Re: [Mingw-users] scandir and mingw

[Keith M. <kei...@us...>]

On Fri, 2008-01-04 at 00:40 -0500, Jim Marshall wrote:
> mingw is basically just a way to compile WIN32 apps without using MS 
> tools,

If that were true, then none of our mingwPORTs could be successfully
deployed; fortunately it isn't.

>  it does not provide functions which are specific to *nix systems.

In general, the minimalist strategy precludes provision of a full gamut
of *nix functionality, but there are some commonly used *nix functions
provided in libmingwex.a, and several others are available as optional
downloads, in the form of user contributed packages, or as mingwPORTs.
 
> If you wish to compile a program that uses *nix function you should
> use Cygwin which does provide that capability.

Should?  Not at all.  Could, ok, but as Earnie has suggested, you could
just as well consider porting such missing functionality to use native
Woe32 APIs; if you do so, please also consider offering your solution as
a user contributed package.

As regards `scandir', I'm not aware of an existing implementation for
MinGW; indeed, it isn't even required by POSIX, so while it is commonly
available on BSD, (where it originated), and on GNU/Linux, it may not be
portable to other Unixes.  However, the second link from Earnie's Google
query leads to: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb497011.aspx
where an example of equivalent functionality is provided.

Regards,
Keith.