Of course it is nice, that all the source code is provided,
however, a lot of people just want the dlls and if possible the bindings (for c# android, python etc.)
There are a lot of topics where people are searching for help to get the bindings, and some answers stating "that it is easy you just have to ..."
Well it may be not too hard, but it needs quite a bit of time, AND you have to install a lot of other tools on your pc, which you do not really want.
In my example I just want to have a c# binding for unity.
I have to install a Visual Studio (with working c++ compiler) and compile 2 projects.
Then I have to install Swig.
Then I have to either install Cmake (and write my own make file) or I have to install Cygwin and hope it will work.
(For that you actually need python when you try to use cygwin)
etc.
Then I can generate my c# bindings, INCLUDING the dll (your unity example only provides it for MACOSX)
During these process a lot of things can go wrong, as can be seen by several threads from people posting about their problems. (Additional to the fact, that you have to install several gigas of 3rd party software you might not really want).
Of course when you have set up all these things already, it is really easy to do this, however, most people will not have such a running setup.
I am sure for people actively working on this project it would be take just some minutes to generate such bindings,
so why not just make these 5 minutes of extra work, instead of having time and time again to explain to people how they do this? (And the explanations are not even good (Telling "this is easy just use program x" is not really helping when you don't know program x.) Most people give up frustrated, instead of using your library.)
Last edit: Marcel Pfaffhauser 2017-11-21
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I am sure for people actively working on this project it would be take just some minutes to generate such bindings,
It is actually about the same fo rme. I do not work with Windows at all. I have to pay for Windows (box version, they do not simply sell keys). I have to install VirtualBox, install Visual Studio, cmake and all other things just to compile bindings, then Unity (5+ Gb download). Then I have to cleanup everything since space on my laptop is limited and I need it for other things. Then I have to install it all again if any issue raises.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Well them maybe you should at least try to not give answers as arrogant (not helping) as the one which can be found using google searching for problems.
It always sounds as it it would be totally easy and everyone who can't get it to run must be an idiot, when it requires A LOT of additional software to get this running (if it is even still possible).
It would be ok if you just said "not supported on windows" but the way it is, you pretend it can be easily done on windows, which just is not true.
While there is only the "Makefile" for make and no "CMakeLists" needed for CMake.
Additional not only the windows dll files are missing.
A lot of generated files are missing.
(Like the .pc files needed to generate the interface, which can be generated by the autogen.sh which needs again additional software (python) and some additional settings (setting special path)).
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
A lot of generated files are missing.
(Like the .pc files needed to generate the interface, which can be generated by the autogen.sh which needs again additional software (python) and some additional settings (setting special path)).
pkg-config is Unix-only tool. It is not required on Windows, instead you just compile all sources directly like in cmake example above.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Of course it is nice, that all the source code is provided,
however, a lot of people just want the dlls and if possible the bindings (for c# android, python etc.)
There are a lot of topics where people are searching for help to get the bindings, and some answers stating "that it is easy you just have to ..."
Well it may be not too hard, but it needs quite a bit of time, AND you have to install a lot of other tools on your pc, which you do not really want.
In my example I just want to have a c# binding for unity.
I have to install a Visual Studio (with working c++ compiler) and compile 2 projects.
Then I have to install Swig.
Then I have to either install Cmake (and write my own make file) or I have to install Cygwin and hope it will work.
(For that you actually need python when you try to use cygwin)
etc.
Then I can generate my c# bindings, INCLUDING the dll (your unity example only provides it for MACOSX)
During these process a lot of things can go wrong, as can be seen by several threads from people posting about their problems. (Additional to the fact, that you have to install several gigas of 3rd party software you might not really want).
Of course when you have set up all these things already, it is really easy to do this, however, most people will not have such a running setup.
I am sure for people actively working on this project it would be take just some minutes to generate such bindings,
so why not just make these 5 minutes of extra work, instead of having time and time again to explain to people how they do this? (And the explanations are not even good (Telling "this is easy just use program x" is not really helping when you don't know program x.) Most people give up frustrated, instead of using your library.)
Last edit: Marcel Pfaffhauser 2017-11-21
It is actually about the same fo rme. I do not work with Windows at all. I have to pay for Windows (box version, they do not simply sell keys). I have to install VirtualBox, install Visual Studio, cmake and all other things just to compile bindings, then Unity (5+ Gb download). Then I have to cleanup everything since space on my laptop is limited and I need it for other things. Then I have to install it all again if any issue raises.
Well them maybe you should at least try to not give answers as arrogant (not helping) as the one which can be found using google searching for problems.
It always sounds as it it would be totally easy and everyone who can't get it to run must be an idiot, when it requires A LOT of additional software to get this running (if it is even still possible).
It would be ok if you just said "not supported on windows" but the way it is, you pretend it can be easily done on windows, which just is not true.
The best example is: "There is an official swig-based wrapper in github, you can compile it for Linux with Make or for Microsoft with CMake:
https://github.com/cmusphinx/pocketsphinx/tree/master/swig/csharp "
While there is only the "Makefile" for make and no "CMakeLists" needed for CMake.
Additional not only the windows dll files are missing.
A lot of generated files are missing.
(Like the .pc files needed to generate the interface, which can be generated by the autogen.sh which needs again additional software (python) and some additional settings (setting special path)).
Cmake file example is here:
https://github.com/cmusphinx/pocketsphinx-android/blob/master/CMakeLists.txt
pkg-config is Unix-only tool. It is not required on Windows, instead you just compile all sources directly like in cmake example above.