Re: [Mingw-cross-env-list] Congrats - short question.

[Nagaev Boris]

On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 1:23 PM, Jos De Laender <address@hidden> wrote:
>
>
> Op 31/01/2016 om 10:42 schreef Nagaev Boris:
>
>> On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 11:20 AM, Jos De Laender <address@hidden>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Thanks Tony and team !
>>>
>>> Does that analysis match with the x86_64 targets working as expected ?
>>> Can I
>>> rely reasonably on such build ?
>>>
>>> Can I address also a totally different minor point but which I believe is
>>> nevertheless very confusing for people like me who are just using your
>>> toolchain without being familiar with all the stuff behind it. It was
>>> only
>>> by trial and error I found out that x86_64 generates* Windows64 (PE32+)
>>> executables and that i686* generates Windows32 (PE32) executables. My
>>> initial understanding based on Google searches was that the first element
>>> of
>>> the triplet indicates the platform on which the compiler is running (and
>>> you
>>> could imagine generating PE32/PE32+ as well on i686 as on x86_64). So
>>> that's
>>> where I got pretty confused. I would like to suggest you getting a table
>>> in
>>> the documentation that clearly indicates what is the meaning of all the
>>> triplet stuff you are using and what's the practical use. (I guess that
>>> your
>>> users either are running on i686 either on x86_64 and want to generate
>>> either PE32 or PE32+. In both cases static or shared. So the list
>>> shouldn't
>>> be longer than 8 entries ?)
>>
>> Actually, there are 3 triplets in MXE:
>>
>>   * BUILD, e.g. x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.
>>   * HOST, e.g. x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.
>>   * TARGET, e.g., i686-w64-mingw32.static
>>
>> All of them are in form of cpu-vendor-os.
>>
>> BUILD describes the machine which builds the cross-compiler, HOST is
>> the machine on which the cross-compiler works (in case of MXE
>> BUILD=HOST). TARGET describes where the result of cross-compilation is
>> supposed to run.
>>
>> See also
>> https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.69/html_node/Specifying-Target-Triplets.html
>>
>>
>
> Actually I seem to understand that.
> The point is however this 'i686-w64-mingw32'  stuff is on your documentation
> described as 'Host Triplet'.
> In the Makefile again it is described as MXE_TARGETS, consistent with your
> explanation.
> Is BUILD/HOST somewhere relevant anyway ?
> And then there's this w64-mingw32, I understand meanwhile where it is coming
> from, but which add to my confusion.
> It appears to me that unless clearly and explicitly documented with an end
> user in mind, this is going to stay confusing for newbies just wanting to
> use.
> Probably it could be as simple as documenting:
>
> <start suggestion>
>
> - You want a 64 bit Windows executable , statically linked into one big
> executable : use MXE_TARGET x86_64-w64-mingw32.static
> - You want a 64 bit Windows executable , splitted in an executable and
> dependant dlls : use MXE_TARGET x86_64-w64-mingw32.shared
> - You want a 32 bit Windows executable , statically linked into one big
> executable : use MXE_TARGET i686-w64-mingw32.static
> - You want a 32 bit Windows executable , splitted in an executable and
> dependant dlls : use MXE_TARGET i686-w64-mingw32.shared

+1 for this

> Remark 1 : the 'w64-mingw32' in those names are left-overs from historical
> evolutions in the open source cross-compilation world and refer in no way to
> the result being 64 or 32 bit windows.

+1 for this,

> Remark 2 : unless you are developing GPL open source you will want to use
> the shared build in order to avoid (L)GPL violations.  Having said that,
> licensing is complex business and a static build can violate licenses even
> if you are releasing under the GPL. The same goes for shared builds, but
> your odds are better.

-1 for this. Static builds are convenient to distribute. AFAIK,
static/shared linking doesn't matter for (L)GPL, if you provide
sources or object files.

>
> <end suggestion>
>
> Many thanks,
>
>
>
> --
> Jos De Laender
>
> http://www.jodela.be
> https://www.de-laender.be:9961
>
>
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-- 


Best regards,
Boris Nagaev