Win32 vs Gnu-Win32

["Paul Garceau" <pgarceau@teleport.com>]

Greetings,

	
	This is more of an FYI than anything else.  If you are using, or plan on 
using a gnu-win32 compiler for your CS build then this is for you.

	If you are not going to be using Gnu-Win32 then you may as well ignore 
this email, since it is specific to Gnu-Win32.

	Gnu-Win32 is a Win32 compatible, publicly available build environment.  
There are several variations on what is considered "Gnu-Win32", at least 
there was up until today, when Mumit Khan released EGCS-1.1, the very 
latest in publicly available Gnu-Win32 tool kits.

	Since the Win32 API has been around for quite some time and DirectX 
is a subset of the Win32 API (ie. DirectX requires Win32 in order to function 
properly) it has become the basis for the standard, Gnu-Win32 build 
environments that currently exist.

	Available Gnu-Win32 API sets:

		There are several API sets available, also within the publicly 
available arena (eg GPL/LGPL), they are:

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, items surrounded by parens '(', are 
references to systems that the various APIs have been tested on.

	DirectX5 (Win95 only -- Currently being ported/tested for NT4 CS* builds)
	OpenGL emulators (Win95, NT4/5, Linux, Unix-variants)
	UWIN(Unix-Win32/Win95/NT4/NT5/Linux/Unix-variants)
	OpenGL-GLUT emulators (Win95,WinNT4,NT5,Linux,Unix-variants)
	Mesa 3D Graphics Library (Linux/Unix-variants/MSVC&C++)

*For those reading this at penguinplay and linuxgames CS stands for the 
CrystalSpace 3D Engine

Win32 Build Environments/compilers/tool-sets:

	Mingw32 (Minimalist Win32 for native windows/win32 builds)
	GCC/++-2.8.1
	GCC/++2 or gcc2
	Cygwin32
	EGCS-1.1
	EGCS-Mingw32 (EGCS port of Mingw32)

Porting considerations:

	Due to what appears to be the nature of MS and their SDK releases 
there is little or no support for DirectX under a Gnu-Win32 build environment 
unless the platform being used is a Win95/Win95-variant or WinNT5.

	WinNT5 is still in beta testing and is likely to remain so until the next 
millenium.  WinNT4 is only minimally supported, under Gnu-Win32, when it 
comes to the latest DirectX API.

	Rumor has it that MS will be releasing a Service Pack (SP4) to support 
DirectX5 about the second or third quarter of 1999.  In the meantime, there is 
only 'out-of-the-box' support for DX3 under NT4 and then only if you have 
applied SP3.

	Peace,

		Paul G.

Information Systems Consultant
NewDawn Productions
http://www.teleport.com/~pgarceau/newdawn/