[crossfire] Importing the GTK+ editor in SVN

[Raphaël Quinet]

Hi,

I would like to contribute several improvements to the GTK+ editor
"gcrossedit" (a.k.a. "gce", now "gde").  This editor was created as
part of the CFplus project (now Deliantra).  Unfortunately, although
the editor itself works fine with both projects, it depends on some
libraries that have stopped supporting crossfire a few months ago.
The main author of the editor (elmex) said that he did not have time
to improve it anymore and that I was free to work on it.  After
checking with the developers of the libraries to see if the support
for the original crossfire server could be restored, I was told that
the support for crossfire would not be restored in deliantra, and
forking the code was the best option.  I try to avoid forking as much
as possible, but in this case this was the only option offered.

So...  I would like to add a new module in SVN, called "editor" or
"gcrossedit" or whatever you think is appropriate.

I would populate its trunk using the following steps:
1) Start with a pristine copy of the code from deliantra CVS before
   the compatibility with crossfire was removed.  I have such a copy
   and it can be re-obtained easily by using a sticky date in the
   CVS checkout, then renaming a few files and directories.  Commit
   that in SVN as the first revision.  (This way of doing it assumes
   that we are not interested in importing the full history from CVS,
   but only have a stable reference point.)
2) Merge some selected bug fixes that were applied in their CVS tree
   in the last months (after the support for crossfire was dropped).
   I had a look at the CVS history of the files that are relevant for
   the editor, and there are only 4 or 5 changes that should be
   merged (and they are not very important).  Commit the result in SVN
   to obtain something equivalent to the current state of the editor.
3) Add some of the improvements that I have started working on, such
   as a better guidance for the first time you start the editor (so
   that it can easily find the maps and archetypes) and improvements
   to the user interface, giving more visual feedback to the user
   about what is the current "mode" of the editor (pick, place,
   connect, select...).
4) Other improvements that I have planned but not started working on
   yet: better display of connected values for complex maps, improved
   search & replace of objects in a selected area, user guide, etc.

I already mentioned on IRC some of the reasons why I think that this
editor is interesting: it is fast (e.g., drawing walls or other
features on a large map is much faster than with gridarta), it has a
nice way to display the properties of all map objects as you move the
mouse around, it has less installation dependencies than gridarta,
etc.  However, the current version also has some drawbacks: it is
likely to fail with a confusing error message the first time you start
it, the user interface has many features and shortcuts that are a bit
hidden (such as the absence of visible scrollbars), there is no "main"
window, etc.  That's why I would like to work a bit on that, and
especially improve the experience for first-time users.

If there are no objections against this plan, I would like to import
the code in SVN as soon as possible.

-Raphaël