Re: [Libusb-devel] Windows support release of libusb-1.0

[Peter S. <pe...@st...>]

Xiaofan Chen wrote:
> >> Or do we really want another 3-6 months delay of the
> >> first Windows release?
> >
> > Of course we all want the release to have happened long ago, with
> > all the shiny features and every bug fixed. But it takes time.
> 
> There are people in the libusb-win32 mailing list asking about the
> status of libusb-1.0 under Windows.

Tell them to try it out!


> Based on the above answer, I will have to recommend majority
> of the libusb-win32 users to stick to libusb-win32.

That would be too bad, but of course it's good and neccessary to
inform people that the current code is still experimental.


> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> To: libusb-win32-devel
..
> Based on the discussions on the libusb mailing list, I am
> not sure when the official libusb-1.0 Windows backend will
> come out, probably not within this year.

This is speculation, and I don't know if I believe that it is so
accurate. I think we should have a release this year.


> Therefore I would recommend majority of the users of libusb-win32
> to stick to libusb-win32.

I think it's not that simple. I assume that there has also been more
thorough discussion of the progress of Windows support in libusb-1.0
in the past, so that people know that code has been available for a
while now and test results seem pretty good.

Porting from 0.1 API to 1.0 will probably also take some time, so it
might be a good idea to start using libusb-1.0 now even if there is
no release tomorrow. Probably not for a release version shipping now,
but certainly as early technology which will be ready fairly soon.

It would be great to get more reports from people who are using
libusb-1.0 on Windows, but at the same time I understand that
libusb0.sys support is pretty important for libusb-win32 users.


> If you need the nice libusb-1.0 API support, you have to use the
> libusb-pbatard branch which is not an official release of
> libusb-1.0.

This is not true. libusb.git has included Windows support since
August. Everything in libusb-pbatard.git is not there, but on the
other hand libusb.git is what will be released, so it is relevant
(and important) to test it, and it also helps us very much to hear
about test results, both positive and negative results.

Also, libusb-pbatard.git may not be the main libusb.git repo, but Pete
is certainly the main Windows backend developer and I think that your
comment might make it sound like the code in Pete's repo is not
actually a part of the libusb project. I don't believe it is the
intended meaning, but I fear that people might interpret it that way,
which would be very wrong.

Just as results from libusb.git testing are important for the quality
of releases I know that Pete will appreciate testing of the code in
his repo, which will most likely also end up in libusb.git later.

More testing and more users helps a lot and can not hurt!

I hope that you'll give libusb-win32 users a larger picture of the
Windows support in libusb-1.0. Everyone who is interested in moving
to the 1.0 API is very welcome into the libusb-1.0 project, even if
the release takes another little while to get out the door.


//Peter