The GNU package

Table of Contents

• the GNU package namespace
• about the package list
• the gnu package list
• why doesn't GNU follow the Sun convention?

GNU package heirarchy

This is the list of packages in the gnu namespace. All of these packages are free software and unless otherwise noted, the distribution terms are the GNU General Public License (20k characters) (GNU GPL).

Just because a package is listed here it does NOT mean that it forms part of the GNU project. In the future we would like that to be the case so if you wish to use the GNU namespace please contact us at [email protected]. If you don't contact us and use our namespace anyway we cannot gaurantee that there will not be a future name clash with your package.

About the package list

Each package name in the list links directly to javadoc for the package (if it exists). A link to the home page of the package, or the project the package is part of, is given to the right of each package name.

gnu packages

• gnu.bhresearch.pixie (home page)
  Pixie is a small, fast file format for scalable vector images.
• gnu.brl (home page)
  A Scheme based language for implementing server side database reports on the web.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.bytecode (Kawa project)
  A package to create, read, write, and print .class files.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.classpath (Classpath project)
  This package (and all subpackages) is reserved for the Classpath project.
• gnu.commonlisp (Kawa project)
  A very incomplete implementation of Common Lisp, using Kawa to compile Common Lisp to Java bytecodes.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.expr (Kawa project)
  A package for representing various sub-classes of Expression, analizing them, and generate bytecode for them. Uses the gnu.bytecode package.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.free (home page)
  Software for secure electronic voting.
• gnu.gdk (home page)
  Java bindings for the GDK library
• gnu.getopt (home page)
  GNU Getopt in Java
  Distribution terms: GNU Library GPL
• gnu.glade (home page)
  Java bindings for libglade to be used in the Java-GNOME project
• gnu.gnome (home page)
  Java bindings for many of the GNOME libraries
• gnu.GraphPanel
  Classes for manipulating connected nodes and their attributes.
• gnu.gtk ()home page)
  Java bindings for the GTK library
• gnu.gui.spread (Home page)
  A simple and extendable spreadsheet class (also includes gnu.gui.dialogs and gnu.file_io)
• gnu.inet
  A package used only for sub-packages. DO NOT use this package name for your classes.
• gnu.inet.http (Paperclips project)
  A number of generic tools for accessing and implementing HTTP servers and clients.
• gnu.inet.mime (Paperclips project)
  Some tools for accessing and manipulating MIME types (it also includes a base64 implementation).
• gnu.inet.tftp
  A TFTP implementation. Downloadable from here.
• gnu.java (Classpath project)
  This package (and all subpackages) is resserved for the Classpath project.
• gnu.javax.swing Classpath project)
  This package (and all subpackages) is resserved for the Classpath project.
• gnu.jel (Home page)
  Java Expression Library
• gnu.jemacs (JEmacs project)
  A project to re-implement Emacs using Kawa to translate Emacs Lisp to Jave bytecodes.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL.
• gnu.kawa (Kawa project)
  Various sub-packages that are part of Kawa.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.krl (The Kawa Report Language) (Kawa project)
  An experimental dialect of and re-implementation of BRL.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.lists (Kawa project)
  A collections package that includes lots of goodies, including a compact representation for XML data.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.mapping (Kawa project)
  Contains Procedure and various other classes useful for implementing dynamically typed languages.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.mail (Classpathx project)
  The GNU javamail implementation classes. This package (and all subpackages) is reserved for the Classpathx project.
• gnu.mapping (Kawa project)
  Contains Procedure and various other classes useful for implementing dynamically typed languages.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.math (Kawa project)
  Complex numbers, rationals, bignums, units, other kinds of numbers.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.prolog (Home page)
  Prolog implementation written in Java.
  Distribution terms: GNU Lesser GPL.
• gnu.regexp (Home page)
  Regular Expressions For Java
  Distribution terms: GNU Library GPL.
• gnu.rex (Home page)
  Another regular Expressions for Java package.
  Distribution terms: GNU Library GPL.
• gnu.socketserv (Paperclips project)
  A thread pool based TCP server. The Socket Server allows you to build high performance internet protocol servers (eg: HTTP, SMTP, etc...) very quickly.
• gnu.text (Kawa project)
  Classes for reading, lexing and formatting text. Utility classes for managing error messages from a parser. A re-implementation of the Common Lisp pretty-printer.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.xml (Kawa project)
  Packages for reading and processing XML-like data. Depends on gnu.lists.
  Note that the other gnu.xml.* listed below are unrelated.
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL plus exception (no restrictions if code used unchanged).
• gnu.xml.aelfred2 (Home page)
  XML SAX and DOM parser
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL(+ exception)
• gnu.xml.dom (Home page)
  DOM specification
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL(+ exception)
• gnu.xml.pipeline (Home page)
  XML pipeline construction
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL(+ exception)
• gnu.xml.util (Home page)
  XML utilties
  Distribution terms: GNU GPL(+ exception)

Why just the gnu package name?

The GNU project uses plain gnu as the top package for its Java code because it immediately identifies the package as GNU. The purpose of a package system is to avoid accidental clashes. There is no measurable benefit of using org.gnu instead of gnu. Using the reverse domain name is an arbitrary convention that uses a specific property of an organization to generate a unique name. This property is no more intrinsic to the software than the home telephone number of the principal engineer, longer to type, and almost as ugly. What happens if the domain name of a company changes, or ownership of a package is transferred to another company? Then people have to change their package names.

Scattering globally unique names throughout a program is plainly a bad idea. Unique names should at most be in a few header or configuration files, where they can be easily modified, and where they don't annoy people.

The gnu namespace is completely identified with GNU. It's a unique name without adding the org part. Therefore, why should we inconvieniance our developers and confuse our users by using the longer names? Clearly we shouldn't. Which is why we have taken the step of using just gnu as our top-level package name.

Return to GNU's home page.

Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to [email protected]. There are also other ways to contact the FSF.

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Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.

Updated: $Date: 2002/05/08 02:47:23 $ $Author: brett $