windows compilation proposal

Sorry to bring this up here, wasn't sure if a -dev list was the right
place, input gladly accepted.

I have created a c++ wxwindows class, SWIGed it and gotten it working
well under linux, after a number of discussions on this list, it appears
that VC++ is the only practical way of compiling wxPython on windows.
Cheap/poor as I am I actually purchased vc.net _standard_ edition only
to discover that optimization is disabled. This is yielding very bad
performance with all my wxPython apps.

So, not only is VC++ necessary, the Pro edition is necessary, which
means that extending wxPython on win32 platforms will effectively cost
you at least $900 (unless you are a student or something). This seems
like an unfortunate barrier to entry especially for a free software
toolkit.

Based on this, I have two proposals, either one works for me, obviously
#1 is favored:

1. Can I offer to help pay someone to get mingw compilation working for
wxPython (anyone else willing to contribute to a "pot"?) and by working
I mean, working _and_ documented, much like robin has documented the
current win32 build process

2. Can someone who has too much time on their hands offer their services
as a "builder" (for $) or perhaps even setup a semi-public windows
server for folks to compile windows versions of wxPython? (ok, maybe
that is a little silly, licensing probably prohibits it)

again, sorry to bring this up, I know that the VC++ requirement was not
put there for the express purpose of hampering my development, and I
will put my money/time where my mouth is for anyone who can help. I
appreciate all the hard work done by the wxPython folks, I hope I don't
come across as ungrateful.

Thanks,

Mark Roach

Roach, Mark R. wrote:

Based on this, I have two proposals, either one works for me, obviously
#1 is favored:

1. Can I offer to help pay someone to get mingw compilation working for
wxPython (anyone else willing to contribute to a "pot"?) and by working
I mean, working _and_ documented, much like robin has documented the
current win32 build process

Another possibility to consider is the free Borland compiler. It is a faster compiler and won't require hundreds of MB to make the wxWindows DLL. I was given patches to setup.py a long time ago for building with bcc, but I removed them about six months ago because I had not recieved any updates for it and had no simple way of knowing if it still worked and I was cleaning a lot of other crap out of setup.py.

If someone wants to submit setup.py patches and commit to keeping the bcc and/or mingw support working then I'll gladly apply the patch.

ยทยทยท

--
Robin Dunn
Software Craftsman
http://wxPython.org Java give you jitters? Relax with wxPython!