Features

GENtle is an equivalent to the proprietary Vector NTI

Vector NTI

Vector NTI is a bioinformatics software package. The current versions are v11.5.1 for Windows/PCs and v7.1 for Macs, but only supporting Mac OS X v10.3 .- Features :* create, annotate, analyse, and share DNA/protein sequences...

, a handy tool for molecular biologists to analyze and edit DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 sequence files. Invitrogens removal of the free-of-cost academic licence for Vector NTI v11 has had a severe impact on many molecular biology labs that have come to rely on this tool, which led to vendor lock-in

Vendor lock-in

In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs...

 effects, which angered many molecular biologists. The GENtle code is developed and maintained by Magnus Manske, but has developed slowly the last couple of years.

Source code releases for linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 rely on outdated dependencies and are thus hard to compile on modern systems. The windows-compiled binary does however work well on Wine (software)

Wine (software)

Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...

. By design, GENtle is coded to be cross-platform utilizing Python (programming language)

Python (programming language)

Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

 and wxGTK.