RE: Compilers, SDK support roadmap

Just wondering what the value is in doing both VC8 and VC9.
Shouldn't we just go with latest and greatest or are there some other
third party dependencies we are struggling with?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pierre Joye [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:49 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: Andi Gutmans; Amit Roseberger
> Subject: Compilers, SDK support roadmap
> 
> Hi,
> 
> The 5.3 release period is the right time to begin a little discussion
> about which compilers and SDKs we can support, officially or as
> convenience.
> 
> Why change anything in this area and why it matters?
> 
> We met (and still meet) many issues in our dependencies because of
> VC6. The growing users base of win64 users (be 2k3 or the fresh 2k8
> x64 or Itanium) have been constantly asking for better support or
> native builds. As the bleeding edges Microsoft can't be supported in
> 5.3, it makes possible to provide experimental releases while moving
> to more recent compilers and SDKs.
> 
> Please find a little table listed all versions we use in our wiki:
> 
> http://wiki.php.net/internals/windows/compiler
> 
> http://wiki.php.net/internals/windows/windowssdk
> 
> What I would like to propose is:
> 
> * VC6
> Officially supported for 5.2 and 5.3. We can then drop it for any
> release after 5.3 (be 5.4 or 6.x)
> 
> *VC7/7.1
> Drop it altogether and stop to provide/update the libraries in our
> repository. Too much work for zero gain/users.
> 
> * VC8-x86
> Officially supported for 5.3 and for 6.x (snaps for now :)
> 
> * VC8-x64
> Experimental releases (not from www.php.net/downloads, other OS
> specific builds will be provided like for Server 2k8) for 5.3 and
> official support for the next release (be 5.4 or 6.x)
> 
> * VC9 (x86/x64)
> Officially supported for 5.3 and for 6.x while keeping VC8 support
> 
> --
> Pierre
> 
> http://blog.thepimp.net | http://www.libgd.org