[Haskell-cafe] Re: binding to C libraries on Windoww

[Erik de Castro Lopo]

Andrew Coppin wrote:

> Well, I don't know. It's going to vary from package to package, but most 
> things that have a semi-official Windows version either come as a 
> Windows Installer package (which, one presumes records where it put 
> everything *somewhere* in the Windows registry)

Is that done automatically or does the installer have to explicity
set it? What does it look like?

The reason I ask is that I release a binary windows installer for
libsndfile. The binaries are generated using a Linux to Windows
cross-compiler and for the win32 version I run the testsuite under
Wine (windows API emulator). I then run INNO Setup under wine to
generate the installer executable.

> > On a related matter, many packagers resort to using configure-style
> > configuration setups to assist with binding to C libraries.  Cabal is
> > now sophisticated enough to handle many of these steps (although not
> > all), however packagers may not have had an opportunity to update
> > their build process to remove the dependency on "configure".  These
> > packages will continue to require cygwin or mingw for the "configure"
> > step.
> >   
> 
> Ah yes, this is pretty much guaranteed to make stuff not work on 
> Windows. :-) Still, all Unix systems have Automake, configure, etc., so 
> I guess most people don't even think twice before using it.

There are bigger problems than that. The Microsoft compiler still doesn't
support large chunks of the 1999 ISO C Standard. There is stuff in that
standard that makes my life easier so I use it in libsndfile. Its also
why I much prefer to cross compiler from Linux to Windows with a GNU
compiler that supports the vast majority of the 1999 ISO C Standard.

I would be possible to make libsndfile compile with Microsofts compiler
but it would add a whole bunch of #ifdefs all over the place making the
code base fragile and in the long term less maintainable and reliable.

> > MS hasn't done so,
> > which means that C developers would need to unacceptably compromise
> > unix support in their packages in order to better support Windows.
> 
> I don't know about that... Lots of commercial and open-source products 
> are available for Windows and Unix, seemingly without any problem. (GTK, 
> for example...) I don't deny that adding Windows support is _a lot more 
> work_ than adding support for just another Unix, though.

Ignoring bugs and features that are common across all platforms in libsndfile
I have spent at least an order of magnitude more time and effort getting
things working with windows that I have with all of the Unixes (including
OSX) summed together. This for a platform I don't use.

> Yeah, it seems for the time being any Haskellers wanting to work on 
> Windows have to choose either to not use external C libraries or to 
> install the entire GNU toolchain. *sigh*

If those libraries use parts of the C99 standard then yes. Microsoft
has had 10 years to make their compilers compliant. Ask them why they
haven't.

Erik
-- 
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Erik de Castro Lopo
http://www.mega-nerd.com/