Hi Jonathan, Thanks for the feedback; I agree the Windows build is too hard to install. Last I checked it wasn't possible to build Windows binaries with SML/NJ. I will talk to my contacts who work on SML/NJ and see if there's something we can do to make this more seamless.
Thanks again for the detailed feedback! Regards, Dave Jonathan Watt wrote: > Hi, > > First of all, I think making the reference implementation available to > everyone > is a great idea. Thanks for that. Unfortunately, at this early stage, I think > the barriers too getting it running are too high for your average ECMAScripter > with only Windows experience. If one of the aims is to collect feedback on, > and > encourage experience with, ES4, then these really need to be lowered. Some of > these barriers include: > > * No link to cygwin on the download page. > * No mention of which options to choose when installing cygwin (just say > "accept the defaults"? Or not? (I already had it installed, so I'm not > sure if the defaults are enough)). > * The Microsoft Windows section on the SML/NJ page links to a zip and > WININSTALL file but, after messing around with that, I figure out it's > not the one to use with cygwin. > * I notice there's also a CYGWININSTALL file linked to on the SML/NJ page > (and it could be clearer about the fact I should use it and then the > Unix download and INSTALL instructions) > * The instructions in CYGWININSTALL assume too much from the perspective of > your average Windows ECMAScripter (what is "binmode", "manpage" and > where and how do you set up a cygwin environment to automatically > "export the environment variable"). > * The contents of the INSTALL file are themselves a barrier to your > average Windows user. > * On following the CYGWININSTALL and then Unix INSTALL instructions I get > the error: > > /usr/share/smlnj/bin/.link-sml: line 45: > /home/jwatt/smlnj/bin/.arch-n-opsys: No such file or directory > : unable to determine architecture/operating system > config/install.sh !!! Boot code failed, no heap image (sml.x86-cygwin). > > And yes, I had SMLNJ_CYGWIN_RUNTIME exported. > > Since I personally have a little cygwin/unix shell experience I could continue > on and try to figure out what I did wrong, but that's besides the point I > think. > Making all these problems go away by providing a native Windows installer > would > be ideal, but until that happens, could someone add step-by-step instructions > for Windows dummies who don't care to experience the pain required to figure > out > how to get things working in a Unix environment? I assuming most ECMAScripters > on Windows fall into this camp. > > Again, thanks for your efforts to make the reference implementation available > to > all, and I hope the above is helpful in that regard. > > Regards, > Jonathan > _______________________________________________ > Es4-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/es4-discuss _______________________________________________ Es4-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/es4-discuss
