gnome-java on win32

[Erik Poupaert]

Along with gtk-wimp (http://gtk-wimp.sourceforge.net/), I tried a few gtk2
applications on win32. They run fast and smoothly; and they actually "look good"
(tm).

gnome-java would be therefore be an option, in replacement of SWT, which now does not
compile natively any longer anyway; especially, when we hear the commitments that the
gnome-java people are willing to make to make sure that gnome-java works properly
with gcj. It sounds very attractive.

I'm just a bit worried about how the underlying gtk2 installation on win32 should
work:

"...but the basic idea is to read in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\GTK\2.0\Version
key. If it doesn't exist, you need to alert the user that your application will not
work until they install the GTK+ Runtime Environment...
...
  if not Result then begin
    MsgBox ('Please install the GTK+ 2.0 Runtime Environment before installing GTK
Foo.  You can obtain GTK+ from http://www.dropline.net/gtk.', mbError, MB_OK);  end;
..."

Dealing with the registry? Users must chase up downloads?  Wow.  On Linux, the
package manager could handle such dependencies correctly and even transparently
(certainly on gentoo or debian). There is, however, no package manager on Windows;
and requiring the user to enter into manual package management is truly a
showstopper.

Therefore, since gnome-java doesn't install properly on win32, it is unfortunately
not yet a realistic replacement for SWT, where you can simply link statically to
avoid the issue.