Re: [Mingw-cross-env-list] Xerces library problem

[tek]

On 07/11/2010 02:10 PM, Volker Grabsch wrote:
> > I just wonder: is something broken in mingw-cross-env with Xerces or did
> > I miss something?
> >      
> On my Debian 64-bit system Xerces is built correctly:
>
> $ ls -l usr/i686-pc-mingw32/lib/libxerces-c.*
> -rw-r--r-- 1 vog vog 35907988 Jun 16 01:33 usr/i686-pc-mingw32/lib/libxerces-c.a
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 vog vog     1380 Jun 16 01:33 
> usr/i686-pc-mingw32/lib/libxerces-c.la
>
>
> I'm also actively using Xerces in a project, and it works flawlessly.
> Please check whether your system meets the requirements:
>
>      http://mingw-cross-env.nongnu.org/#requirements
>    

Ok. I'm sorry, I really should have done it before posting here :( I was 
effectively missing some packages, but it did not resolve the issue.

> Also, please tell us what system exactly you are using, and send your
> complete "log/xerces" to us (compressed). That allows us to compare
> your log with the logs of a successful build, making subtle differences
> easier to spot.
>    
$ uname -a
Linux pulsar 2.6.30-1-amd64 #1 SMP Sat Aug 15 21:08:31 UTC 2009 x86_64 
GNU/Linux

Please note that even though my system is 64 bits, when I download 
binary distributions, I usually take 32 bits versions because 64 bits 
ones never work (as far as I tested it). I did not investigate this 
issue yet. I suppose it's not relevant here, but I prefer to make you know.

My compressed Xerces log is 40Ko. I know it's nothing, but I fear the 
risk of bothering anyone, so in doubt I uploaded it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?lyvt2zzmwfy

> > My project also makes intensive use of SDL without
> > problems (well, at least no error reported about it either in
> > mingw-cross-env and my project link time) and OpenGL with minor problems
> > (it mostly has to do with GL shader calls, I'll deal with it in time).
> >      
> In case you have any fixes to the header files, feel free to
> contribute them to the MinGW and MinGW-w64 projects.
>    

TBH, I usually never touch 3rd party headers. Concerning OpenGL, for 
instance I only had to make a dummy mesa_wgl.h as my project 
cross-compilation tries to include it (from <gl.h>). I guess it's a 
Windows specific header and that it may be an issue later, so I just 
made note of it somewhere. It is ok for now.

> > My second question is: do you think I should use the Debian package
> > mingw32 instead of mingw-cross-env? Are there some drawbacks (besides
> > the fact I would have to deal manually with a few builds)?
> >      
> I recommend to give Mingw-cross-env a try, because that way many
> people will profit from your improvements to e.g. the Xerces build
> script.
>
> However, even if you build Xerces "by hand", it would be great if
> you'd provide your exact build commands to us. Those might help us
> to fix our Xerces build script.
>    

Whatever, once I make it work, I'll let you know what I did, promess.

> There are essentially two alternatives to Mingw-cross-env.
>
> First, the SuSE build system seems to provide mingw32 cross compilers
> as well as ports of many libraries. I haven't tried it myself, and I
> don't know which libraries they support. If you are interested in that,
> the people on the MinGW-users mailing list might help you.
>    

I take note. But I don't plan to use another Linux distribution for 
long. I use Debian for everything I do since a year now and I would 
really like to stick with it.

> (There is also a Debian win32 cross-compiling project, but it doesn't
> work well. I originally tried to base Mingw-cross-env on dpkg-cross,
> but I had to add special cases for Windows at all edges and corners,
> so I gave and and simply put them into a separate script - and
> Mingw-cross-env was born.)
>
> Second, you could try to compile them natively, using Wine or a native
> Windows system. In fact I considered basing Mingw-cross-env on Wine
> rather than cross compilers, but I decided not to go that route, for
> performance reasons as well as to be independent of big packages like
> Wine. That way you can abvoid many cross-compiling specific issues,
> but in your concrete case I guess something else went wrong.
>    

Yes, I first though about using native methods with MSYS/Mingw (as I 
already experienced it in the past on a Win32 OS), but finally, I did 
not because:

- I wanted to experiment with cross-compiling (never done it before)
- I have no deadline for this project
- It seems so much more confortable in the end. The less I boot a 
Windows OS, the happier I am (especially when it is about programming 
stuffs).

I knew that cross-compiling was more trouble in the first place, so I'm 
not surprised at all, don't worry :)

Ho, and thanks a lot for your help!

Regards.