From: Lyle Johnson <lyle@...>
Date: 2003-02-13T06:25:31+09:00
Subject: Re: Windows support

Daniel Carrera wrote:

> Suppose I write a Ruby module with some C code in it.  This is no problem 
> under Unix, Linux and Mac, but it makes things harder under Windows.  What 
> is the best way to support Windows?

I think the number one recommendation is to rovide precompiled binaries 
for your Windows users, preferably in a standard Windows installer 
executable.

> On a related note:
> 
> 1) Does Microsoft's Visual C++ provide a 'make' program?

Yes, but it's called "nmake". There are also some differences between 
GNU make's Makefile format (rules, etc.) and Microsoft's -- not sure if 
those differences are documented anywhere, though.

> 2) Does Cygwin or MinGW provide a 'make' and gcc that can be used like the Linux ones?

Yes, both the Cygwin project and MinGW provide ports of GNU make.

> What's the difference between Cygwin and MinGW?

For a brief description of MinGW, see:

     http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?MinGW

and of course the MinGW home page (http://www.mingw.org).

> 3) What other C compilers should I support?

For Windows? Seems like those three should cover it.