use the Mach ethernet driver code, but it would
278 A shared memory X11 server to run under MACH is very desirable. The
279 machine specific parts should be kept well separated.
282 An implementation of CIFS, the ``Common Internet File System,'' for the
283 HURD. This protocol is an offshoot of SMB.
286 Support (in Linux?) for dumping the non-textual contents of an SVGA
290 @node Extensions, X Windows Projects, Kernel Projects, Top
291 @chapter Extensions to Existing GNU Software
295 Enhance GCC. See files @file{PROJECTS} and @file{PROBLEMS} in the GCC
299 Interface GDB to Guile, so that users can write debugging commands in
300 Scheme. This would also make it possible to write, in Scheme, a
301 graphical interface that uses GTK and is tightly integrated into GDB.
304 Extend Octave to support programs that were written
308 Rewrite Automake in Scheme, so it can run in Guile. Right now it is
309 written in Perl. There are also other programs, not terribly long,
310 which we would also like to have rewritten in Scheme.
313 Finish the partially-implemented C interpreter project.
316 Help with the development of GNUstep, a GNU implementation of the
317 OpenStep specification.
320 Add features to GNU Make to record the precise rule with which each file
321 was last recompiled; then recompile any file if its rule in the makefile
325 Add a few features to GNU @code{diff}, such as handling large input
326 files without reading entire files into core.
329 An @code{nroff} macro package to simplify @code{texi2roff}.
332 An implementation of XML (see @uref{http://www.w3.org/XML/}).
335 A queueing system for the mailer Smail that groups pending work by
336 destination rather than by original message. This makes it possible
337 to schedule retries coherently for each destination. Talk to
338 @email{tron@@veritas.com} about this.
340 Smail also needs a new chief maintainer.
343 Enhanced cross-reference browsing tools. (We now have something at
344 about the level of @code{cxref}.) We also could use something like
345 @code{ctrace}. (Some people are now working on this project.)
348 @node X Windows Projects, Network Projects, Extensions, Top
349 @chapter X Windows Projects
353 An emulator for Macintosh graphics calls on top of X Windows.
356 A package that emulates the API of Visual C++, but operates on top of
357 X11. It need not match the screen appearance of Visual C++. Instead,
358 it would be best to use GTK, so as to give coherence with GNOME.
361 A compatible replacement for Visual Basic, running on top of X11.
362 It need not match the screen appearance of Visual C++. Instead,
363 it would be best to use GTK, so as to give coherence with GNOME.
366 A music playing and editing system. This should work with LilyPond, a
367 GNU program for music typesetting.
370 An ear-training program for students of music.
373 An ephemeris program to replace xephem (which is, alas, too restricted
374 to qualify as free software).
377 A program to edit dance notation (such as labanotation) and display
378 dancers moving on the screen.
381 Make sure the Vibrant toolkit works with LessTif instead of Motif.
384 A program to display and edit Hypercard stacks.
387 A program for graphic morphing of scanned photographs.
390 Software for designing and printing business cards.
393 @node Network Projects, Encryption Projects, X Windows Projects, Top
394 @chapter Network Projects
398 A web-based front end for the system and network monitoring program
399 @code{mon}, so that it can do the job of Big Brother (which is not free
400 software). Some other modifications to mon are probably necessary.
401 @code{mon} is considered to be at least as good as Big Brother except
402 for the lack of a good Web-based display to make it easy to scan the
405 It might be good to add a few other features to @code{mon}, including
406 ``dialup'' hosts: systems that are monitored, but for which the lack of
407 any reply is not considered a failure.
410 A teleconferencing program which does the job of CU-SeeMe (which is,
411 alas, not free software).
