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Re: [Bug-apl] Question on installing GNU APL on Windows


From: Juergen Sauermann
Subject: Re: [Bug-apl] Question on installing GNU APL on Windows
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2015 13:33:14 +0100
User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.4.0

Hi Richard,

we have a document explaining how to run GNU APL on MAC, kindly written by Peter Teeson (see doc/APL-on-Macintosh.pdf).
If you like to write such a document for GNU APL on Windows, please go ahead and I will be happy yo include it in the GNU APL package.

These days GNU APL has no dependencies on non-standard libraries. Therefore it may compile under Windows natively and
if you run the result it in a Unicode/UTF8-capable terminal window then even the APL characters should not be a problem. However, I do
not own a Windows computer, nor am I willing to waste money on such a thing (or on a Windows C++ compiler). For that reason I will
not be able to properly support GNU APL on Windows natively. And I rather do things not at all than half-heartedly.

On the other hand, if somebody else wants to give it a try then I can try to help fixing technical problems that may occur on WIndows (to the
extent possible without a Windows machine).

Re. apl.exe in xterm under cygwin - I have tried that myself some years ago under Windows XP and it worked. What does not work right now
is native functions due to limitations of either libtool or of the cygwin platform when linking shared libraries.

The ./configure ; make ; sudo make install process is described in file INSTALL (and is not different from the installation procedure of most
other GNU packages). Installation of GNU APL under cygwin works exactly like installation under GNU/Linux.

/// Jürgen


On 11/02/2015 05:38 AM, Richard Levine wrote:

Thanks Elias and Blake for your thoughtful replies which have given me more insight into the matter, and brought up a number of great points (:>)

 

First, my immediate goal is to get GNU APL running under Windows.  Here’s my alternatives so far -

·         APL.exe – Explore using apl.exe with xterm under Cygwin. (See Juergen’s note, in another email) I will report on my success.

o   Has anyone else done it this way?

·         Under Cygwin looks like I need to follow “the usual configure / make” process. Looks like I’ll have to work on this.

o   Is there any specific documentation on this? (PS – I’m not asking people to write this for me if it doesn’t exist, just, where is it?) Has anyone made up some “cheat sheet” for this, etc?

 

If it’s worth running GNU APL under Windows, I’m happy to help write up some documentation, but as mentioned, I’d be interested in getting a sense of how many people would be interested, besides myself,  and it is best if it fits into the objective(s) of the GNU APL Project.

 

I guess I have to ask – what is the objective of the GNU APL Project? And to further the objective, what are the targeted platforms?

 

Is Windows is a target platform for GNU APL? In other words, is having Windows a target platform an objective of the GNU APL Project? I presumed it was, as a solid freely available “APL2 clone” , that is, one following ISO Standard Extended APL, available to the computing community , is actually a unique offering in today’s APL world.

 

For example, the objective of the NARS2000 project is clearly stated in home page of the web site (www.nars2000.org): “The goal of this effort … is to foster new ideas about the [APL] language and its implementation.” To further this goal, the NARS2000 interpreter is freely available as a 32- or 64-bit Windows-based executable, initially designed to run on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, and they claim it will run under other operating systems, such as Linux using Wine.

 

Notwithstanding that Linux is a wonderful system, which I totally agree with, there’s an awful lot of Windows users and systems out there, not just me!  The Windows audience is huge, after all, that’s why Cygwin exists, I suppose (:>)

 

Regards,

 

Richard Levine

Professor, School of Computer Technology, George Brown College

416-460-6499

 



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