Re: Native compilation on Windows, was Re: Bootstrap Compilation Speed

[H. Dieter Wilhelm]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: "H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de>
>> Cc: corwin@bru.st,  emacs-devel@gnu.org,  phillip.lord@russet.org.uk
>> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 12:07:40 +0100
>> 
>> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>> 
>> >> 3. The installer default is "c:\Program Files\Emacs" I think it would be
>> >>    cleaner when the installation tree includes the version number.
>> >
>> > Why?  The Emacs installation tree is designed to accommodate more than
>> > a single Emacs version simultaneously.  Using versioned directories
>> > would mean users need to tweak their PATH each time they install a new
>> > version, which is undesirable and unnecessary.
>> 
>> Stupid me, I meant Emacs' release numbers not "version" numbers!
>> 
>> At the moment Emacs will be installed per default into
>> 
>> c:\
>>   |- Program Files\
>>      |- Emacs
>> 
>> If you intent to install another Emacs release and forget to change the
>> installation directory "Emacs" then - without warning - the new release
>> will be installed over the old one.
>
> No, it won't be installed "over the old one", it will be installed
> _in_addition_to_ the old one.  the old Emacs binary will still be

Ah, I was always wondering why there is an emacs.exe AND an
emacs-27.2.exe. :-)

> available, and all the support files will still be there.

It'll work for the libexec\ and share\ branches.

But I'm afraid, currently, not for all files in the bin\ branch, they'll
be overwritten after a default (side-by-side?)  installation.  For
example runemacs.exe and emacsclient.exe are then only working for the
last installed release.

For Emacs-27 there are more than 150 .exe files, moreover .dll and
scripts in bin\.  Maybe this will work if one is installing ever newer
releases but in the opposite case, I'm not sure..

(But I guess few Windows users intend to run multiple Emacs releases,
just using the latest and greatest.)

By the way.  Would you mind to tell me why an emacsclientw.exe together
with emacsclient.exe is needed and what emacs.pdmp is for?

> Why did you say "over the old one", and what did you think would
> happen when such an installation is done?  I think you might be having
> an inaccurate mental model of what happens when a new Emacs version is
> installed "over the old one".

I admit I had a wrong mental model of Emacs' tree organisation.  I think
all software I'm installing on Windows is using a different
approach. :-) Every release is installed in a separate tree.  So I'm
looking forward to learn the advantages of Emacs' organisation.

Thanks a lot

    Dieter
-- 
Best wishes
H. Dieter Wilhelm
Zwingenberg, Germany