Round-up of the recent WindowsAPI discussions from when I wasn't looking

[Sascha Katzner (aka WeirdCat)]

Stewart Gordon Wrote:
> For some reason I can't imagine, WeirdCat decided to rewrite vfw.d
> from scratch.  He/she/it didn't even indicate what it's a translation
> of, but replaced the line "Translated from MinGW Windows headers"
> with "written in the D programming language".  It may be true that
> the MinGW header is a disaster area, but in the same discussion it
> was pointed out that vfw ought to be deleted as it's an obsolete API.

I (*He*) did translate vfw because I needed it for a project and the old file was indeed a disaster. I don't think the file is obsolete, all the cap* functions are defined there, which you need for Webcams for example. The translation was based on the windows header files from m$ (see below).

> Another contribution by WeirdCat is a makefile that doesn't work.
> One of the threads on the Dsource forum revealed the problem: it uses
> GNU-specific syntax.  There seems to be no reason for this.  This
> being a D project, it should be fully compatible with the Digital
> Mars tools among others.

The makefile works. I used GNU specific syntax to use wildcards, otherwise you have to maintain a list of every single file of the project in the makefile. I think this is circumstantially in a project with so many contributors. It is much easier to use wildcards.

(see http://www.dsource.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2538 for my original reply)

> Somebody or other took the words out of my mouth by stating that it
> was wrong to put in something that's derived from Microsoft's
> copyrighted headers.  This project is meant to be public domain.

I think you should differentiate here if someone used the original windows header files only as documentation of windows functions and interfaces (like me or the MinGW Team), or if someone automatically translated the files via a tool.

If you use them only as documentation and "translate" (a better word would be 'rewrite') everything by hand (you have to write your own comments!), no intellectual property from m$ should be harmed (*warning* I am no lawyer!).

Because this was the way, the MinGW Team created their header files, I realy see no reason that we couldn't go that way.

LLAP,
Sascha