Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Keith Thompson Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: New and improved version of cdecl Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2025 17:30:42 -0700 Organization: None to speak of Lines: 60 Message-ID: <878qgv27gt.fsf@example.invalid> References: <87bjlyobts.fsf@example.invalid> <10dbvqs$12d0f$1@dont-email.me> <10dd0fj$1jbcv$1@dont-email.me> <87jz0l2pal.fsf@example.invalid> <10dei5s$28h93$1@dont-email.me> <8734792h4y.fsf@example.invalid> <10dfusd$2k0q4$1@dont-email.me> <10dgdc7$2of3m$1@dont-email.me> <10dghp5$2q30g$1@dont-email.me> <87h5vo1276.fsf@example.invalid> <10dgtvv$2tkdu$1@dont-email.me> <10dkesj$3r64j$1@dont-email.me> <10dl0g9$3venf$1@dont-email.me> <10dmk77$egg1$1@dont-email.me> <10dnprf$qmrg$1@dont-email.me> <87h5vk13yq.fsf@example.invalid> <20251027134847.610@kylheku.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:30:43 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="488eefec226f97f8133c21c3b37ec947"; logging-data="1404158"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18xoUyMaUN2Cafx/xvgTePE" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Cancel-Lock: sha1:6l4T2dJDhuqdldkCFacvsTVnScM= sha1:pZFuLTPt3tpViqEHz1OlMIMMIvo= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:394833 Kaz Kylheku <643-408-1753@kylheku.com> writes: > On 2025-10-27, Keith Thompson wrote: >> bart writes: >> [...] >>> Yes, but: the development and build procedures HAVE BEEN BUILT AROUND UNIX. >>> >>> So they are utterly dependent on them. So much so that it is pretty >>> much impossible to build this stuff on any non-UNIX environment, >>> unless that environment is emulated. That is what happens with WSL, >>> MSYS2, CYGWIN. >> [...] >> >> **Yes, you're right**. >> >> The GNU autotools typically work smoothly when used on Unix-like >> systems. They can be made to work nearly as smoothly under Windows >> by using an emulation layer such as WSL, MSYS2, or Cygwin. It's very >> difficult to use them on pure Windows. > > The way I see the status quo in this matter is this: cross-platform > programs originating or mainly focusing on Unix-likes require effort > /from their actual authors/ to have a native Windows port. > > Whereas when such programs are ported to Unix-like which their > authors do not use, it is often possible for the users to get it > working without needing help from the authors. There may be some > patch to upstream, and that's about it. > > Also, a proper Windows port isn't just a way to build on Windows. > Nobody does that. Windows doens't have tools out of the box. > > When you seriously commit to a Windows port, you provide a binary build > with a proper installer. I agree that that's the status quo. I can imagine either an enhanced version of the GNU autotools, or a new set of tools similar to it, that could support building software from source on Windows. It wouldn't work on Windows out of the box, which doesn't provide much in the way of development tools, but it could detect the presence of Visual Studio and/or other development systems and use them automatically. Ideally it would be a drop-in replacement for the GNU autotools, so that someone could take, say, a copy of cdecl-18.5.tar.gz, feed it to the tool, and it would build and install cdecl.exe in the right place without depending on a Unix-like emulation layer. It would probably have to work with the configure.ac file (which is fed to autoconf) rather than with the generated configure script (which requires a Bourne-like shell). I don't know the details of how this could be done, and I certainly don't have the motivation to implement it unless someone pays me a lot of money to do so. And if nobody does this, I won't be particularly inconvenienced. It's entirely possible that there isn't enough demand to justify the effort. -- Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */