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Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

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Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#211
post #53
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better check those desktop market share numbers.

I suspect if you restrict it to developers the numbers would look very, very different on the stackoverflow survey windows is 41.2%: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-popular-...

Yeah, because the software developed for 80% of the desktop market appears out of thin air, no developers required.

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#212
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm a native Win32 developer, have been one for a few decades, and know quite a few others still using MSVC6 Doesn't that tie you to a really old C runtime, and aren't security holes often found in the C runtime?

It links dynamically to msvcrt.dll which is updated as part of the os. I believe it still gets updates as long as it doesn't break the ABI. Modern vc++ links with the universal CRT which is an independently updated msvcrt distribution.

Note: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20140411-00/?p=12...

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#213
post #189

This what is called in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy "All or Nothing Thinking." Microsoft is a for-profit company. It is pro open-source when it helps them and closed source also when it helps them. I like the new Microsoft which has open sourced a lot of stuff. It's way better than the old closed source regime.

yeah the acceptance of oss is cool but they still ship a lot of weird software and technology... which is fine assuming you can avoid it... but sometimes you can't and then it becomes torturous.

Apple is worse in that regard. Is XCode open-source? Other than Darwin Kernel, is any part of macOS open-source? Did Apple even try to make Swift cross-platform? Is iCloud really comparable to OneDrive? How about Apple's locked and closed-source bootloaders?

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#214

I mostly agree on the VSCode part. They should put it up front in the README, homepage and maybe a info modal/badge whenever a user installs said extension. But genuinely asking, how else would you 'label' VSCode? "A free and open-source code editor with some optional components that are proprietary"?

Apple is worse in that regard. Is XCode open-source? Other than Darwin Kernel, is any part of macOS open-source? Did Apple even try to make Swift cross-platform? Is iCloud really comparable to OneDrive? How about Apple's locked and closed-source bootloaders?

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#215
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administrati...

The command won't help when you don't have the permissions. Or do you just want it to be phrased "not supported for users on normally configured systems"? There, then.

Well, time to learn about /J flag.

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#216
post #30

Typical UNIX FOSS rant, not taking into account all the development workflows on Windows.

It doesn't, no. If you are only working with libraries designed for Windows or are linking against binaries, most of the dev issues listed disappear. The point of the article is that the Windows push for open source introduces friction because the way of doing things with established OSS projects is so different.

Not every OS has to be a UNIX clone, we don't need an OS monoculture.

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#217
The post mentions CRLF line end syntax, I don't understand why anyone should bother with it. Use \n only, it works everywhere including Windows. Any modern IDE can handle Unix line endings. The same about file paths, use forward slash (/) everywhere and don't waste your time supporting DOS era standards.

I think the core.autocrlf option in Git is more harmful than useful (for example, it can change file hashes and break something) and should be removed. An option to warn about unwanted \r characters on commit might be useful though.

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#218
post #77

Only if you want to be trendchasing rather than letting backwards compatibility take care of itself... I'm a native Win32 developer, have been one for a few decades, and know quite a few others still using MSVC6 because it's fast and enough for what they do. Takes Long file paths: Azure, OpenSearch, and ~90 other open source projects have to document how to enable long file paths on Windows because the default is a ~…

It's incredibly fitting that all the links on that post are 403 Forbidden

1) the URLs are simply missing a "b/" in the path to map to saved copies in the Web Archive, and 2) the comment system switched to requiring JS around 2011 so only comments from before then archived properly (>.>) but the threads are all from 2003-2006 so theoretically there are probably no new comments anyway.

nesting windows more than 50 levels deep: https://web.archive.org/web/20110623211503/http://blogs.msdn...

nesting menus more than 25 levels deep: https://web.archive.org/web/20110623211552/http://blogs.msdn...

creating a dialog box with more than 65535 controls: https://web.archive.org/web/20110623211515/http://blogs.msdn...

the maximum number of threads a process can create: https://web.archive.org/web/20110628235212/http://blogs.msdn...

the maximum length of a command line: https://web.archive.org/web/20110707074737/http://blogs.msdn...

the maximum size of an environment block: https://web.archive.org/web/20110623211524/http://blogs.msdn...

the maximum amount of data you can store in the registry: https://web.archive.org/web/20070302025026/http://support.mi... (the live link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986 still works perfectly, so here's the view as of ~the post date of the article)

if you have to ask, you can’t afford it: https://web.archive.org/web/20080607185547/http://listserv.l...

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#219
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The command won't help when you don't have the permissions. Or do you just want it to be phrased "not supported for users on normally configured systems"? There, then.

Well, time to learn about /J flag.

Even if we pretend that's a symlink, it only works for directories, not files.

Re: Cross-compiling binaries for Windows is easier than building natively

#220
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't, no. If you are only working with libraries designed for Windows or are linking against binaries, most of the dev issues listed disappear. The point of the article is that the Windows push for open source introduces friction because the way of doing things with established OSS projects is so different.

Not every OS has to be a UNIX clone, we don't need an OS monoculture.

You don't need to implement POSIX in order to not bundle your header files in a 9 GB "SDK" download, which isn't available as a direct URL download and can't be installed without user interaction via the GUI.

This is a Microsoft issue, not a Windows issue.

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