DCC on Windows

> From: Carl Stehle <webmaster@instantservers.com>

> ...
> I wanted to understand if the code was wanted, as there were some
> prior indications from that this might not be such a good thing.
> I did not know if the reasoning had changed at all from that time. 
> Also, as we would need to pretty it up, make changes to integrate it
> more  cleanly, and support it, we only wanted to get started on that 
> if it were to be integrated 

My main worry with Windows clients is how to fund support for users
who would never consider typing `make install`.

I'd be happy to make changes to the UNIX DCC client source that
would ease its porting to other platforms.  However, I must be able
to say that I've tested or at least thoroughly read and understood
all of the code that I publish.  I'm also picky about the modified
kernel-normal style I use and I believe that an entire package must
use a single sytle.  That limits the code I can distribute.  Those
limitations don't apply to links to other people's code.

In the Internet Age we all own printing presses.  One implication
of that is that no one needs to use anyone else's presses (or web
sites) to publish code.  


>                             (in which case we would also use that as an
> excuse to ask some internals questions; there are, ah, a few subtleties
> in the code which we probably do not understand -- NOT about the fuzzy
> checksumming but about the program flow and Un*x dependencies).

I'd be happy to try to answer useful questions on those topics.


> Beyond that, there are some issues with multi-threading and multiple
> processes that may not affect our particular application, but require
> looking into for more general use. Although we have not specifically
> checked, I suspect supporting a DCC server is also beyond what we have
> done so far; we do not need server mode and did not want to get into
> that until understanding DCC much better; an integrated code base would
> make that much easier to think about, if not actually implement.
> ...

I've tried but failed to find a polite reaction to the notion of a
Windows DCC server.  It would be useless and unprofitable for any
person or organization with which I sympathize.  It might make sense
if computers with real operating system still cost what they did
25 years ago, or if Microsoft's software including operating systems
were not decades-long insults to anyone with technical knowledge
and to Microsoft's customers.  Given the facts of the world as seen
everywhere but from inside the barricades at Redmond and subsidiaries,
there is no technical or business justification for a Windows DCC
server, and plenty of reasons to be horrified.


Vernon Schryver    vjs@rhyolite.com