[Kde-accessibility] Our future

[Olaf Jan Schmidt]

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Hi Pupeno,

thanks for explaining our approach.

There were questions on the dot whether the bridge will work in both=20
directions. Philippe answered "Yes", and I agree with that. But the idea=20
Pupeno explained needs to be supplemented by a second bridge which helps=20
KDE AT clients like screen readers to connect to AT-SPI. Bill pointed me=20
to an idea how this could be easily done. There already is a C library=20
that simplyfies connecting to AT-SPI, so that the AT clients don't all=20
have to implement Corba stuff themselves. This library could be used by=20
KDE programs via a dynamically loaded bridge library, so KDE AT clients=20
do not have to compile against glibc, even if the bridge library is using=
=20
it.
Third party programs or even GNOME apps can use this library, because the=
=20
interface will be free of all KDE dependencies as well.

Our approach of having two bridges then includes defining two APIs for th=
e=20
client side and the server side which are free of all GNOME dependencies.=
=20
If someone should code a CORBA implementation in the future which is free=
=20
from GNOME dependencies, then we could think about using different=20
bridges using the same interfaces, thereby removing all GNOME=20
dependencies. But for now, we will use what is there.
Or if someone wishes to write an MCOP implementation of AT-SPI using thes=
e=20
APIs, they can do so, but our work will concentrate on getting the stuff=20
working through bridging code, as it is both easier and ensures=20
interoperability.

This way, the KDE project is cooperating optimally with GNOME and third=20
party apps, and we are at the same time free to change the road if need=20
ever should arise for that.

Olaf.

- --=20
Olaf Jan Schmidt, KDE Accessibility team

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