Timeline for Why don't some open source libraries provide binaries?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 17, 2011 at 21:18 | comment | added | user8709 | @F'x - and that means you don't need time to experiment getting a build environment to support multiple compilers and targets right, does it? More tools always means more complexity, more experimenting getting things set up, etc. Obviously a gcc cross compiler can robustly target Windows from Linux - since MinGW gcc is robust, that's not a surprise - but it doesn't mean using it will be trivial. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 19:31 | comment | added | David Thornley | @gbjbaanb: Not everybody has a Windows installation, let alone a compiler. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 19:21 | comment | added | CodesInChaos | On Linux you usually have a working c compiler installed and configured and you usually get a way with simply calling the makefile. But I'm mainly talking from the PoV of a windows user/developer. And not every developer is a c developer either. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 19:15 | comment | added | F'x | @Steve314: Linux-Windows cross-compilers are robust real-world tools, not a far-fetched research topic. They just work. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 19:08 | comment | added | phaylon | They can be binaries, but since they're mostly aimed at developers, I can understand them not providing their own binaries. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 19:07 | comment | added | S.Lott | @CodeInChaos: Linux doesn't use .dll very often, so those binaries would be largely useless to some of us. Pure source would be better. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 19:02 | comment | added | CodesInChaos | A library can have binaries too, namely dlls. Often I don't have the compiler (installed) nor the dependencies to build the original library. So like getting binaries, even for libraries. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 18:59 | comment | added | gbjbaanb | @Steve314: Everyone has a Windows compiler - either the open source gcc, or the free Visual Studio Express. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 18:56 | comment | added | user8709 | +1 especially "don't have the resources". Difficult to provide a tested Windows build if you don't have a license for Windows, don't have a Windows compiler (or time to experiment with cross compilers), etc. | |
| May 17, 2011 at 18:41 | history | answered | phaylon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |