RE: [Axiom-developer] Re: Axiom trunk failure

[Page, Bill]

On Thursday, May 04, 2006 11:36 AM C Y wrote:
> ... 
> Quick check - is there anybody now doing active development
> on Axiom for Windows? I'm sure we have users there but anybody
> who knows how to compile it?

The procedure for compiling Axiom on Windows is here:

http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/BuildAxiom

As far as I know no one is current actively making changes to
the axiom--windows--1 source distribution. The only people I
know for sure who have compiled Axiom for Windows from source
is me and Mike Thomas (the gcl developer who first fully solved
the problem of building Axiom on Windows).

> 
> > we should be able to just type 'AXIOM=.../windows' ; make
> > and get a working windows version. once that works we can
> > try to get the browser/graphics/sman working. but right now,
> > even for me, the windows version feels a bit like a black box.
> 

A tla "diff" of the axiom--main--1 (about patch-30 or so I think)
and axiom--windows--1 versions will show the changes that were made
to the Axiom sources but unfortunately none of these where ever
fully documented.

At this point I think our best option for updating the Windows
build will be to wait for Gaby to complete the integration of
the Debian patches into the Silver archive and then create a
new branch specifically for Windows. It will considerably
simplify the Windows build if we can use the Debian build
strategy.

> Heh - Maxima still feels that way to me on Windows, after several
> significant releases.  A literate document on creating a Windows
> install.exe file would be a boon to lots of free software projects,
> I think.  Of course, we are introducing the scripting language for
> the Nullsoft installer and maybe one or two other special cases, 
> but I have a feeling it will be a very long time before we can
> avoid the need for such tools and use a lisp based install.exe.

The Nullsoft installer script was contributed by Dan Martens, the
TeXmacs for Windows developer.

Unfortunately there is no literate document nor even any information
on the Axiom Wiki about how to create the NullSoft windows install
file. The best I can offer is everything I think is relevant in the
axiom-developer email list archive, e.g.

http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/axiom-developer/2005-02/msg00164.ht
ml
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/axiom-developer/2005-01/msg00518.ht
ml
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/axiom-developer/2004-12/msg00233.ht
ml
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/axiom-developer/2004-12/msg00107.ht
ml
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/axiom-developer/2004-12/msg00084.ht
ml
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/axiom-developer/2004-06/msg00068.ht
ml
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/axiom-developer/2003-10/msg00227.ht
ml

But given the axiom.nsi file that is included in the Windows binary
distribution, the procedure to produce the NullSoft install.exe file
is actually very simple. I would be glad to help anyone who wants to
attempt this ... and this time maybe we can jointly write some useful
documentation! :)

Regards,
Bill Page.