Port to Qt6: eliminate dependency on Gtkmm.

[dooglio]

I propose the following plan to convert this project into Qt6 completely and remove the dependency on Gtkmm. This opens up the Mac OS/X platform as presently this app only runs under Linux and Windows. This summary was written by anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-6:1m.

I will employ AI to do the conversion and help with the debugging.

TurnWatcher → Qt6 Conversion Plan

Project Overview

This is a D&D initiative tracker ("Turn Watcher") written in C++ originally built against GTK+/GTKMM. There is already a partial Qt5 port in progress — the src/gui/ui/ directory, the src/gui/base/ layer, and the src/gui/transactions/ layer already use Qt/sigc++ but many UI windows still live in src/gui/ui-gtk/ and use pure GTK classes. The motk library (a thin GTK helper wrapper) is also GTK-heavy.

The entry point TurnWatcher.cpp still calls Gtk::Main, and many windows still inherit from Gtk::Dialog, Gtk::Window, Gtk::TreeView, etc.

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Key Layers to Convert

Layer	Location	Status	Work Needed
Entry point	TurnWatcher.cpp	GTK Gtk::Main	Replace with QApplication
motk library	src/motk/	GTK (Gtk::ActionGroup, Gtk::UIManager, Gtk::AccelGroup)	Replace with Qt6 equivalents or eliminate
Base/model layer	src/gui/base/	Already Qt5-ish (QString, Qt signal patterns) but uses sigc::signal	Replace sigc::signal with Qt signals/slots
CharacterModel	src/gui/base/CharacterModel.h	Uses Gtk::TreeStore, Gdk::Pixbuf	Replace with QAbstractItemModel / QStandardItemModel
CharacterColumns	src/gui/base/CharacterColumns.h	GTK TreeView columns	Replace with Qt model column definitions
GTK UI windows	src/gui/ui-gtk/	All GTK	Full Qt6 rewrite
Qt stub UI	src/gui/ui/	Already Qt5 .ui + stub .cpp/.h	Upgrade to Qt6, wire up logic
CMakeLists	All CMakeLists.txt	Qt5 find_package	Upgrade to Qt6

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Detailed Plan

Phase 1 — CMake Build System (Qt5 → Qt6)

• Update src/gui/CMakeLists.txt and src/motk/CMakeLists.txt
• Change find_package(Qt5...) → find_package(Qt6...)
• Set CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH to /Users/doug-personal/Qt
• Change Qt5::Core, Qt5::Widgets, etc. → Qt6::Core, Qt6::Widgets, etc.
• Use qt_wrap_ui() / qt_add_resources() (Qt6 macros)
• Remove the motk GTK dependency (include(gtkmm)) entirely

Phase 2 — Drop motk GTK library

The motk library provides:

• ActionManager — wraps Gtk::ActionGroup / Gtk::UIManager / icon factories
• UiBase — wraps Gtk::UIManager for XML-based menus
• LabelTable / LabelTableScroller — GTK form layout helpers
• MenuManager, HtmlWidget, Chooser

Strategy: Replace motk entirely — Qt6 provides direct equivalents:

• QAction, QMenu, QMenuBar, QToolBar → replace ActionManager / UIBase
• QFormLayout → replace LabelTable
• QTextBrowser → replace HtmlWidget

The new motk CMakeLists will become a minimal shim or be eliminated — all its functionality gets absorbed directly into the Qt UI layer.

Phase 3 — Base Layer: Replace sigc::signal with Qt Signals

Several classes in src/gui/base/ use sigc::signal:

• AppSettings, CharacterManager, InitiativeManager, TransactionManager, StatManager

Strategy: Convert each singleton manager class to a QObject subclass with proper signals: blocks. Replace all sigc::signal<void> with void signal_xxx(), and all .connect(sigc::mem_fun(...)) call sites with QObject::connect(...).

Phase 4 — CharacterModel: GTK TreeStore → Qt Item Model

CharacterModel currently inherits from nothing but manages a Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::TreeStore>.

