Re: When should ralloc.c be used? (WAS: bug#24358)

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2016 11:05:03 -0400
> From: "Perry E. Metzger" <address@hidden>
> Cc: address@hidden, address@hidden, address@hidden,
>  address@hidden, Fabrice Popineau
>  <address@hidden>
> 
> > It's a tradeoff, yes. My impression is that the rare user who
> > redumps Emacs typically has a C compiler installed or can easily
> > install one, so it shouldn't be much to ask.
> 
> Agreed. On free operating systems it's easy (that's the whole point of
> freedom!), and even on non-free operating systems free compilers are
> available, so it isn't a big deal for most users I think. (On macOS
> the official XCode compiler is also available gratis.)

I can assure you that installing a fully functioning environment for
compiling programs is not a trivial task on MS-Windows.  It isn't
enough to have just a compiler: you need Binutils, support libraries
and header files, and a well-configured MSYS installation to be able
to run Emacs build script and Makefiles.

Also, please don't forget that some people run Emacs on machines where
they are not system administrators and are not allowed to install
arbitrary packages.

Not everyone is in the same position as you and Paul (or myself).