Hi All,
I'd like to ask group opinion on three platform related
questions:
1) Should we make the DOS platform a "target-only" platform?
This would mean that we continue to support building
DOS apps, but the build process would require a Windows
host, and also creating DOS builds of Harbour would
require a Windows host. We already have similar support
for WinCE, and I think DOS is getting closer to WCE as
usage patterns go (embedded systems). Please read along.
Notes:
- Building Harbour on pure MS-DOS systems probably
doesn't work since long, I'm not sure anybody tested
it in recent years.
- Building DOS apps under MS-DOS currently wouldn't
work with DJGPP, as we're using long lib filenames
due to 'lib' prefix. DJGPP itself also uses long
filenames so I'm not sure if we could even make it
work.
- dos/owatcom can still support building apps under
pure MS-DOS, and regardless of this decision IMO
we should keep it and stay inside the rules which
allow that. Also hbmk2 will support builds in pure
DOS mode. Unfortunately owatcom seems to have some
other problems, but this should be fixed.
Advantages:
- We could simplify build process.
- We could make DOS app creation much easily accessible for user.
- We could remove some limitations regarding distribution,
like download filename, and also allow to use a Windows
installer even for the DOS version.
Disadvantages:
- Some user may still want to use pure MS-DOS to
build Harbour or create apps, f.e. in emulated or
virtual environments on certain OSes.
2) Should I include DOS (DJGPP) libraries in the Windows
unified binary distribution package as an option?
Advantages:
- Ready to use cross-compile DOS environment for users.
Disadvantages:
- Longer package creation time.
- Slightly larger download packages.
3) Should we drop support for *building Harbour* (dos/win/wce
targets) under pre-NT systems (Win9x/WinME)?
Lots of current build features already require Windows NT
shell, so even now the build process is quite incomplete under
old systems, and it hasn't even been tested by anyone (AFAIK).
Advantages:
- We could assume a richer environment, remove
shell version checks and remove old command.com
related parts from our GNU Make system.
Disadvantages:
- User/Developers wishing to build Harbour and still
using Win95/Win98/WinME systems should upgrade to
something newer.
[My vote is yes for all three.]
Brgds,
Viktor
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