Release Notes                                                       Joe Khoobyar
-------------                                                       ------------
vim4j-0.1.0                                                    joe@ankhcraft.com

vim4j is a fork of the vim 6.2 code, which adds Java AWT based gui subsystem.
vim4j intends to provide a Java-enabled Vim editor, eventually suitable
for embedding into your favorite Java-based IDE.  The code for vim4j is based
on the full vim 6.2 code, including all patches (through patch #225) 
and also the packages vim-6.2-extra and vim-6.2-lang.  Those two packages
are obviously not probably needed, but they are there for the time being.

As of this release, Vim4J is alpha software.  Most recent fixes include:

Vim4J's native code builds on the following platforms:

	* Linux
	* Mac OS X (Darwin)
	* Solaris [as of: vim4j-0.0.8]
	* Windows

Vim4J's java code currently supports the following JDK versions:

	* JDK 1.3
	* JDK 1.4

UNIX-like builds, basically should only need './configure && make'.  Run the
app with a 'cd src && ./vim4j'. 

The Windows build, currently and temporarily, requires Microsoft Visual C++.
There is no project file, so if you have never built a package from the command
line using MSVC, then this will be your first time.  Run 'vcvars32.bat' to get
the tools in your path, etc.  Change into the 'src' directory, and run 
'nmake -f make_mvc.mak' to build the source.  Run the app with 'vim4j.bat'.

Right now, the CLASSPATH is hard coded to locate the class tree in the current
directory.  That's because this is a development release and is not intended
for normal use.

This is an alpha release intended only for testing and/or development 
purposes.  Almost everything works, but some things have not 
been added yet, some things may work unexpectedly or not all, and of course, 
there will be bugs.

This release is only intended for development purposes.  Hack away happily,
and don't be afraid to ask question, make comments, etc., if you are so
inclined.

To use vim4j, it must be configured with '--enable-gui=java', which is currently
the default.

DON'T try installing it.  The classpath is hard-code to the current directory,
because this release is only intended for development purposes.  You've been
warned.  You wouldn't want to overwrite your current stable Vim release with
an alpha one, even if it is for Java, would you?  ;)

Run it, from inside the 'src' subdirectory, like this:
	./vim4j

Notably, I've created the following source files:

	src/gui_java.c
	src/gui_java.h
	src/if_java.c
	src/if_java.h
	src/org/vim/GuiMachine.java
	src/org/vim/TextArea.java
	src/org/vim/Vim.java
	src/org/vim/colors.properties

These files make up the Java GUI subsystem.

Any modifications to existing Vim source files have all been fairly 
trivial in most cases.  The modifications were necessary 
in order to configure, build and provide runtime support 
for the new GUI subsystem.  The modifications were made in the
style of the other GUI subsystems included with Vim.  #ifdef's and
the like.  This code base _should_ configure and build cleanly
as a standard Vim build, or a different GUI build without requiring
modification.  This is good, since one possible future goal is to merge
with the main Vim distribution.  

More information soon to follow.

Check http://ankhcraft.com/lan/viewcvs/vim4j for the latest bleeding-edge
code.

Joe Khoobyar
joe@ankhcraft.com
http://ankhcraft.com/lan