Re: [Tinycc-devel] Re: TCC:cannot find -l"xyz.dll"

[lostgallifreyan]

grischka <address@hidden> wrote:
(06/04/2009 19:48)

>> Separating Windows info from the rest I don't know about.. Might 
>> be less daunting to make transitions if instead those things common
>> to all are placed first, to ease later changes. I think the
>> simplification of the quick start examples has implications for
>> stuff like paths. It's ok to let Windows and Linux users be expected
>> to figure out how their own system paths work, but also it is
>> worth directly stating, very early, that TCC can be passed to Windows
>> by a DOS path, but that things should be passed to TCC by quoted
>> full long name paths. That assertion would save a lot of time for
>> newcomers. Trust me,
>
>No, I don't trust you.  I just type
>
>       tcc hello_win.c
>
>and it works.  Why should we recommend horrible stuff like
>"DOS path" and "quoted full long name paths" to newcomers?
>

Because that is what works in Windows. If it shouldn't be said as a general 
thing, it can still be pointed out in a Windows specific place. That's what I 
said 'trust me' about anyway, not the point you answered. If Windows specific 
stuff is put deep in the file under a heading that might not be obvious to 
start with, that should be signposted early.

In Windows it's common practise to drag a file to a DOS window, where the file 
path will write to the input. This might work for TCC's command input too in 
WXP, I don't know, but not in W9X, and neither OS uses case sensitivity in 
paths. Most command line tools for Windows work around this, TCC doesn't, so 
it's reasonable to expect that this is pointed out somewhere. The simplest way 
is to stress the need for full, case sensitive quoted paths, as that's the 
standard way Windows users are told, from what I've seen over the last ten 
years or so.

If the basic starting methods for TCC are explicitly described for Windows, the 
sooner newcomers can fire it up and the sooner we can be expected to figure out 
what are our own errors. Until it runs and compiles something, all bets are 
off, from our point of view. I'm not asking for free fish, only a guide to get 
immediately experience of a working rod.


>> "5.3 PE-i386 file generation" is not the first place a Windows 
>> newcomer is likely to look. :) The place to hook our attention to
>> it is the first point in Quick Start where a command has implications
>> specific to Windows. That signpost can be placed very early though,
>> along with a remark about paths to and for TCC.