Editing Motif (software)

{{Short description|GUI specification and toolkit for the X Window System}}
{{Other uses|Motif (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Motif
| logo = 
| screenshot = Debian Motif MWM Default.png
| caption = Motif and the [[Motif Window Manager]] on [[Debian]] [[GNU]]/[[Linux]]
| developer = 
| latest release version = 2.3.8
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2017|12|05}}
| latest preview version = 
| latest preview date = 
| programming language = C
| operating system = 
| genre = [[Widget toolkit]]
| license = [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL-2.1-or-later]] (2.3.4 on)<br />Proprietary (before 2.3.4)
| website = {{URL|motif.ics.com/motif}}
}}

In computing, '''Motif''' refers to both a [[graphical user interface]] (GUI) specification and the [[widget toolkit]] for building applications that follow that specification under the [[X Window System]] on [[Unix]] and [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s. The Motif look and feel is distinguished by its use of rudimentary square and chiseled three-dimensional effects for its various user interface elements.

Motif is the toolkit for the [[Common Desktop Environment]] and [[IRIX Interactive Desktop]], thus it was the standard widget toolkit for Unix. Closely related to Motif is the [[Motif Window Manager]] (MWM).

After many years as [[proprietary software]], Motif was released in 2012, as [[free software]] under the [[GNU Lesser General Public License]] (LGPL-2.1-or-later).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://motif.ics.com/news |title=News {{pipe}} ICS MotifZone |website=motif.ics.com |access-date=2023-03-30 |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329225053/https://motif.ics.com/news |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Plan Open Motif screenshot.png|thumb|Screenshot of [[Plan (calendar program)|plan]], an application that uses the Motif toolkit. The "chiseled" look of Motif is clearly visible.]]

Motif was created by the [[Open Software Foundation]] (OSF) to be a standard graphical user interface for Unix platforms.<ref name="osf-motif" /> Rather than create a new interface from scratch, OSF opened a Request For Technology (RFT) in 1988 to solicit existing technologies from third parties. OSF intended to either adopt an existing interface wholesale, or create one using a combination of technologies from multiple existing products. Forty products were submitted, from which OSF selected twenty-three finalists.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szsEAAAAMBAJ|title=OSF Narrows Its Search For User Interface to 23|page=45|author1=Martin Marshall|author2=Ed Scannell|newspaper=InfoWorld|date=1988-10-10|access-date=2021-12-29}}</ref> Among the finalists were [[Adobe Inc.]]'s [[Display Postscript]], [[Sun Microsystems]]' [[OPEN LOOK]], [[Digital Research]]'s [[GEM (desktop environment)|GEM]], [[IXI Limited]]'s [[X.desktop]], [[Apollo Computer]]'s Open Dialogue, [[Carnegie Mellon University]]'s [[Andrew User Interface System]], [[Digital Equipment Corporation]]'s [[OpenVMS#Graphical user interfaces|XUI]], and [[Hewlett-Packard]] and [[Microsoft]]'s [[Presentation Manager#Presentation Manager for Unix|CXI and PM/X]]. Ultimately, OSF selected a combination of the look and feel, window manager and [[Common User Access]] compliance from HP and Microsoft's CXI, along with the widget toolkit API and User Interface Language (UIL) from DEC's XUI.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/AUUGN/AUUGN-V10.4.pdf|title=Strategies for Writing Graphical UNIX Applications Productively and Portably|author=Janet Dobbs|date=August 1989|page=50|volume=10|number=4|journal=AUUG Newsletter|access-date=2021-12-29|archive-date=January 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128124554/https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/AUUGN/AUUGN-V10.4.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Company-Publications/HP-Journal/90s/HPJ-1990-06.pdf|title=Making Interface Behavior Consistent: The HP OSF/Motif Graphical User Interface|author1=Axel O. Deininger|author2=Charles V. Fernandez|volume=41|number=3|date=June 1990|access-date=2021-12-29|archive-date=September 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929102042/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Company-Publications/HP-Journal/90s/HPJ-1990-06.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Motif was first shipped by OSF in 1989.<ref name="osf-motif">{{cite web|url=http://www.opengroup.org/desktop/motif/hybrids.htm|title=User Interface Hybrids - Integrating User Environments with Motif|website=[[The Open Group]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115184703/https://www.opengroup.org/desktop/motif/hybrids.htm|archive-date=2018-01-15|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Standardization==

[[File:CDE Application Builder.png|thumb|The Common Desktop Environment is built on top of Motif.]]

