It isn't that it is all that hard to get a version that runs on windows. If you have cygwin installed, you are pretty much good to go (you may have to add some packages).
The really hard part is to give your resulting executable to anybody else and expect them to run it. THAT is hard. On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 12:28 PM, Michael Greene <[email protected]>wrote: > I don't know *why* it's a hassle, but it is. It's just a pain to set up. > I'm not sure exactly why I can't build it with whatever build environment I > want, that's a good point. Most of what I know about MinGW and MSYS comes > from trying to get Thrift to work smoothly for me, and I've never been able > to figure out how to generate a flex lib that VC++ can link. > > Additionally, I follow roughly the same instructions each time (those on > the > wiki) but there are usually weeks between setting up different systems for > development internally here, and each time it's magic whether it works for > me in the first hour or not (or whether I give up). I realize this is > vague > and sounds like an ignorant response, but I've been working with Thrift for > awhile and this describes my experience on Windows. Based on the many > messages on the lists and IRC, it's clear that others have difficulty as > well. > > On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 10:14 PM, David Reiss <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Why is it such a hassle? Why can't you build it with whatever > > build environment you want? > > > > Michael Greene wrote: > > > David Reiss <[email protected]> wrote: > > >>> Right now, we can't do Windows because it's *impossible* for our code > > >>> to run on that architecture due to lack of libraries. Any other > > >>> language that runs well on a lot of platforms (Java, Ruby, Python...) > > >>> would be fine if our only goal is cross-platform capabilities. > > >> I don't understand. Haven't people already built the compiler on > > >> Windows? > > >> > > > > > > Yes, people have already built the compiler on Windows. It's my > > > primary development platform. However, it is a huge hassle. Both of > > > the building options require some form of POSIX emulation for the > > > build environment (whether Cygwin or MinGW) and getting the > > > dependencies right to prevent this environment being required in the > > > resulting executable is a bit of magic. Each time I get the toolchain > > > setup on a new Windows system I always screw something up in the > > > process, and half the time end up leaving the Cygwin dependency out of > > > convenience, since most of the time I only need to generate code and > > > don't need to distribute the artifacts. It's comparable to the > > > compiler requiring Wine to build in *NIX environments, and practically > > > requiring Wine to run in *NIX environments. > > > > > > Garrett, I have also been toying with Python generation. I'd > > > appreciate a ping if you get to any substantial milestone or even a > > > plateau with code. > > > > > > Michael > > > -- Ted Dunning, CTO DeepDyve 111 West Evelyn Ave. Ste. 202 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 www.deepdyve.com 408-773-0110 ext. 738 858-414-0013 (m) 408-773-0220 (fax)
