How about this: We add a directory .../gtk to the source tree of master, just like there already is a directory winboard to contain the respective front-end code. This seems more logical anyway. This way the old XBoard front-end could then continue to exist in master next to the GTK version. The latter could start its life as a plain copy of the XBoard front-end, copying all 'X-files' there (xboard.c, xhistory.c, xgamelist.c etc.) which is then gradually taken over by GTK functions (if we go with the mixed approach).
The advantage would be that back-end changes (which is mostly what I do anyway) automatically get into the GTK version without any merging. Btw, I still think the best path to a GTK version is to first refactor the existing XBoard front-end to get rid of most code, and only then start porting the little kernel that is left.
