I am a prc-tools user, using it predominantly on Unix (which is where it originated).
On the 5.0 SDK download page, http://www.palmos.com/cgi-bin/sdk50.cgi, it says The Palm OS� SDK version 5.0 is a set of libraries and headers for building applications for Palm Powered� handhelds. [... mentions CodeWarrior ...] There is also PRC-Tools, a free development environment that is supported by Palm and based on GCC. [...] Palm OS SDK 5.0 for CodeWarrior and/or PRC-Tools ["Non-installer based" downloads for Windows and Mac OS] Palm OS SDK 5.0 for CodeWarrior and/or PRC-Tools The Windows installer supports both CodeWarrior and PRC-Tools. [Installer-based downloads for Windows and Mac OS] Unlike previous SDKs, there is no version packaged for Unix -- neither a raw archive nor an installer (RPM, say, as with the 4.0 SDK). I tried the Windows non-installer one, but it did not work on Unix without modification. Furthermore, the ReadMe enclosed in the 5.0 SDK says This release of the SDK does not provide any support for the GCC development tools for Palm OS. GCC-specific components have not been updated for this release. SDK 4.0 Update 1 should be used for development under Linux and for using GCC on Windows. I am confused. There is a discrepancy between the Web page ("PRC-Tools [...] supported by Palm", "Palm OS SDK 5.0 for CodeWarrior **and/or PRC-Tools**") and the ReadMe. I hope someone from Palm or PalmSource will explain this discrepancy. What does it mean for Palm to support prc-tools if their SDKs do not support "the GCC development tools"? The ReadMe suggests continuing to use the 4.0 SDK Update 1, but this isn't realistic. I don't want to write just Palm OS 4.0 applications; I want to write exciting new Palm OS 5.0 applications using high density graphics, ARMlets, and the new sound streams! The 5.0 headers do in fact appear to work with GCC. There is additional pain on Unix: you seem to be able to use the Windows headers, but, at minimum, you must convert the line termination and rename ImcUtils.h. It would be useful if someone from Palm confirmed that these changes are sufficient, or told us what else we need to do. The real problem is the lack of link libraries, which are an integral part of the SDK, as noted in the first line (quoted above) of the Web page. There is no "GCC Libraries" alongside "CodeWarrior Libraries" in "Palm OS Support", at least in the non-installer Windows archive that I have looked at. The Web page explicitly says that the *Windows installer* version supports PRC-Tools -- does it contain the GCC link libraries? The most interesting link library is of course PalmOSGlue. The PalmOSGlue headers have not changed at all between the 4.0update1 and 5.0 SDKs -- in particular, no new glue functions have been added --, so it might be viable (albeit inconvenient) to use 4.0update1's libPalmOSGlue.a. But it might be that some of the implementations of the glue functions in the library have changed since 4.0update1, e.g., perhaps because functionality that was entirely glue in the 4.0update1 time-frame can now be implemented by a call to a new API function on Palm OS 5. If this were the case, applications compiled against 4.0update1's PalmOSGlue library would lose functionality or not even work on Palm OS 5. Do any of the implementations of the glue functions in the 5.0 SDK differ from those in the 4.0 SDK Update 1? John -- For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/
