Re: [Banshee-List] Windows Port of Banshee

[Bertrand Lorentz <bertrand lorentz gmail com>]

Hi,

As Andrés mentioned, the problem is not Banshee itself, but all the
native dependencies: GTK+, GStreamer, etc.
Up until now, those are provided as binaries in the "windows-binaries"
repository (https://gitorious.org/banshee/windows-binaries) which is
checked out by the checkout-banshee.bat script. Those binaries were
collected and updated from various sources.
This is a sub-optimal situation for various reasons:
1/ We are not able to rebuild the complete content of the Windows
installer from source. As some of the included dependencies are
licensed under the GPL, this probably goes against the spirit if not
the letter of their license.
2/ Updating those dependencies is not straightforward
3/ This mix and match of binaries might not work well together.

For example, here's a recent experience I had:
One of the main issues of Banshee on Windows is the stability of the
playback engine : sometimes it works, then you restart Banshee and you
can't play any tracks. This is probably due to GStreamer bugs on
Windows.
For Banshee 2.6.0, I tried to use binaries from the GStreamer SDK
(http://gstreamer.com/), to see if it would improve the situation. But
I was not able make Banshee start with those binaries. My guess is
that the problem is because the version of glib used by the GStreamer
SDK is different than the one used by GTK#, but I wasn't able to
confirm that.

Compare this with the situation on OSX: Timo was able to fix several
issues by updating dependencies, or rebuilding dependencies (like GTK)
with OSX-specific patches applied.

So, to go back to your original question:
As a developer, my main issue about the current "Banshee on Windows"
situation is the build of the complete stack of dependencies required
to provide an installer.
I see several options to address this:

1/ Stop providing all the dependencies in our installer and rely on
external components (GTK# installer, GStreamer SDK, etc.). This would
be annoying for users and potential contributors, as they would have
to download and install those components themselves. Also we would not
be able to fix issues in those components ourselves if needed.

2/ Set up a build system to be able to build ourselves all the
dependencies on Windows. A combination of MinGW and Bockbuild might be
a solution for this.

3/ Cross compile the dependencies on Linux, to get windows native
binaries. It is possible in theory, I think that's how LibreOffice
builds their Windows version, but I don't know how complicated it is.

I'm looking forward to any progress on the Windows front, and I'll try
to help in any way I can.

Cheers,

--
Bertrand


On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Andres G. Aragoneses <knocte gmail com> wrote:
>
>
> If  banshee was implemented in C, I would understand that question.
>
> But why would you want that? It's C# and you have .NET in Windows which can
> build[1] it ;)
>
> [1] http://banshee.fm/download/development/#windows
>
> Glad to see somebody willing to finish this.
>
>
>
> On 25/10/12 02:40, Kevin Anthony wrote:
>>
>> Is there an easy way to build banshee on linux targeting windows?
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 11:23 AM, olivier dufour
>> <olivier duff gmail com
>> <mailto:olivier duff gmail com>> wrote:
>>
>>     Hi,
>>
>>     You can found all open bugs on windows environment open on bugzilla.
>>     direct link to bugs open for windows
>>
>> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced;bug_status=UNCONFIRMED;bug_status=NEW;bug_status=ASSIGNED;bug_status=REOPENED;bug_status=NEEDINFO;product=banshee;op_sys=Windows
>>
>>     Anyway, you will face issue that is related to GTK on widows:
>>     here is the list of open bugs for gtk under windows:
>>
>> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&bug_status=NEEDINFO&product=gtk%2B&op_sys=Windows
>>
>>     good luck and have fun!
>>
>>     Olivier Dufour
>>
>>
>>     On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 5:10 PM, Kevin Anthony
>>     <kevin s anthony gmail com
>>     <mailto:kevin s anthony gmail com>> wrote:
>>
>>         I understand it's not up to par.  What is wrong with it? and is
>>         anyone working to fix it?
>>
>>         In the coming months, i think i'm going to try and fix it, but I
>>         would like to know what i'm getting myself into.