[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: OT: Porting Question

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Wed, 2004-08-18 at 18:46, JR Newsletters wrote:
> Duh, forgot the link:   //http://www.mingw.org/   for the MinGW tools.
> I program on my Linux Box using wxWidgets-2.5.2 (wxGTK & wxMSW) and 
> create my applications, then I just move the source and compile under 
> MinGW using a different make file, and I have the same application on 
> both Linux and Windows platform.  The Cygwin license issue became a 
> problem with us because I had an application that was going to be passed 
> around internally in the company, and perhaps to some client, and the 
> company did not want anybody but us, the software group, to see the 
> source.

Actually, if it only stays internal to the entity that wrote it, the GPL
does not require you to disclose your source.  It only becomes an issue
of source code requireement _if_ you distribute it to any other entity.

> So I converted to MinGW and am very pleased with how it is working.

MinGW is a better solution for porting your own software from Linux for
this and many other reasons.  Because you're already familiar with the
app and can make the modifications necessary for Win32-specifics.

Cygwin is an easier solution when you just want to port something
already existing from Linux now, and don't want to deal with
modification of the app, because the Cygwin.DLL provides a near-verbatim
GNU/POSIX environment.

Of course, there are other solutions as well.  With the adoption of .NET
(supposed at the OS level in NT 7.0 "Blackcomb"), it can't hurt to start
learning VC#.NET (or even VB.NET, which is radically changed from its
piss-poor VB6 and earlier design).

- Don't forget about Mono!

Once you write something in VC#.NET, then porting to/from GTK+ desktops
is cake with Mono.  Even if you use WinForms (with Mono does natively,
along with a dab of WINELIB, note: that's WINELIB, not WINE), although
GTK# is the preferred solution since it runs natively on both GTK+ and
Windows.


-- 
Time to switch: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/switch.html
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Bryan J. Smith                                   b.j.smith at ieee.org