Re: GTK on Windows

[Tor Lillqvist <tml iki fi>]

> For example Pidgin didn't use it's own GTK library (GTK 2.14.7 rev A or
> something like that), but used another one(Gtk 2.16),
> that was installed with another application. I don't remember wich one this was.

OK. Seems that other application then had managed to force its bundled
version of GTK+ on other applications? Perhaps by installing it in the
system32 folder?

Of course, in an ideal world, each new version of GTK+ (or GLib, or
Pango) would be just better than earlier ones (and include new APIs),
but especially for Win32, there are always regressions, and some
applications might work better with a particular not-the-latest
version.

(As such each version, as long as the DLL names don't change, *is*
backward compatible. Just like, as long as the soname doesn't change,
versions are backward compatible on Linux. A regression might be in
some detail (which then for some apps might be more obviously apparent
than for others).)

 > Should there be environment variables for the GTK on windows?

Not really. Ideally, all that is needed is that the GTK+ DLLs are in
the same folder as the application's EXE(s).

Of course, in some cases, this is not enough. For instance GIMP
plug-ins are executables, and GIMP learns what plug-ins are available
in an installation by looking for EXE files in a certain folder (which
thus must be different than the folder where the GIMP executable
itself is). It would make little sense to have copies of the GTK+ DLLs
in both these folders, thus the GIMP applications sets the PATH
environment variable (which is inherited by child processes, just like
on POSIX) to include the folder where its bundled copy of GTK+'s DLLs
is so that the plug-ins processes will find them.

> And two of the installed GTK library's have folders in C:\Program Files.

Directly below Program Files? Weird...

> The first GTK application i used was gimp, and I had to install gtk
> seperatly when I started using it.

That was ages ago (in internet years). Nowadays GIMP comes with a
bundled copy of GTK+, no separate installation.

> But I'm on your side. Best way would be, if people wouldn't even have to know...

Fine;)

--tml