From:	AndrewJ <luminous-is AT REMOVE DOT home DOT com>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: The Future of DJGPP
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>>Where does DJGPP go in the future?  (I guess that it will continue to follow
>>the direction of gcc, such as support for more languages.  But what else?)
>>Will DJGPP become too tied to ye olde DOS to remain of use?
>
>And you say "ye olde DOS" will be disappearing anytime soon?  It's
>still a popular simple, realtime OS for embedded systems:
>  http://www.drdos.com/
>And for small systems that don't have the computrons for Linux:
>  http://www.drdos.org/

Shouldn't that have been www.freedos.org ?

>>What is there for non-contributors like myself to do to participate?
>
>Use DJGPP.  Push DJGPP.  Release the stuff you do with DJGPP as free
>software.  It's a way to get newbie hackers hooked on GNU tools rather
>than M$ tools.

Y'know, Damian, DJGPP /can't/ do /everything/ ;) .  A better comment would have
been:

"Use DJGPP for those projects which it is a suitable implementation, or, where
possible, try to ensure that it will at least be compilable with the GNU
tools."

However, with Watcom going OpenSource, I think you'll find many people
migrating away from DJGPP.  Consider the following benefits and drawbacks
[1][2][3] :

DJGPP -> DOS pm executables, Allegro library, open source (GPL), excellent code
generators, confusing assembler syntax, sometimes confusing (cryptic names, I
blame its UNIX'ish heritage <g>), excellent help (if you know where to look)

Watcom -> DOS rm/pm executables, Win16g/32g/console executables, QNX
executables, Novell NLM's and many other formats, relatively simple to use (in
comparison), moderately good help (easy to find what you want, assuming it's
there), excellent code generator, it will also be open source.

[1] I'm not taking into consideration the portability issues between different
ports of the GNU tools, which is a significant benefit for DJGPP

[2] I'm also sure I'm missing a few for both, this is a quick list.

[3] Why do 90% of my replies to you usually involve me dragging Watcom into it?
I think over the years a subliminal message has been implanted deep in my mind.
:)

IMHO, the best setup is both!  GNU provides several great tools (rm, grep, sed,
awk, flex, yacc, gperf, diff/patch, perl, and more), which most other compiler
suites are sadly lacking.  Watcom is just a darn good compiler which once again
has a future.  And with it being open source, we'll probably see it start to
migrate to other platforms (and other architectures, too)!

But I'll always have a DJGPP installation, too. ;)

---------------------------------------------------
AndrewJ (remove REMOVE. for correct e-mail address)

"You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice,
 If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
 You can choose from phantom fears, and kindness that can kill,
 I will choose a path that's clear... I will choose freewill."

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