Re: [Sbcl-devel] help with windows packaging, part 2

[Andrea R. <and...@gm...>]

Mick Charles Beaver <m.c...@gm...> writes:
> So it seems now that the real impediment to having updated Windows builds
> could be a trusted machine to build them on? Is anyone aware of some sort
> of service that could help with this?

Hello Mick and everyone reading.

  I wish to propose a (naive, untested) suggestion for how one could
compile for Windows. Any comment (feasibility, corrections to the
procedure) is more than welcome.

  I assume that cross-compilation (host: Linux, target: Windows) can be
done on a Linux machine with mingw-gcc. One could then proceed as follows:

1) run a "clean" Linux image with QEMU (example: one of the images at
   https://people.debian.org/~aurel32/qemu/i386/ )

2) install the additional packages with apt-get (gcc, mingw, make tools
   etc. ...)

3) download and install binaries of a recent SBCL for Linux from
   http://sbcl.org/platform-table.html ("host SBCL")

4) download SBCL sources

5) compile SBCL sources using MinGW and the host SBCL

A shell script could help to automate execution of steps 2)...5).
If it works, I see some valuable pros:

- everyone could compile recent Windows binaries autonomously on its
  virtual "trusted machine", without the need to install too many
  things directly on his own workstation

- better reproducibility of compilation issues (assuming two
  testers use the same OS image and shell script, they should
  get the same errors)

- no additional Windows licenses needed

Cons:

- it's emulation, so compilation will be considerably slow

Does it make sense for you too? Do you see big flaws in the suggestion?
Thanks everyone for your attention and time, kindest regards.

Andrea

PS: by looking at the documentation, the fasl files seem to be portable
within the same version (i.e. a fasl for SBCL 1.2.10 Linux works on SBCL
1.2.10 Windows too), did I understand it right?