[Grok-dev] Windows install troubles (again!)

[Behrang Dadsetan]

Hi,

2009/4/9 Uli Fouquet <uli at gnufix.de>:
> Hi there,
>
> I guess that's the environment we want to have generally available, if
> proprietary tools are really necessary (I read somewhere, that some
> packages do not cope with gcc/mingw/cygwin; is that true?). Hopefully
> snakebite.org can help us there a bit.

I might have given the impression of being an experienced
cross-platform developer. This is not the case. I mostly work on
high-level code in C++. While I do develop for Windows as well it
hardly makes me a Windows expert either.

However, reading from documentation of diverse modules, I found most
python third-party libraries in C/C++ (meant for cross-platform use)
were compilable with gcc/mingw. There is indeed a few (only win32all
comes to mind) that require Microsoft Visual C++ and other bits. I am
not sure why this is the case. I guess most of the time those
libraries take advantage of the platform more than mingw/cygwin would
allow it.

> Maybe you can put it on
>
>  http://wiki.zope.org/grok/WindowsSupportPlans
>
> and we could collect ideas/pointers/problems there.

Yes, I think it makes more sense to put it down in a wiki form and/or
traceable bugs/feature requests. I made a first draft for that wiki
page.

<snip about packages to include>
> Yep, maybe one should also include at least some of the megrok.*
> packages? As I am a complete windows newbie, I just trust your list of
> needed components until I've tried myself.

We will need to discuss this. I do not think it will really be a
question only about the Windows installer. The question should be:
What packages should be included for any platform for new starters?

I feel this has a different audience than experienced grok users that
would use buildout anyway. For new starters, we could package some
megrok.* and build the tutorial around that "packaging" decision.

> Note, however, that building installers will most likely be the last
> step. We might should start with finding out, where and why
> installations on windows usually hang.

I agree we have some problems that should be resolved before an
installer gets out. But I am also convinced packaging will resolve
some problems.
Buildout is supposed to help build in a reproducible fashion but
assumes people have all "pre-requisites" in the way it wants it.
Having pre-packaged installers will really set a narrow path people
use to start with and problems can be diagnosed easier by the
community.

Ben.
PS: I have snipped a fair share of previous mails. I hope I have not
disfigured the context of Uli's words.