Re: gEDA: building under cygwin

["Larrie Carr" <larrie-at-NOSPAMtelus_dot_net>]

Maybe I phrased the question too naively given this response.  I was looking 
for something a little more technically oriented given the make scripts go 
out of their way to stop a cygwin build.  But thanks.

I'll give this some thought and see what I come up with.  The linux ISO is a 
nice approach.

larrie.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Al Davis"
To: <geda-dev@seul.org>
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 2:50 PM
Subject: Re: gEDA: building under cygwin


> On Friday 03 February 2006 14:08, Larrie Carr wrote:
>> As I dig through the archives, I see this topic coming up
>> from time to time. However, I don't understand the history
>> behind why cygwin is not supported using the standard build
>> scripts.
>
> I think I can explain.
>
> Most of the developers choose one system to do most of the work
> in.  In Free software circles, it is usually a Free operating
> system, usually either Linux or BSD.  There are several
> distributions of each, that have minor style differences.  None
> of us actually test on all of the systems that the software
> works on.  There are too many.
>
> The official distribution is in source form, so you must compile
> it to install it.  I know mine works on my system.  Most Linux
> and BSD variants are similar enough that I have high confidence
> there too.  The farther away it gets, the lower the confidence
> is.
>
> We freely use other free software, such as gtk, guile, python,
> and others.  On most of our systems, either we already have it
> or it is trivial to install.  If not, you might need to install
> more stuff.  We are strict about the requirement that
> everything required is also free.
>
> The packages for particular distributions are done by someone
> else other than the people developing the software.  These
> packages are ready to install.  They do not contain all of the
> needed libraries, but instead contain information needed to
> find them, in such a way that the installer will automatically
> find and install the needed extras.  Some of them are
> maintained by people here on this list.  One individual usually
> maintains several applications, perhaps all of gEDA and the
> related tools, on a single platform.  Some of the packages are
> available with the official OS distribution.  Some are
> available from other sites.  Please note again, they are done
> by someone else other than the people who created the software.
>
> Maintaining these packages is a ongoing effort.  Every time the
> source package is updated, the binary package must also be
> updated.  Some distributions just do the stable releases.  Some
> track the development snapshots.  Some do both.
>
> So, when you ask about a platform that isn't officially
> supported, we are waiting for someone to step up and do it.
>
> This statement applies to a native MS-Windows port too.  We
> don't deliberately block it.  We are just waiting for someone
> to take on the project.
>