414 A free ICQ-compatible server program. (The ICQ server itself is not
418 @node Encryption Projects, Other Projects, Network Projects, Top
419 @chapter Encryption Projects
421 These projects need to be written outside the US by people who are not
422 US citizens, to avoid problems with US export control law.
426 A free library for public-key encryption.
428 This library should use the Diffie-Helman algorithm for public key
429 encryption, not the RSA algorithm, because the Diffie-Helman patent in
430 the US expired in 1997. This library can probably be developed from
431 the code for the GNU Privacy Guard (now in development).
434 An implementation of SSLv3 (more precisely, TLSv1) which is patent-free
435 (uses the non-RSA algorithms) and has distribution terms compatible with
436 the GNU GPL. We know of a GPL-covered implemention of a version of SSL
437 that you can use as a starting point.
440 Free software for doing secure commercial transactions on the web.
441 This too needs public key encryption.
444 The projects to provide free replacements for PGP and SSH are no longer
445 listed here, because projects to do those jobs are well under way.
447 @node Other Projects, Languages, Encryption Projects, Top
448 @chapter Other Projects
450 If you think of others that should be added, please
451 send them to @email{gnu@@gnu.org}.
454 @ignore OpenBIOS is doing this
456 A simple PC BIOS. On most new PCs, the BIOS is stored in writable
457 memory (misleadingly known as ``flash ROM''). In order to have a wholly
458 free system on these PCs, we need a free BIOS.
460 This task is made simpler by the fact that this BIOS need only support
461 enough features to enable a boot-loader such as LILO or GRUB to finish
462 loading the kernel. Neither Linux nor Mach actually uses the BIOS once
463 it starts up. Also, it is not absolutely necessary to do all the many
464 diagnostics that an ordinary BIOS does (though it would be useful to do
465 some of them). However, there may be a need to configure certain data
466 in the computer in a way that is specific to each model of computer.
470 A free program that can transfer files on a serial line
471 using the same protocol that Kermit uses.
474 An imitation of Page Maker or Ventura Publisher.
477 An imitation of @code{dbase2} or @code{dbase3} (How dbased!)
480 A general ledger program, including support for accounts payable,
481 account receivables, payroll, inventory control, order processing, etc.
484 A free replacement for Glimpse, which is not free software.
487 Software for desktop publishing. We are extending Emacs into a WYSIWYG
488 word processor, to handle primarily linear text; what this item proposes
489 is software focused on page layout.
491 @ignore It looks like TruePrint will fill this gap
493 A program to typeset C code for printing, to make it easier to read on
494 paper. For ideas on what to do, see the book,
497 Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs,
498 Ronald M. Baecker and Aaron Marcus,
499 Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10745-7
502 But you don't have to do exactly what they propose.
506 A program to reformat HTML source to make it easier to read as HTML.
509 @c This is now being worked on -- rms, 22 June 1998
511 A program to convert Microsoft Word documents to text/enriched, TeX,
512 LaTeX, Texinfo, or some other format that free software can edit.
516 @c People are helping the developer of siff release it as free software.
519 A free replacement for siff (sometimes called sif). This would be a
520 program to find similar files in a large file system, ``similar''
521 meaning that the files contain a significant number of common substrings
522 that are of a certain size or greater. You can find some information
523 about siff (which is, unfortunately, not free software) at
524 @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.arizona.edu/reports/1993/TR93-33.ps.Z}.
528 @c This is being developed -- rms, 3 May 1998
530 A free replacement for the semi-free Qt library.
534 High-quality music compression software.
535 (Talk with @email{phr@@netcom.com} for relevant suggestions.)
536 Unfortunately we cannot implement the popular MP3 format
537 due to patents, so this job includes working out some other
538 non-patented format and compression method.
541 A program to play sound distributed in ``Real Audio'' format.
544 A program to generate ``Real Audio'' format from audio input.
547 Programs to handle audio in RTSP format.
549 @ignore @c Software patents have made this domain off limits to free software.
551 An MPEG III audio encoder/decoder (but it is necessary to check, first,
552 whether patents make this impossible).
554 @c Chris Hofstader is working on this.