Motif is the basic building block of the [[Common Desktop Environment]], which was the standard desktop for commercial Unix.

The [[IEEE]] 1295 [[standardization|standard]] (now withdrawn<ref>{{cite web
  |url = https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1295/1969/
  |title = 1295-1993 - IEEE Standard for Information Technology--X Window System--Modular Toolkit Environment (MTE)
  |access-date = 2023-03-30
  |publisher = IEEE Computer Society
  |archive-date = March 29, 2023
  |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230329225049/https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1295/1969/
  |url-status = live
  }}</ref>) defines the "Motif [[Application programming interface|API]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opengroup.org/motif/|title=Open Group Desktop Technologies -- Motif|website=The Open Group|access-date=May 6, 2003|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809050204/http://www.opengroup.org/motif/|url-status=live}}</ref> As of version 2.1, Motif supports [[Unicode]], which made it widely used in several multilingual environments.

==Licensing==
[[File:Xlib and XCB in the X Window System graphics stack.svg|thumb|450px|[[X Window System]] graphics stack: Motif is a library with [[graphical control element]]s.]]

===Proprietary===
Motif was originally made available under a license requiring royalty payments.

===Open Motif===
A version called Open Motif (substantially the same codebase under a different license)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/faq.html |title=Open Motif Frequently Asked Questions |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130181327/http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/faq.html |archive-date=January 30, 2012 |url-status=live |quote=For the current stable 2.1.30 release, aside from some different copyright and license statements, both Motif and Open Motif share the same functionality and source code. The primary difference between Open Motif and the commercial product is the software license.}}</ref> was released on May 15, 2000, under a license which allowed [[royalty-free]] distribution of Open Motif if the [[platform (computing)|platform]] upon which it is used was [[Open-source software|open source]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/license/|title=THE OPEN GROUP PUBLIC LICENSE: MOTIF GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE SOFTWARE|publisher=The Open Group|access-date=September 29, 2013|archive-date=May 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511172345/http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/license/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{snd}}but was not an open source license itself. The name was criticized by [[Richard Stallman]] of the [[Free Software Foundation]] for likelihood to mislead people into thinking it was proper [[open-source software|open source]] or [[free software]], particularly for the Open Group's statement that they had "released the source code of Motif to the Open Source community".<ref>{{cite newsgroup
 | url =https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=comp.windows.x.announce/K2LrU6QusnA/5fRzz-NBIrAJ
 | title =Announce: Motif release to Open Source Community leads to Open Motif Everywhere
 | author =Mark Hatch
 | date =May 15, 2000
 | newsgroup =comp.windows.x.announce
 | message-id =xannounce145@ics.com
 | access-date =November 29, 2013
 | archive-date =October 3, 2013
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20131003125200/https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=comp.windows.x.announce/K2LrU6QusnA/5fRzz-NBIrAJ
 | url-status =live
 }}</ref> The initial release of Open Motif was version 2.1.30 in May 2000; Open Motif 2.3 was released in June 2007, followed by a 2.3.1 bug fix release in September 2008 and a 2.3.2 bug fix release in March 2009.

During the time when Motif was closed source software, the [[LessTif]] project was created with the aim of creating a free software implementation, under the LGPL.

===GNU LGPL===
In October 2012, Motif was released as a source code distribution under the GNU LGPL-2.1-or-later.<ref>{{cite web
  |title = ICS MotifZone
  |url = https://motif.ics.com/
  |date = October 2012
  |access-date = March 30, 2023
  |archive-date = November 12, 2020
  |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201112013443/https://motif.ics.com/
  |url-status = live
  }}</ref> Motif's source code is available on SourceForge.

==See also==
* [[IBM Common User Access]]
* [[LessTif]]
* [[MoOLIT]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Open Group standards}}
{{Widget toolkits}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motif (Widget Toolkit)}}
[[Category:Motif (software)| ]]
[[Category:Software using the GNU Lesser General Public License]]
[[Category:X-based libraries]]
[[Category:Formerly proprietary software]]