Strategy: Rewrite as QStandardItemModel (or QAbstractItemModel subclass). Character rows become QStandardItem rows with custom data roles. The sort model will be QSortFilterProxyModel.

Phase 5 — Rewrite All GTK UI Windows as Qt6 Dialogs/Widgets

Each GTK window in src/gui/ui-gtk/ gets a Qt6 replacement in src/gui/ui/:

GTK Class	Qt6 Replacement
MainWindow (Gtk::Window)	QMainWindow (already stubbed — flesh out)
AboutWindow (Gtk::AboutDialog)	QDialog (already stubbed as AboutDialog)
EditWindow (Gtk::Dialog)	New EditDialog (QDialog with QFormLayout)
DamageWindow (Gtk::Dialog)	New DamageDialog (QDialog with QSpinBox)
InitWindow (Gtk::Dialog)	New InitDialog (QDialog with QTableWidget)
SettingsWindow (Gtk::Dialog)	New SettingsDialog (QDialog with QFormLayout)
StatWindow (Gtk::Dialog)	New StatDialog (QDialog)
CharacterView (Gtk::TreeView)	QTreeView + new Qt item model
HUDWindow (Gtk::Window)	QWidget floating window with QTreeView
RoundsHelper	Keep the logic, replace Gtk:: references with Qt
StatusBox	QStatusBar
Splash	QSplashScreen
EffectsBook, EffectsEditor, EffectsList, EffectEditor	New Qt tabs/dialogs
DuplicateWindow	New QDialog with QSpinBox
JumpInWindow, InputWindow	New simple QDialog variants
ExpiredEffectsWindow	New QDialog

Phase 6 — Wire Up MainWindow

The existing src/gui/ui/MainWindow.cpp is just a stub with setupUi(this). The real logic is in the GTK version. Strategy:

• Uncomment and implement all the action slots
• Connect QAction signals to slots for all menu/toolbar actions
• Integrate CharacterView (Qt TreeView) as central widget
• Implement Load(), Save(), UpdateUI(), UpdateMenus() using the base managers
• Add QTimer for periodic save
• Restore window geometry from AppSettings

Phase 7 — Update TurnWatcher.cpp Entry Point

• Remove #include <gtkmm.h>, Gtk::Main, g_log_set_default_handler
• Add QApplication, QCoreApplication::setApplicationName/Version
• Replace moApplication integration where it applies to path management
• Keep molib usage for file I/O (it's pure C++ and doesn't need GTK)

Phase 8 — Remove GTK cmake modules

• Remove src/motk/CMakeLists.txt inclusion of include(gtkmm)
• Remove cmake/gtkmm.cmake dependency from build
• Clean up unused sigc references in CMakeLists (sigc++ is no longer needed once signals are converted to Qt)

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Directory Strategy

• Keep src/gui/ui-gtk/ as-is for reference (do not delete, just stop compiling them)
• All new Qt6 UI code goes into src/gui/ui/ (already exists)
• New .ui files created with Qt Designer for any dialog that benefits from it
• The existing src/gui/ui/MainWindow.ui and AboutDialog.ui are already Qt5 compatible and need only minor Qt6 updates

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What stays the same (no GTK dependency)

• src/molib/ — pure C++ library for prop bags, XML I/O, name management
• src/gui/base/character.cpp/.h, effect.cpp/.h, stat.cpp/.h — pure data models
• src/gui/transactions/ — transaction pattern, pure C++
• All .ui Qt Designer files and src/gui/ui/res/ resources

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Estimated Scope

This is a large but structured conversion. The logical business layer (transactions, characters, effects, stats, initiative management) is already mostly decoupled from GTK. The GTK dependency is concentrated in:

1. The motk library (~8 files)
2. The ui-gtk/ windows (~18 files)
3. CharacterModel.h and ActionsManager.h (GTK includes)
4. TurnWatcher.cpp entry point