M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
9/30/2007 5:58:00 PM
Austin Ziegler wrote:
> On 9/30/07, Luis Lavena <luislavena@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I remember the discussion was heated, but no final word on the
>> platform that OCI will use for future releases. So far, still remains
>> linked to VC6 ones.
>
> This isn't really a core Ruby question. This should be asked on
> ruby-talk or (if there is one) the One Click Installer mailing list.
>
>> What is required to finally migrate Ruby builds on Windows to VC8?
>
> A recompile of ANY library that an extension depends on, because of
> rampant Microsoft incompatibilities. The problem is that any time you
> have more than one application using more than one C run-time (e.g.,
> MSVCRT.DLL and MSCRT80.DLL), you have different memory allocation
> tables, different file handle tables, etc. Microsoft simply DOES NOT
> CARE about this and won't provide any workarounds to make this clean
> and easy.
>
> It is not in the One-Click Installer's mandate to recompile OpenSSL
> using VC8 instead of VC6. Or zlib. Or pdcurses. Or ...
>
> VC8 is the best compiler available right now and the only choice for
> 64-bit Windows. Maybe we can talk to Intel about using the ICC if
> they'll be compatible. But Microsoft never responded positively with
> any way to work around this given that we don't control the library
> chain end-to-end.
>
> It's not a problem for most of Microsoft's customers like my
> workplace, where we compile EVERYTHING we need from scratch (except,
> of course, Windows) or can demand up-to-date libraries from our tool
> vendors (or pay for them...). It is a problem for any open source
> project, not just Ruby.
>
> -austin
Yes, let's take this to Ruby-Talk so we can all participate. Most of the
open source projects I deal with on Windows have gone to || stayed with
MinGW/MSYS and its friends. Ruby seems to be the exception. I remember
the past discussions and my own point of view was that it didn't really
matter to me as long as the gems && other C/C++ libraries were available
in binary form and in source form if their licenses required it. I don't
*need* to build from source on Windows, although I wouldn't refuse the
opportunity to do so.
I am in the process of phasing out Cygwin usage at my day job. I brought
it in as a crutch and it has become a maintenance nightmare. The worst
part of it is that it hoses up file and directory permissions at the NT
level if you aren't careful (and I haven't been). :)
So while I know that VC8 is a "better" compiler than MinGW/MSYS, what
other open source projects, if any, use VC8? How many others use VC6?
What are the licensing gotchas on the Intel compiler? In general, are
open source projects on Windows doomed to be second-class citizens? :(