Re: NSMenu* and NSPopuUp* issues

[Richard Frith-Macdonald]

On Tuesday, April 8, 2003, at 11:24  am, David Ayers wrote:

> > > BTW. you also did break the comaptibility of the encoding/decoding 
> > > code. I am not sure if this gets used for the popup, otherwise this 
> > > wont do a harm.
> >
> >  Is there a real harm? Did anybody claim for problems with it?
> The problem with NSCoding and backward compatibility is that you won't 
> notice until it is too late.  If anyone developing with current 
> gnustep-cvs saves a nib file now, that nib file will not be able to be 
> used by other people using the latest -gui release.  I think changes 
> in encoding/decoding of core classes should always be prominantly 
> posted, so that anyone developing apps using archives can be aware of 
> it.  And I also believe that archives should always be kept backward 
> compatible to at least the latest official release.

Yes ... the NSCoder stuff provides mechanisms to maintain backwards 
compatibility, and these should *always* be used.  Newer versions of 
the gui *must* be able to load files generated by older versions, if 
they don't it's a *major* bug.

> I haven't looked into how it is broke, but please fix it, and then ask 
> all app maintainers to update thier nibs which they have saved since 
> it was broken, before they announce an official release, if they use 
> gnustep cvs.

Assuming it actually is broken (I haven't checked personally) I 
emphatically agree.


About the general menu issue, I don't like horizontal menus but I 
believe that if people want them we should keep them ... the issue of 
*how* that's done (main library code or bundle) I leave to people more 
familiar with the current menu code.