Re: [Mingw-cross-env-list] Congrats - short question.

[Jos De Laender]

Op 31/01/2016 om 10:42 schreef Nagaev Boris:
> On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 11:20 AM, Jos De Laender <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Thanks Tony and team !
> >
> > Does that analysis match with the x86_64 targets working as expected ? Can I
> > rely reasonably on such build ?
> >
> > Can I address also a totally different minor point but which I believe is
> > nevertheless very confusing for people like me who are just using your
> > toolchain without being familiar with all the stuff behind it. It was only
> > by trial and error I found out that x86_64 generates* Windows64 (PE32+)
> > executables and that i686* generates Windows32 (PE32) executables. My
> > initial understanding based on Google searches was that the first element of
> > the triplet indicates the platform on which the compiler is running (and you
> > could imagine generating PE32/PE32+ as well on i686 as on x86_64). So that's
> > where I got pretty confused. I would like to suggest you getting a table in
> > the documentation that clearly indicates what is the meaning of all the
> > triplet stuff you are using and what's the practical use. (I guess that your
> > users either are running on i686 either on x86_64 and want to generate
> > either PE32 or PE32+. In both cases static or shared. So the list shouldn't
> > be longer than 8 entries ?)
> Actually, there are 3 triplets in MXE:
>
>   * BUILD, e.g. x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.
>   * HOST, e.g. x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.
>   * TARGET, e.g., i686-w64-mingw32.static
>
> All of them are in form of cpu-vendor-os.
>
> BUILD describes the machine which builds the cross-compiler, HOST is
> the machine on which the cross-compiler works (in case of MXE
> BUILD=HOST). TARGET describes where the result of cross-compilation is
> supposed to run.
>
> See also 
> https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.69/html_node/Specifying-Target-Triplets.html

Actually I seem to understand that.
The point is however this 'i686-w64-mingw32'  stuff is on your 
documentation described as 'Host Triplet'.
In the Makefile again it is described as MXE_TARGETS, consistent with 
your explanation.
Is BUILD/HOST somewhere relevant anyway ?
And then there's this w64-mingw32, I understand meanwhile where it is 
coming from, but which add to my confusion.
It appears to me that unless clearly and explicitly documented with an 
end user in mind, this is going to stay confusing for newbies just 
wanting to use.
Probably it could be as simple as documenting:

<start suggestion>

- You want a 64 bit Windows executable , statically linked into one big 
executable : use MXE_TARGET x86_64-w64-mingw32.static
- You want a 64 bit Windows executable , splitted in an executable and 
dependant dlls : use MXE_TARGET x86_64-w64-mingw32.shared
- You want a 32 bit Windows executable , statically linked into one big 
executable : use MXE_TARGET i686-w64-mingw32.static
- You want a 32 bit Windows executable , splitted in an executable and 
dependant dlls : use MXE_TARGET i686-w64-mingw32.shared

Remark 1 : the 'w64-mingw32' in those names are left-overs from 
historical evolutions in the open source cross-compilation world and 
refer in no way to the result being 64 or 32 bit windows.

Remark 2 : unless you are developing GPL open source you will want to 
use the shared build in order to avoid (L)GPL violations.  Having said 
that, licensing is complex business and a static build can violate 
licenses even if you are releasing under the GPL. The same goes for 
shared builds, but your odds are better.

<end suggestion>

Many thanks,


--
Jos De Laender

http://www.jodela.be
https://www.de-laender.be:9961


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