Re: Emacs vista build failures

[Lennart Borgman (gmail)]

Richard M Stallman wrote:
>     Something like a portable mini-bash (with more limited capabilities) 
>     that runs also on w32 and could be used together with w32 programs would 
>     perhaps make this better.
>
> It would be a shame for people that care about free software to spend
> time implementing free software specifically to run on Windows.

Are you sure? What are your arguments? Why can't this be a benefit for 
free software?

As David pointed out this would not be specific to w32. It would rather 
be a tool that we could rely on that we could use everywhere.


IMO relevant tools that are cross-platform can help free software. One 
reason is that we can rely on that they work. Another reason is that we 
can more easily find people who understand those tools.

The last argument is important since most programmers are forced to work 
on w32 in their daily work. If we can give them tools they can use there 
then they can more easily contribute to free software during their free 
time.

I also believe that cross platform knowledge creates new ideas that can 
be really good for free software.

It looks to me there are not that many people who both know w32 and 
GNU/Linux in depth. Cross platform tools will help those who wants to 
get such knowledge.