From: Sisyphus <sis...@op...> - 2007-05-17 06:29:58
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Hi, What's the simplest instructions I can give that will enable someone to find the latest (current) version of the MinGW Installer ? I could instruct people to: Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw , click on the "Download MinGW - Minimalist GNU for Windows" link, scroll down to "Current", expand the "MinGW" entry, then download and run the MinGW '.exe' with the highest version number. That all seems rather messy and potentially inaccurate - for instance what if "Current" needs also to be expanded before we can find what we're looking for ... or the text associated with the "Download MinGW...." link changes. I'm hoping to be able to provide instructions that won't have to be continually amended in order to remain relevant. Are there simpler, more reliable instructions I could give ? Cheers, Rob |
From: Keith M. <kei...@to...> - 2007-05-17 10:32:06
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Sisyphus wrote: >What's the simplest instructions I can give that will enable someone > to find the latest (current) version of the MinGW Installer ? For the time being, the most reliable URI is: https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435&package_id=82721&release_id=158801 That takes you directly to the appropriate package; the current version will be the MinGW.exe file shown, with the greatest version number. HTH, Keith. |
From: John P. <joh...@st...> - 2007-05-20 11:39:09
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FYI There's a great new feature in SF.net that helps you to guide users to the right file, in cases such as this. It's their 'platform download' thing; here's an example from my project: http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=167528 Note: if you're running Linux, you'll see the Linux download page (well, one of them); if you're on Windows, you'll see the Windows page. 'Platform download' is also good as it's the page that the big green button on the SF.net MinGW project home-page clicks through to by default. Cheers JP Keith MARSHALL wrote: > > > Sisyphus wrote: > >> What's the simplest instructions I can give that will enable someone >> to find the latest (current) version of the MinGW Installer ? >> > > For the time being, the most reliable URI is: > https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435&package_id=82721&release_id=158801 > > That takes you directly to the appropriate package; the current version > will be the MinGW.exe file shown, with the greatest version number. > > HTH, > Keith. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express > Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take > control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. > http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ > _______________________________________________ > MinGW-users mailing list > Min...@li... > > You may change your MinGW Account Options or unsubscribe at: > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mingw-users > -- John Pye Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia http://pye.dyndns.org/ |
From: Keith M. <kei...@to...> - 2007-05-21 09:50:07
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John Pye wrote: > There's a great new feature in SF.net that helps you to guide users to > the right file, in cases such as this. It's their 'platform download' > thing; here's an example from my project: > > http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=167528 Unfortunately, that doesn't work so well when you substitute the MinGW `group_id=2435'. Sure, you get to the MinGW files download page, but you then need to know that the MinGW installer you are looking for is to be found in a package called `Current'. So, you find the package, but because only the most recent three releases within that package are visible, you may not see the MinGW installer; you have to know to click through the `View older releases in the Current package' link, to find what you are looking for. Not so nice :-( This has come about as a legacy of a packaging decision taken by the MinGW administrators, at the time when the project was first moved to SourceForge.net, namely to package by category, with multiple software package package entities grouped into each category. This doesn't fit the model SF had envisaged for packaging, and with hindsight, it seems not to have been such a wise choice; however, it served us well until SF completely revamped the downloads page layout about two years ago. A few months ago, the MinGW Developers discussed this issue, and we agreed that it may be advisable to reorganise our package structure. Unfortunately, the SF.net packaging model seems inadequate for *our* vision of how a packaging system should work, and the FRS itself is not well suited to performing the reorganisation required. It will be a major effort to accomplish, and I don't know when our entirely voluntary Project Members will be able to accommodate it. This is why I said that, for the time being the direct link to the single SF.net *release* file set is the most reliable URI for the installer; the release_id ain't going to change any time soon, even when the next *version* of the installer executable is added to it. Regards, Keith. |
From: John P. <jo...@cu...> - 2007-08-01 14:32:02
