Re: [Mingw-users] I'm lost - trying to use gcc with specs file in Windows

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

On Saturday 31 January 2009 14:23:28 David Eaton wrote:
> With these types of responses from both of my posts, I plan not to
> use mingw or msys again and find another means for cross-platform
> compilation.  I don't need the grief - just answers.

David,

I am sorry that you have had an unpleasant experience of seeking help 
on this list, and that you are discouraged from using MinGW and MSYS 
as a result.  We *do* aim to provide support for *all* users, with 
*any* level of experience, novice to expert.

As list moderator, I do try to read all posts; I found yours rather 
uncomfortable to read, and that "discomfort factor" may go some way 
to explain the lack of an encouraging response.  I do hope that you 
may be persuaded to persevere, and put this bad experience behind 
you.  Here are some tips, to help you avoid the grief:

1) Set up your mail client, or whatever editor it uses to compose 
messages, to post in plain text only, (as you did; this wasn't your 
problem), and to *fold* the text you *type*, (not files you copy and 
paste), at a line length of between 65 and 72 characters.  (This 
*was* your problem; your text sprawled all the way across the screen.  
This makes it uncomfortable to read, and difficult to quote in reply; 
many readers will simply abandon you after two or three lines, and 
the most likely to do so are the experts you are hoping might give 
you a helpful answer to your question).

2) Ask your question clearly and concisely, but be sure to include 
sufficient detail to show us what you are trying to achieve, how you 
are trying to achieve it, what outcome you expect, and what is not 
working as you expect it to.  (This is where it is important to copy 
and paste actual commands and resultant diagnostics).

3) If you do receive what you consider to be an offensive response,
just ignore it; say that you don't understand what the offensive 
poster was trying to tell you, and hope that someone else will be 
more helpful.

4) Read Eric Raymond's and Rick Moen's advice on "asking questions the 
smart way": http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


And finally...

To answer your original question: you shouldn't be using the GCC specs 
file to achieve your goal.  Neither should you really be resorting to 
cmd.exe's batch files to supplant "make"; they are not well suited to 
this purpose, and some would call you an extreme masochist for even 
considering this approach.  Use MSYS to host your build environment, 
and learn to use "make"; it will provide a much more pleasant user 
experience, and will pay dividends in the long term; (FWIW, I have 
never encountered a command line length limit using these tools -- 
yes, there is one, but it is usually more than sufficient).

-- 

Regards,
Keith.