[fpc-devel] Win64 FPC is in wrong download location

[Graeme Geldenhuys]

On 4 May 2010 16:14, Jonas Maebe <jonas.maebe at elis.ugent.be> wrote:
> b) we only distribute an i386->x86-64 cross-compiler because on Windows the problem that exists under Linux does not exist, and there is no advantage to having a native x86-64 Windows compiler (at best it will be just as fast as a i386->x86-64 cross-compiler, and at worst it will be slower)
>


"This is a cross compiler package from i386-win32 to x86_64-win64.
Before you can use it, you need to install fpc for i386-win32. " --
Free Pascal website

http://www.freepascal.org/down/x86_64/win64-ftp.freepascal.org.var


So to be able to compile Win64 apps, we need two installations. The
Win64 download (17MB) and the i386 download (35MB).

* now installation is more complex than it needs to be. It now
requires two FPC versions.
* Increases download size
* Increases the difficulty in debugging
* Cross-compiling doesn't always work, by producing corrupt binaries.
* Myth that Win64 compiler was slower than i386 cross compiler (info
supplied by you)

So now you have a list that negates the benefits of a cross-compiler
for Win64 platforms. Simply producing a native Win64 would solve all
these issues. Hence Michael and I agree that simply creating our own
native compiler would solves all these issues. Something which should
probably have been done by the FPC release team in the first place.


-- 
Regards,
  - Graeme -


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