Re: Windows dev-* environment

[Christian Dywan <christian imendio com>]

Am Mon, 6 Oct 2008 18:58:16 -0400 (EDT)
schrieb Allin Cottrell <cottrell wfu edu>:

> On Mon, 6 Oct 2008, Vlad Grecescu wrote:
> 
> > I think most of the people that use Gtk+ on Windows also use 
> > autoconf/automake (think Inkscape, Geany, Pidgin). Unfortunately 
> > they also use parralel Makefiles for win32.. having the 
> > opportunity to compile unmodified (vanilla) Gtk+ software in 
> > msys/mingw seems like a good idea to me.
> 
> Yes, it's a nice idea, but it requires that all build-related 
> files be generalized beyond the usual assumptions that are valid 
> for *nix platforms to encompass the full weirdness and oddity of 
> MS Windows (R).  This is a heavy burden on app developers. 
> 
> In my experience, it's much easier (if, in the end, less 
> satisfactory) to leave the auto* files with their *nix assumptions 
> and write a separate makefile for Windows.

I think every developer has a simple choice:

Using autotools, which is not portable in the true sense of the word,
so it works fine on almost all unix platforms, but you still have to
invent a new build system for Win32.

Using something else, be it cmake, waf, scons, whatever, that can
either build on Win32 or create files for another system that does
build on Win32.

Maybe even autotools *and* one or multiple of the alternatives. Which
is what gtk does, too, having nmake files, different visual studio
files, and a few build systems that people make up on their own, that
never make it into Gtk proper.

I don't think anyone chooses autotools for its speed in the first
place, even on unix it is not the fastest there is. If you use it, then
because it's established and known to work on many platforms.

Just my two pfennig,
    Christian