Message-Id: <368532AA.85BA8AA0@cableol.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 19:02:02 +0000
From: Allens <allen DOT asjp AT cableol DOT co DOT uk>
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Cygwin ?? Rsxntdj ??
References: <199812261524 DOT PAA23894 AT remus> <36851191 DOT 8D7B138D AT montana DOT com>
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

bowman wrote:
> 
> Arthur wrote:
> >
> > RSXNTDJ does have the problem of not being able to compile C++ all
> > that well, which limits its functionality with the Windows API.
> 
> It is not necessary to use C++ for Windows API programming. I do it both
> ways, and prefer C. Unless you want to use MFC, there is little to be
> gained by C++.
> 
> Also, there is no problem accessing COM objects in C, which opens up the
> entire DirectX set of tools. OpenGL is also usable.
> 
> This is not meant to be a putdown of Allegro or WinAllegro. I am not a
> gamer, and really don't appreciate graphics programming, so I can't
> really evaluate the relative merits of each approach. If I were to, I'd
> seriously look at OpenGL or DirectX, if only that there is a lot more
> mainstream literature supporting either of these packages.
> 
> On the Cygwin/MinGw32/rsxntdj choice: I believe Cygwin still requires a
> hefty .dll to ship with the app, while MinGw32 uses the native MS dll's.
> MinG does produce free code, while Cygwin might get into GPL
> complications. I've found rsxntdj will produce extremely small
> executables, compared to either of the above. I hope I am not fooling
> myself, and rsxnt stashed a huge dll someplace, but a minimal generic
> window with menu, tool and status bars weighs in a 8K versus 480K for
> MinG.

8k is about the same as lcc-win32, which should be able to compile winallegro
with a minimal amount of porting, if those dx headers are sorted properly.  
I'm suprised at the MinG size, as it relies on crtdll.dll which provides the
entire c runtime.  This seems very strange.
Cygnus is covered by the GPL, or Berkely style licence I believe.

		Peter Allen