If you publish binaries for Windows, please let us know and we'll link to them from the PSPP downloads page.
On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 10:59 AM ajk-eis <ajk-...@rvhome.de> wrote: > I don't really understand why providing "a Windows Version" has to mean > for all current and previous versions and colors of Windows. > > The mainstream is Windows 10 and has been for many, many years. The > mainstream architecture is also x86 and x64 and not ARM or AMD (AMD > works just fine with x86 or x64 versions and I assume ARM does too, just > not optimised). Windows CE is only used on few small devices and POS > terminals and actually AFAIK is also fully outdated (and I don't really > see PSPP being needed on that kind of device). > > So I would propose that Windows binaries in x86 and x 64 are fully > sufficient for the Windows world and only involve at the most two > versions. In fact, there is no real reason that x64 be built since x86 > will run on any of the platforms including x64. > > I understand this is primarily a volunteer project but would expect that > outside of the IT circles in the education world most of the educators > and students are in fact on Windows or Apple (running a Windows VM), not > on Linux based distributions. > > All that being said, I do believe it should be a priority to provide a > Windows binary for Windows 10, possibly in x86 and x64 flavors, but not > more than that. With a bit more information I might be willing to > attempt that without any support or liability. No promises though. > > Al > > On 31.08.2021 08:16, John Darrington wrote: > > On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 01:17:22PM +0000, Quandt, Markus wrote: > > > > It has in my experience a nasty problem with the Windows output > interface sometimes being very unresponsive, if you produce large outputs, > but works fine for most every-day analyses and teaching, I would say. All > Windows versions I ever used had the same problem, by the way, IIRC. > > > > > > Any operation on PSPP which takes a long time is going to make the GUI > > unresponsive for the time it takes to complete. For example, processing > > a very large number of cases, or generating very large ouput. > > > > From time to time we get requests to "fix" this. Whilst might be > possible > > to provide a fix which would allow the GUI to remain responsive whilst > > processing, the following caveats would still apply: > > > > 1. Until the procedure has completed, it would still not be possible to > > start any new procedure. > > > > 2. Allowing the GUI to respond, would slow down the total time it takes > > for the procedure to complete. > > > > 3. Such a change would not be simple and would take a lot of developer > time. > > > > For these reasons, such a fix has not been considered high priority. > > Having said that, if anybody wishes to contribute such a fix then it'll > > probably be accepted. > > > > Also, although the problem exists on all systems (not only Windows) PSPP > > runs magnitudes faster on GNU/Linux than on Windows, so I would suggest > > that you try that instead. > > > > > > > > This being said, I was wondering myself whether there is a perspective > for the pre-compiled Windows versions being brought up to date again. There > definitely are some fixes and features missing in the Windows version by > now. > > > > Harry (who used to provide the Windows builds) has said that he doesn't > > intend to do this any more. However, I think his last build includes > > the the most recent release 1.4.1 - any changes after that are not > > released, and like any unreleased software you should think twice before > > using it. > > > > So far as whether any pre-compiled Windows binaries will be made > publically > > available depends on whether anyone volunteers to do the job. Performing > > the builds is not too onerous, but maintaining such a public service is > harder > > than one might imagine. For a start, it is not just a build for > "Windows". > > Today there is Windows7, Windows10, WindowsCE ... then for each variant > of > > Windows there is today not only intel architectures to consider, but > i386, AMD, > > ARM and possibly others. Then Harry found there was demand for debug > and non > > debug versions... So that's 3 x 3 x 2 = 18 different binaries for each > release. > > > > At the end of the day, if you want a pre-compiled binary, it is far > easier to > > let OS vendor do it for you. However, whereas most vendors are happy to > > include PSPP in their distribution (see https://pkgs.org/download/pspp) > I > > suspect that if you wrote to Microsoft asking "Please include PSPP in > the next > > release of Windows" you probably would not receive a reply. > > > > PSPP is a GNU project, and so supporting the GNU system comes first. > Other > > free systems come second, and non-free systems such as Windows have the > > lowest priority. > > > > > > > > > > >
