I've been running the new Strawberry Perl alpha 2 for 24 hours now.
I have to say it feels terribly "done", and most of the credit goes to David Golden for working on it so consistently to get it to this point.
CPAN::Reporter feels a little clunky to get set up still, but it works properly and I'm already sending off streams of reports as I reinstall my normal modules. And with the optional author CC feature, this time around I can automate the emails to bug authors to fix their one last tiny bug so we can get them green on Win32.
The irc.perl.org #win32 team continues to test and track various high-use CPAN modules. And if you happen to have co-maint on one of the major modules we are tracking, we'd really appreciate it if you could take a look at the Vanilla Problem Modules page and see if you can resolve the problem. Most of the bugs are tiny and easily fixed, if you can find a tuit.
The Win32 CPAN Most Wanted Modules
(broken, blocking stuff, looks trivial to fix)
1. DBD::SQLite - Blocking JSAN/Maypole/Siesta
2. Template - Blocking Catalyst
3. IPC::Run - Blocking CPANPLUS
4. Time::Piece - Blocking Email::*
5. File::chdir - Blocking SVK
6. Test::WWW::Mechanize - Blocking SVN::Web/Rubric
Re:Other compilers
ferreira on 2006-08-30T19:55:54
Just out of curiosity, did you ever consider bundling some version of MS VC++?You're kidding, right? MS changes his mind faster than open source can track and may be really inconvenient to make arrangements with. It is annoying as Oracle - have you tried the hassle of installing DBD::Oracle via ppm with ActiveState Perl? Read the license, agree, download 18M, something went bad, do it all again, and have fun. I think that's their lemma.
Re:Other compilers
djberg96 on 2006-08-30T21:27:29
No, I'm not kidding. I've got it on good authority that MinGW does not work on 64 bit Windows, and it doesn't look like it will anytime soon. What happens to those users?Re:Other compilers
Alias on 2006-08-31T01:38:02
I'd like to see more evidence of this before changing anything, like reports some people that have actually tried it, or mailing list entries, or something more concrete than hearsay.
FWIW, I've got Vista installed here on my flatmate's laptop, and everything seems to work just fine. I can't say if it's running in 32 or 64 bit mode though.
Do you have any details on the "doesn't work and won't any time soon"?
The big problem with the Microsoft stuff is that it isn't open source, we have very little control over it. Also, I just found the following on a website that tracks Win32 C compilers.
It's also HUGE. On top of the compiler, you also need the platform SDK, which is anywhere up to a gigabyte once unpacked, and requires a seperate installation process. And so on, and so forth. Making people install all this stuff seperately is a nightmare, and everybody hates it.
The current setup means ordinary Perl users who aren't familiar with C at all can just download one file, and then install a complete working Perl setup in about 15 seconds.
This is what people really love. That there is only two steps. 1. Download installer 2. Run installer. No seperate instructions, no "Grab this from Microsoft's website", and no need to think. It Just Works.
And frankly, I have little interest in talking to a commercial company about redistribution deal unless I absolutely have to, because I have better things to do than deal with legal/commercial overheads for something I don't make any money from.
But your comment about 64 bit does have me interested, and I shall test it and see the first chance I get.
Re:Other compilers
Alias on 2006-08-31T01:42:31
Ignore "Also, I just found the following on a website that tracks Win32 C compilers."
I had found a comment on Visual C Express, and realised it was wrong, since you can get just the compiler.Re:Other compilers
djberg96 on 2006-08-31T02:25:48
I'm not arguing with regards to size and convenience - I understand you concerns.Regarding the 64 bit issue, I'm taking the word of Austin Ziegler, who has had to deal with these issues for Ruby and Windows. He's gone down the MinGW road and gave up. Now that I've re-read his post, though, he does admit that he hasn't tried for a while.
However, it's certainly worth checking out. If it does turn out to support 64 bit platforms (or not), that would prove to be useful information either way.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/msg/e75b755c4ff3b7a6
Re:Other compilers
Alias on 2006-08-31T03:27:24
I've done a bit of research on this problem, and from what I can see it's not impossible, merely a case of tuits, and it not being enough of a priority for enough people yet.
Looking at all the comments, I think there just isn't enough pressure yet. And part of that is my "WinXP 64 bit is shite" feeling.
So my suspicion is that as soon as Vista comes out, the pressure for 64 bit support will become huge, and by the looks there are so many large projects using MinGW now, that there will be enough people looking at it more closely to brute force their way past the problem.
So I'm not too concerned, I think that when there's enough need for it, it will happen on it's own without any need for us to worry.
