Window Managers Inquiry

[Craig Partridge]

    I'm working on a project that is looking into writing a portable
window manager for UNIX workstations running Sys V and 4.2.  Right now we
are trying to get some vague sense of how much time it would take
to write such a beast, and I wonder if anyone out there with some
experience in this field is willing to hazard a guess for us (reply
to me directly please).   We believe the window manager will need
the following features:

    1. Windows which both emulate a normal tty and accept
    graphics instructions using some standard interface like GKS.

    2. The ability to subdivide windows into irregular sized panes
    or regions.  (Among other things we are displaying molecular
    structures, and want users to be able to build two molecules in
    a window and then juxtapose the two images -- irregular sized
    panes looked like the way to do this).

    3. The window manager must be portable down to some very low
    level (for example, so that all we might need to do is write
    a new device driver when porting).

    4. We need to be able to retrieve data (not necessarily text)
    from one window and pass it to an application in another.
    (At some level we suspect the window manager has to play a role
    here, even if only to direct IPC traffic).

    5. We would like, though may not require, the ability to "drag"
    graphics images from one window across to another.

Any guesses on how complex a task this would be?  Anyone heard of a window
system that already supports this?

Craig Partridge
craig at bbn-loki (ARPA)
craig%loki.arpa at csnet-relay (CSNET)
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