From: "Hal E. Fulton" <hal9000@...>
Date: 2002-06-28T12:39:52+09:00
Subject: Re: help (ruby-talk ML)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Thomas" <Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 1:14 PM
Subject: Re: help (ruby-talk ML)


> "Lyle Johnson" <jlj@cfdrc.com> writes:
>
> > I guess the question (which has come up before) is what really needs to
be
> > "fixed" in the Ruby core for Windows. I'm all for new and improved
extension
> > modules that make Ruby-on-Windows more powerful, but by definition those
> > don't require modifications to the core. The only problem that
immediately
> > comes to mind is the "quirky" behavior of Ruby threads on Windows, and
I'm
> > not sure that anyone's nailed that one down conclusively.
>
> Threading is the big one. Then there's also the strange subprocess
> handling: last time I tried it, accessing $? after calling system()
> threw an exception, for example. Handling of built-in commands also
> used to be problematic.
>
> I also see problems with the networking code: webrick keeps crashing
> for me under windows.
>
> In general, Ruby under Windows is not as stable or as reliable as
> under Unix. If someone were to take charge, they could work on
> building the bug list.

FWIW, I've seen these problems also:
1. Tried to run something and got a NotImplemented exception saying
that fork() was not implemented on this platform. (!) This was
probably the first time I'd tried to do a fork on Windows using the
non-Cygwin Ruby. We've also lost popen, haven't we?

2. No matter the version of Ruby (on Windows) I see it hang from
time to time (on exit). This is chiefly (only?) when doing GUI work
-- Tk or FXRuby, doesn't matter (GTK? Can't recall). My workaround is:
a. kill the DOS window;
b. hit YES, I really want to kill it;
c. Ctl-alt-del, scroll down to Winoldap; hit End Task
d. Wait a few seconds, get a dialog saying the task is unwell
e. Hit End Task
f. Open a new DOS window

Not to [re]open a can of worms, but exactly why did we move away
from the Cygwin version? I realize we have reduced dependence on
an outside entity, but have we broken more than we fixed? Did the
threading problem happen on the Cygwin Ruby?

On a related note: Are there instructions for building Ruby on
Windows? I never got it to work with djgpp. I'd be willing to
try it with VC++, but I'd like to see at least minimal docs
first. Maybe they're there and I just haven't noticed them.

And another thought: How well does Rubicon work on Windows? The
last time I tried it, there were some (fixable) problems. This
tool is IMO too important to be just the plaything of its creator
(Dave?) -- I think the community should get behind it, on every
platform.

Enough rambling from me.

Cheers,
Hal Fulton