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Why Codewaevers don't using parts of ReactOS?

I know, that the WINE-team don't like the ReactOS-team.
But why don't using Codeweavers not parts of ReactOS?

They have for example some programs based on WINE, which could be used.
For example:

  • mspaint.exe (Since Win95 it is on every Windows [before it was called pbrush.exe]. So a Windows-developer can assume, that it is installed and he can start it from its own program)
  • charmap.exe (Since Win3.x or before. Possible on Win3.x with different name. Same like with mspaint: Windows-developer can assume, that it is installed. Additional with charmap you can browse all fonts in the \windows\fonts directory, which is not possible with Linux-fontviewers.)

Patrick

Having read an article on this, I believe that things are very different between the two.

ReactOs attempts to reimplement the windows kernel, while Crossover is trying to translate instructions to work on another platform, notably the Linux kernel. This implies that their requirements and methods are deeply different, and both aren't interchangeable.

I regret that I haven't kept the link to the article. If I find it I will post it here as I believe it would answer your question well.

Patrick Spingys wrote:

I know, that the WINE-team don't like the ReactOS-team.

I'm curious. Why do you think that?

From the ReactOS project site:
http://www.reactos.org/wiki/WINE

ReactOS works with the WINE project to share as much programming
effort as possible. ReactOS depends on Wine mainly for user mode
DLLs. Where appropriate, patches to Wine are also submitted by the
development team, and patch contributors are often directed to Wine
if it is felt that the patches would benefit them.

It seems they do work together to some degree and honestly, if that's the case, it's a really good thing. Alex Ionescu is a guy that knows a lot about the way Windows' guts work.

If someone wants to package some of the builtin reactos programs like mspaint and provide crossties, they're welcome to do so, but I don't see it being worth shipping them with CrossOver. And I can't think of any other components of reactos that we'd want to use.

Alexandre is (rightly, imo) very concerned about Wine's legal status and maintainability. So every change that lands in Wine needs to be submitted by its author in pieces small enough to review. If reactos authors send changes they made for reactos to Wine using the normal channels, they will be reviewed in the normal way and may be accepted. (It's common when you're working with an upstream project to send the changes upstream first so they can be properly reviewed, then either merge or cherry-pick them to the downstream project. This is what CodeWeavers typically does with Wine - we send changes to Wine first then add them to CrossOver once they're accepted.)

But it's very rare for Wine to accept a large chunk of code from another project. That brings in questions about the origins of the code and who will maintain it. Reports of the use of disassembly/debugging of Windows code to write reactos mean we'd have to be even more cautious than normal when considering merging code directly from that project. In this case, the actual fact of whether or not any reactos code was written based on reverse-engineering techniques is not as important as the doubt that question casts on the legality of the Wine project.

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