Our solution was to avoid rewriting the Windows-specific code at all (it was, after all, tried, tested and optimized). Instead, we decided to move it to a new operating-system dependent layer which we engineered to have an OS independent interface.

Once this was complete, we were then able to begin work on a Linux implementation of that same layer. In essence, the Lightworks code is now split in two - the OS-independent code (eg. editing, play-engine, etc) which uses the OS-dependent code (eg. file access, threading, etc).

The OS independent code accounts for about 97% of the total codebase. The bulk of the work in porting to Linux was actually in re-engineering the existing code, not in writing the Linux-specific layer.

Linux of course doesn't have [Windows'] Direct3D, so we had to reimplement all the Linux GPU specific code using OpenGL.

This development has been long-awaited. Once again, risk-averse developers are showing us how OSes, once the mainstay of IT revenue, are losing relevance.

What's next - Lightworks for Android? -only a few lines of code away.