Subject: Re: bug#13490: toolkit, toolkit, who's got the toolkit?

From: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:45:16 +0200

> From: "Drew Adams" <[email-masked]>
> Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:59:29 -0800
> 
> I'm using MS Windows.  Dunno whether that means that no toolkit is
> used.  Where do I find that information?  How does an Emacs user even
> know what Emacs means by a "toolkit"?

Why do you need to know?  That's a serious question.  What practical
importance for you is in these issues?

> I'm guessing that no toolkit is used on Windows.

No, that's not true.  The native Windows build uses the "Windows API
toolkit" (a name I just invented).

A toolkit is a collection of system APIs that allow to create and
display menus, tool bars, scroll bars, and some other frame
decorations.  When Emacs "does not use a toolkit", it draws all of
these itself, using its own code and graphics.

> How to know about any of that?  Why on earth would we refer Emacs
> _users_ to the Emacs build process to find out whether and which
> toolkits might be used and therefore whether some feature being
> presented is in fact supported?

Users who build their Emacs on Unix have this in the help text of the
configure script:

  --with-x-toolkit=KIT    use an X toolkit (KIT one of: yes or gtk, gtk2,
                          gtk3, lucid or athena, motif, no)

There's also some guidance in INSTALL, search for "toolkit".

Windows users have no choice but to use the "Windows API toolkit", so
there's nothing to decide here and therefore nothing to explain wrt
the build process.

(And pleas don't pounce on me this time: the above is just to explain
to you what is meant here.  I'm not interested in starting a
discussion whether this is or isn't enough docs, nor am I saying that
what's already documented is enough.)