556 Speech-generation programs (there is a program from Brown U that you
559 @c We have a project now.
561 Speech-recognition programs (single-speaker, disconnected speech is sufficient).
565 A braille translation and formatting system which can convert marked up
566 documents into braille. This should let the user customize the braille
567 translation rules; it would be good to divide it into a
568 device-independent part plus drivers. Contact Jason White,
569 @email{jasonw@@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU}.
573 A program to display text word by word, always showing just one word at
574 a time. This method permits much faster reading than ordinary text
575 display. If you want to work on this, contact @email{stutz@@dsl.org} to
580 More scientific mathematical subroutines.
581 (A clone of SPSS is being written already.)
587 A scientific data collection and processing tool,
588 perhaps something like Scientific Workbench and/or Khoros,
591 Software to replace card catalogues in libraries.
594 A package for editing genealogical records conveniently.
595 This could perhaps be done as a Gnome program, or perhaps
596 as an Emacs extentsion.
599 A project-scheduling package that accepts a list of project sub-tasks
600 with their interdependencies, and generates Gantt charts and Pert charts
601 and all the other standard project progress reports.
604 Grammar and style checking programs.
607 A fast emulator for the i386, which would make it possible
608 to emulate x86 code on other CPUs, and also to more easily
609 debug kernels such as Linux more conveniently.
611 To make this faster, it could work by translating machine instructions
612 into the machine language of the host machine.
615 Optical character recognition programs; especially if suitable for
616 scanning documents with multiple fonts and capturing font info as well
617 as character codes. Work is being done on this, but more help is needed.
620 A program to scan a line drawing and convert it to Postscript.
623 A program to recognize handwriting.
626 A pen based interface.
629 CAD software, such as a vague imitation of Autocad.
632 A program to receive data from a serial-line tap to facilitate the
633 reverse-engineering of communication protocols.
636 @node Languages, Games and Recreations, Other Projects, Top
637 @chapter Programming Languages
639 Volunteers are needed to write parsers/front ends for languages such as
640 Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, Delphi, Modula 2, Modula 3,
641 and any other languages designed for compilation, to be used with the
642 code generation phases of the GNU C compiler.
644 @c Fortran status is here so gnu@gnu.org and the volunteer coordinators
645 @c don't have to answer the question -len
646 You can get the status of the Fortran front end with this command:
649 finger -l fortran@@gnu.org
652 We would like to have translators from various languages into Scheme.
653 These languages include TCL, Python, Perl, Java, Javascript, and Rexx.
655 We would like to have an implementation of Clipper, perhaps a GCC front
656 end, and perhaps a translator into Scheme.
658 @node Games and Recreations, , Languages, Top
659 @chapter Games and Recreations
661 Video-oriented games that work with the X window system.
665 Empire (there is a free version but it needs upgrading)
668 An ``empire builder'' system that makes it easy to write various kinds of
672 Improve GnuGo, which is not yet very sophisticated.
675 Network servers and clients for board and card games for which such
676 software does not yet exist.
679 A Hierarchical Task Network package which can be used
680 to program play the computer's side in various strategic games.
683 Write imitations of some popular video games:
687 Space war, Asteroids, Pong, Columns.
689 Defending cities from missiles.
691 Plane shoots at lots of other planes, tanks, etc.
693 Wizard fights fanciful monsters.
696 @ignore Being done by jhall1@isd.net
698 Program a robot by sticking building blocks together,
699 then watch it explore a world.
702 Biomorph evolution (as in Scientific American and @cite{The Blind
705 A program to display effects of moving at relativistic speeds.
709 We do not need @code{rogue}, as we have @code{hack}.
715 update-date-leading-regexp: "@c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:\n@set lastupdate "
716 update-date-trailing-regexp: ""
717 eval: (load "/gd/gnuorg/update-date.el")
718 eval: (add-hook 'write-file-hooks 'update-date)