Supported Windows versions (was: Re: unix package)

[Bulat Ziganshin]

Hello Esa,

Friday, July 6, 2007, 12:25:33 AM, you wrote:
>> i write a general-purpose program (archiver) and will prefer to have
>> it win9x-compatible. btw, this doesn't have any relation to the fact
>> that ghc itself can be run on old OSes

> I realize that.  Do you care about Win32 package or only about ghc
> rts and base?  Could you find some resources to test on Win 9x?

i don't use Win32 package at all. i implemented my own file
manipulation and i/o module because it was easiest way to provide
uniform API for both Unix and Windows

i proposed to develop file and i/o library which is
platform-independent, utilize new NT features and still Win9x
compatible (http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/Library/IO), but there is
not enough resources to develop it

> What do you think would be workable solution for Win32 package?
> I can think of few solutions
>  * use old versions of Win32 package if you need Win9x compatibility
>    (doesn't need extra work.)
>  * Add new package with Win 2k APIs (but that's really annoying
> because of overlap)
>  * Use CPP to make it possible to compile Win9x-compatible Win32 (need testers!)

i think that, regarding small interest to this theme, the best
solution will be one that require less work. it's obvious that 9x
support will become less and less popular and it's better to focus
attention on new OSes. so, i think that minimal solution is the best
with only one exception - there should be a way to use *both* old and
new lib in project (in order to provide compatibility with both
systems). so i propose the following:

* clone existing library and rename one of copies to either win9x or
winnt. rename modules in this library appropriately. continue
development of one of these clones using NT features freely while
another clone will remain stabilized at current set of features. if
someone will ever want to backport features from new library to old
one (because these particular features are also available on 9x), he
can do it yourself


-- 
Best regards,
 Bulat                            mailto:Bulat.Ziganshin at gmail.com