Thank you all for your helpful feedback.
I was trying to pre-empt any unhelpful comments along the lines of "if it
doesn't work on Windows, it's useless", so hopefully this thread will serve
as a useful reference to anyone asking the question in the future. It's
certainly useful to be aware of the extra effort the Subversion developers
go to make it available for Windows, and I'd also like to say that the end
result works really well -- so thanks!
I'd certainly have been interested in helping if (a) I had the time, and (b)
I had the compiler. So, given it's free, I'm not complaining!
BTW, when I was referring to a "feature", I was thinking of "mod_authz_svn
now works with SVNParentPath (issue #1588)". That's a bugfix that I'd
certainly like to have :)
< o t >
I personally plan to do more work with *nix platforms, but I need either a
spare computer or VMWare, and some free time to figure out how to get things
working properly; there's no point in me trying to set up software on a
platform I don't fully understand, esp. WRT security. I'm in the situation
where -- driven by customer requirements -- I need a Windows platform here
:(, so not being lazy about things.
< / o t >
- Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: John Peacock [mailto:jpeacock@rowman.com]
Sent: 24 March 2004 14:03
To: Christopher Brown
Cc: users@subversion.tigris.org
Subject: Re: FW: Subversion 1.0.1 Win32 version
Christopher Brown wrote:
>
> I think perhaps that Windows users are simply unclear as to why a
> binary version has not been released for this platform, and most
> importantly, why there's no idea about when this might be available.
This is a volunteer operation. The person who normally does the Win32 build
is busy, and no one else has managed to get it done. If it were easy to do,
someone would have done it. Although Subversion /can/ be built under Win32,
it is still a primarily *nix application and there are significantly
different requirements (and dependencies).
>
> The Windows installer issue is a little different, as it does require
> an expensive software package (VC++) to build, so not everyone who
> would like to build it can build it.
Both the base package and the installer require VC++, so this argument is
specious. Once the Win32 binary package is available, it is actually pretty
easy to do the installer (in the grand scheme).
> Perhaps if it's so easy to build, some users are confused as to why
> the appointed release manager has taken over a week to do so.
It's not easy to build _on Win32_, that's the problem.
> After all, 1.0.1 is supposed to add features and fix bugs, so perhaps
> lots of people aren't wanting to waste their time installing something
> only to reinstall the upgrade shortly after.
1.0.1 does not add any features; it is strictly a bugfix (those are the
project rules). My suggestion is that unless one of the fixes in 1.0.1 is
specific to your needs, 1.0.0 is fine to install. The upgrade is trivial
(it doesn't involve anything except replacing the binaries).
Perhaps the undercurrent of resentment/hostility that you are seeing is
reflected by the fact that there have been a number of postings from Win32
user which have been, shall we say, demanding. There is always a tension
between
Win32 users, who appear (to me at least) to believe that if it isn't
available for Windows it is a _serious problem_, and the fact that the
majority of developers of Subversion use *nix primarily. So the number of
people who are capable of building for a foreign platform (Win32) is already
much smaller; if one of those is out of action for a while, that is a very
significant percentage of the available talent.
John
--
John Peacock
Director of Information Research and Technology Rowman & Littlefield
Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Boulevard
Suite H
Lanham, MD 20706
301-459-3366 x.5010
fax 301-429-5748
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Received on Wed Mar 24 15:17:17 2004