We want AHK for Linux!

[gregster]

@guest3456, this is not even the actual problem here.

The main problem, that I see, is that the small glimpse of a pro-active moderating concept was immediately undermined: One admin locked the topic because he felt attacked and before the discussion could escalate further, another admin (an AHK foundation manager) scrubbed the posts a little bit and called for decorum (so far, so good) and then a third admin (another foundation manager) came around and introduced language and attitude, that in my eyes, was much more aggressive and unfortunate than what caused the temp-lock.

This is what confuses (and potentially intimidates) users, undermines consistency and authority of the people actually moderatoring; and reflects badly on staff and the whole forum.
Some might say, that this inconsistency is a feature, not a bug. I say: most of our daily helpers lead by good example - let's follow them!

[tank]

Apologise for the wording but not the message. This entire thread is a great big whining fest. Lots of talk and ideas and no action. Whining

[gregster]

Imho, the shtick is getting a bit old.

[boiler]

Talk and ideas. On an internet forum. Imagine that.

[nnnik]

I think its fine. People are gathering hints, traces and information about a specific topic and want to rally for a cause.

@boiler While I do agree with you to some degree I don't think that quitting right now would be bad idea.
The staff is a collection of users. Just like for normal users it will take time before the new policy will really affect everyone.
Even if some people refuse to participate I think its a bad idea to immediately quit the forums because of that.

[guest3456]

ok i defer to you guys. i thought the pro-active moderating worked, at least in regards to me, because i chose not to write what i was thinking. but then i see i contributed to the problem afterwards.. because obviously based on my post which quoted the offending language, i tend to have the same opinion as tank. so i apologize as well for my participation in escalating. i think you guys are right that if people aren't interested in the discussion, we should just ignore the thread.

[SOTE]

Winetricks

Appears there is an alternative way to get Windows apps to run under Wine (https://wiki.winehq.org/Winetricks). Winetricks is a GUI that makes things easier, allows for configuration and downloading of additional files that can be needed for a Windows application to run on Linux. More details here (a bit old- https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-use-winetricks/) and video of AutoHotkey install using Winetricks (newer info, but short- https://youtu.be/B2kRlouBtpc).

[lmstearn]

More Wining and less Darning! Winetrick's source code is surprisingly compact, considering its use.

[mfeemster]

All (and @IsNull if you're still here),

I have read through this thread, as well as the entire archived IronAHK development thread, and would like to announce that I am taking up this work. By starting with the last revision of the IronAHK code, and reworking it, fixing bugs, and then continuing to develop it.

I posted about it on this thread:

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=65552

I've been going at it for a few months now and will put the code in a public repo once I get it to a state I am happy with.

Once I do that, I will start my own thread for it. But most of the discussion will be on the repo instead of this forum, because it offers better bug/feature traceability.

I of course will focus on Windows, and after that will move to Linux, then Mac. IronAHK has already set up a good design for this. I will need to enlist help from volunteers for the latter two OSes.

As mentioned on the other thread, I'm a senior developer. Not mentioned is that I am the author of another very large open source program which I've worked at on and off over the last 8 years, which can be found at fractorium.com

I note that to prove I have the wherewithall to complete difficult projects, document and sustain them on my own time outside of work. Many people can start projects, few can finish them, even fewer will maintain them for years.

I've wrapped up Fractorium, so I am looking to transition to a new project and this one seems ideal.

Also, C# is an ideal language. While IronAHK focused on Mono for its cross-platform work, that was ten years ago. Much has changed since then.

Microsoft is going to release .NET 5 later this year which will be supported on all three OSes (with some obvious restrictions/limitations). This is a *massive* release and Microsoft clearly wants C# to be the "go to" dominant language of choice for developers on any system. So the timing is perfect for a project like this. I want to be on the side of MS's dominance strategy, not against it. Sort of like in the investing world, they say not to fight the Fed.

As others mentioned on this thread, we don't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good here. Just because some obscure feature might not work on one OS, doesn't mean we shouldn't work on the project at all. We will do our best.

I estimate the initial phase of the project will be a minimum of two years worth of work. I'll make my own thread once I have something to show.

Thanks,
Matt

[boiler]

Great to see how talk and ideas lead to action.

[burque505]

@mfeemster, wise words, and thank you for this massive effort. The Fractorium website is very impressive indeed, by the way.
Regards,
burque505

[BoBo]

What Linux distribution should I install for testing?

[mfeemster]

@burque505 Thanks, glad you like my other project. It's a whole other rabbit hole that has some consumed some people for over a decade. Be careful there!

@BoBo I will only be doing Windows development for a while. But once I eventually start working on the linux part, I will use linux mint. Not for any other reason than it's what I've got installed on a VM. I don't plan to support every version of every conceivable distro under the sun. Too much choice is a bad thing.

I'll let you know when I've got something to show, then we can all dive in. Maybe even rapid coordination via Discord or something when we start going hard on it.

We'll see.

[SOTE]

This is great news.

[sobuj53]

This is a great moment. Been waiting for this to happen for a long time.

[HBinswanger]

Oh-oh, this fantastic news seems to have died. What's the current story?

[gregster]

Oh-oh, this fantastic news seems to have died. What's the current story?

See https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=77248&p=382007#p382007

[HBinswanger]

Thank you so much for telling me where the discussion has moved to.

[phil294]

I think it's worth posting it here as well: I am also working on another rudimentary AHK reimplementation from scratch, but for Linux only, called AHK_X11. It supports legacy syntax (command syntax) only.

Link: viewtopic.php?f=81&t=106640