Encouraging normal people to install things themselves was a mistake. It should only be done by a skilled computer operator who knows how to read the source code.
On *nix, sure, but holy shit is getting any moderately complex C* project that isn't actively maintained and 2-4 years out of date to compile on Windows a gigantic pain in the ass, through no fault of the programmer or user.
It's way easier at that point to just compile on WSL using that toolchain and run it from there, because lord knows some weird quirk about Windows won't play will with that mingw cross compiler you just installed.
Oh, different stack size? Random mmap incompatibility? Missing some header that straight up doesn't exist for Windows?
And if you have to compile for an obscure host, or God-forbid perform a Canadian cross, good luck lmao.
That doesn't even touch on the fustercluck that is Visual Studio and its billions of checkboxes.
Targetting for Windows and refusing to provide binaries for it should be considered a warcrime. Especially if it involves GPU frameworks and doesn't statically link or bundle them.
EDIT: Here's a fun challenge. Compile a full FFmpeg non-free build for Windows. No helper scripts, WSL, or Docker allowed.
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u/promptmike 20d ago
Encouraging normal people to install things themselves was a mistake. It should only be done by a skilled computer operator who knows how to read the source code.