RE: autoconf in pure MSVC environment?

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Russ Allbery wrote:
>
> Perhaps this is the best question to ask (I don't know the answer, not
> being familiar at all with Windows programming):  Does the
> basic Autoconf
> model of generating a script that writes out small programs and then
> seeing if they'll compile and/or run and produce correct results make
> sense as a probe mechanism on Windows?  Autoconf uses the
> compiler as it's
> primary and nearly it's only probe into the configuration of
> the system,
> and if that paradigm works on Windows, maybe it will be a
> good tool for Windows porting.

Yes, compiling small test probes is valid on Windows.  The programming
tools aren't an alien species, they just have GUI front ends and
different different directory names and compiler command flags and so
forth.  Cosmetic differences, at least at the level of simple test
probes.  Especially, given that most projects people would consider
porting are already somewhat portable by design.

> If Windows prefers other techniques to establish the
> configuration of the
> system (querying the registry, checking the OS version, running other
> programs, I don't know what), then Autoconf may not work very
> well, since
> Autoconf really wants to establish all or nearly all of its
> knowledge by
> running the compiler and observing its behavior.

OS version is controlled by compiler flags on Windows.

Querying the registry is not needed for *portable* things.  If you're
querying the registry, you're doing native Windows development, not
porting from UNIX.  Of course, if the goal is to make Windows programs
use autoconf and then port over to *UNIX* (don't laugh too hard, it
could happen someday!) maybe it would become an issue.  That's not this
epoch in history, however.  Microsoft needs to shake at the knees much
harder before that becomes a business model they're concerned with, and
hence what mainstream Windows developers are concerned with.

Even if you did need to query the registry for something, the answer is
someone would have to provide their own *.c test program to do that.
Hardly an unreasonable user extension to Autoconf functionality.


Cheers,                     www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every           Seattle, WA

"The pioneer is the one with the arrows in his back."
                          - anonymous entrepreneur