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Hi Keith, Bit of a delay on replying to this, hopefully you still see it: Keith MARSHALL wrote: > > > John Pye wrote: > >> There's a great new feature in SF.net that helps you to guide users to >> the right file, in cases such as this. It's their 'platform download' >> thing; here's an example from my project: >> >> http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=167528 >> > > Unfortunately, that doesn't work so well when you substitute the MinGW > `group_id=2435'. Sure, you get to the MinGW files download page, but > you then need to know that the MinGW installer you are looking for is > to be found in a package called `Current'. So, you find the package, > but because only the most recent three releases within that package > are visible, you may not see the MinGW installer; you have to know to > click through the `View older releases in the Current package' link, > to find what you are looking for. Not so nice :-( > The 'platform download' feature requires you to do some configuration. You need to have admin privileges for the MinGW project on SF.net. If you have that, then you will be able to configure the Platform Download page to detect Windows users and to offer them the basic MinGW and MSYS installers, whatever version is the preferred current release. You can add comments to ensure that the user knows what is the right thing to choose. And there is still a link to allow the user to access all the other files if they want to (ie the ones that normally are downloaded by the installer automatically). Seriously, I recommend you take a look at how this is set up. It will make a huge difference to the user experience of downloading and installing MinGW, and it doesn't prevent/preclude any other reorganisation that you may or may not do. Cheers JP > This has come about as a legacy of a packaging decision taken by the > MinGW administrators, at the time when the project was first moved to > SourceForge.net, namely to package by category, with multiple software > package package entities grouped into each category. This doesn't fit > the model SF had envisaged for packaging, and with hindsight, it seems > not to have been such a wise choice; however, it served us well until > SF completely revamped the downloads page layout about two years ago. > > A few months ago, the MinGW Developers discussed this issue, and we > agreed that it may be advisable to reorganise our package structure. > Unfortunately, the SF.net packaging model seems inadequate for *our* > vision of how a packaging system should work, and the FRS itself is > not well suited to performing the reorganisation required. It will > be a major effort to accomplish, and I don't know when our entirely > voluntary Project Members will be able to accommodate it. This is > why I said that, for the time being the direct link to the single > SF.net *release* file set is the most reliable URI for the installer; > the release_id ain't going to change any time soon, even when the > next *version* of the installer executable is added to it. > > Regards, > Keith. |
From: Keith M. <kei...@us...> - 2007-08-03 20:39:39
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On Wednesday 01 August 2007 15:31, John Pye wrote: > The 'platform download' feature requires you to do some > configuration. You need to have admin privileges for the MinGW > project on SF.net. If you have that, Sure, no problem there, but... > then you will be able to > configure the Platform Download page which takes time, a valuable commodity which is in short enough supply already, and... > to detect Windows users and to > offer them the basic MinGW and MSYS installers, since the entire focus of MinGW is to provide tools for Windows users, there really isn't much to be gained in setting up a sophisticated page configuration for users of other platforms. There is exactly one file, to my knowledge, which is intended for use on any other platform, and that is my suite of scripts for configuring a cross-hosted MinGW compiler suite, on GNU/Linux. > whatever version is > the preferred current release. You can add comments to ensure that > the user knows what is the right thing to choose. And there is still > a link to allow the user to access all the other files if they want > to (ie the ones that normally are downloaded by the installer > automatically). > > Seriously, I recommend you take a look at how this is set up. I did, when you first mentioned it. > It will > make a huge difference to the user experience of downloading and > installing MinGW, and it doesn't prevent/preclude any other > reorganisation that you may or may not do. I simply cannot see any compelling argument for pursuing this. Much more productive, IMO, would be to gather the various installer releases together into their own package. With a carefully chosen name, such that this becomes the first package visible on the download page, we should be able to eliminate the `elusive' tag; something like `Automated MinGW Installer' should do the trick. Regards, Keith. |
From: Keith M. <kei...@us...> - 2007-08-03 22:03:32
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On Friday 03 August 2007 21:39, Keith Marshall wrote: > Much more productive, IMO, would be to gather the various installer > releases together into their own package. =A0With a carefully chosen > name, such that this becomes the first package visible on the > download page, we should be able to eliminate the `elusive' tag; > something like `Automated MinGW Installer' should do the trick. I've now moved the two most recent releases of the installer into a new=20 package of this name. Any comments? Do you like this arrangement, or=20 do you prefer it as it was? Regards, Keith. |
From: Greg C. <chi...@co...> - 2007-08-03 22:40:23
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On 2007-08-03 22:03Z, Keith Marshall wrote: > > I've now moved the two most recent releases of the installer into a new > package of this name. Any comments? Do you like this arrangement, or > do you prefer it as it was? I think it's a good change: "Automated MinGW Installer" is the first thing shown in "Latest File Releases", and the first group in "File Releases", and that's exactly what a person who's new to MinGW wants. |