64-bit DMD for windows?

[Bruno Medeiros via Digitalmars-d]

On 21/05/2014 05:34, Manu via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On 21 May 2014 13:45, Temtaime via Digitalmars-d
> <digitalmars-d at puremagic.com> wrote:
>> Yes, DMD uses ld on linux. It's OK because there is no other
>> linker. And it's system's default. Everybody(almost) have GCC.
>>
>> But on windows.. MSVS is external IDE and toolset. Some people
>> yes they uses MinGW.
>> Why ? MSVS has some disadvantages for me for example it's poor
>> C++11 support. So it's useless in my work.
>>
>> So for compile 64 app with DMD one must download dmd(~20 MB) and
>> install MSVS(~2 GB).
>> I think dmd should work out of the box isn't it ?
>
> It's still the standard on the platform. Interoperation with other
> libraries/code typically demands MSVC compatibility.
> I don't know how any large-scale Windows developers can avoid this
> practical reality?
>
> On the plus side, there is a recent push to get Clang/LLVM properly
> compatible with MSVC. When that happens, we should be able to rely on
> Clang+LDC for all windows needs.
>
>
>> And what about other compilers ?
>> Latest LDC for example uses 064 frontend.
>>
>> It's outdated for me because of bugs. I cannot ever compile my
>> app now with it.
>> With GDC it's alto difficult to get luck.
>
> Poke the GDC/LDC guys? It would certainly be nice if those toolchains
> were more reliably up-to-date, but the sad truth is, those who use
> MinGW on windows are in the severe minority, so there's probably not
> so much motivation.
>

LDC on MingW doesn't seem to support debugging at all, and that's 
because of a LLVM issue, not LDC, so it doesn't matter how much LDC is 
up to date or not. According to Kai, "LLVM on MinGW is not very well 
tested."

I had better hopes for GDC, and did poke the GDC guys (even put a bounty 
up - not that I think that amount of money would make any significant 
difference - it was more to show I really cared about this issue). But 
it seems GDC on Windows is not properly supported either 
(news://news.digitalmars.com:119/lkdnrr$j43$1@digitalmars.com). It's not 
just an issue of build scripts and compiling binary releases, as I 
initially thought.

Like you said, those like me, who use MinGW on Windows seem to be a 
severe minority.

Having Clang/LLVM support MSVC toolchain would be great. And it would be 
*magnificent* if that included LLDB support! The reason I prefer MinGW 
on Windows is so that I can use a half-decent, open-source debugger.

-- 
Bruno Medeiros
https://twitter.com/brunodomedeiros