XDarwin enables X to run on Darwin, and it can run "rootless" on the Aqua desktop if a user wishes to run both. A fully open source alternative is Darwin/XDarwin. Both Linux and Darwin are open source, but the Macintosh Aqua interface is not. The relationship between Darwin/Aqua is roughly the same as Linux/X. Mac Film Gimp and other GTK+ applications currently use Fink and the XDarwin X server, a technology that enables X Windows programs to run on the Mac almost seamlessly. GTK+ has not been available running natively on Macintosh, although there is a native port of GTK+ for Windows. GTK+ co-maintainer Owen Taylor says, "The GTK+ team is happy to see the GTK+OSX project working on bringing the power and flexibility of GTK+ to OS X." "I discovered an abandoned GTK+ for OS 9 Sourceforge project called gtk-mac, and that became the basis for GTK+OSX". "My curiosity got the better of me", says Prock. GTK+OSX lead developer Andy Prock is also the Mac port lead for Film Gimp. "Andy and I began researching different ways of doing that, either switching to another toolkit or making GTK+ run directly on Aqua."
"As soon as we released the Fink-based version of Film Gimp we began looking for ways to port natively to Mac OS X", says Rowe. GTK+OSX project manager Robin Rowe is also the release manager for Film Gimp. GTK+OSX is being developed as the underpinnings for a native Aqua-based Mac OS X port of Film Gimp, scheduled for Q2 2003. But, that X-based compatibility version was merely the first step. Mac OS X users greeted Mac Film Gimp with enthusiasm at its release earlier in December. GTK+OSX is a spin-off from the Film Gimp project (GTK+ is utilized by Film Gimp and many other Linux programs including those of GNU and GNOME. "It means that many popular Linux programs can be ported to run natively with Mac OS X's Aqua user interface, avoiding the hassle of users having to run an X server." "This is great news for the Mac OS X developer community," says Macworld UK contributing editor Scott Sheppard. GTK+OSX version 0.1 is an alpha release intended for developers. GTK+ (GIMP Toolkit) is a popular widget library supporting graphical applications for Linux. GTK+OSX has released a native Macintosh Aqua port of the Linux-based GTK+ open source graphical user interface library.
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