First, I want apologize. For the lack of a responses lately and because
I didn't include installation instructions in the latest release
notices, but they are still included in the readme that comes in every
release.
Second, I'd like to offer some background on why I chose the method of
distribution I did.
For a long time, GDC2 on Windows didn't work. That combined with the
constant work being done on GDC, I wanted to package only the minimal
number of files necessary. Since I'm using exactly the same
arguments(scripts really) as was used to compile TDM, it made it simple
enough to drop in the GDC bits.
That allowed the rapid updating to newer versions of GDC by extracting
into TDM-GCC again. Very useful when needing to test in an unpolluted
environment.
Starting with the first working release that supported TLS back in
January, things got complicated. Currently, there is a patch for GCC,
binutils, and the MinGW runtime required to support TLS. The GCC patch
makes TLS incompatible between D and any other language. The binutils
only adds new functionality and fixes a bug. The MinGW runtime files
can really break things, because I also had to update to a newer
version. This was something I did note in the last release.
I have submitted the binutils and runtime patches but haven't heard
much. The GCC patch needs cleaning up before I'm willing to submit it.
I also deliberately wanted the install to be done with a zip file to
keep away the faint of heart. GDC/MinGW contained many bugs and I
wanted it to be known it wasn't ready for use. Additionally, it also
allows rapid updating to more recent builds. Now that GDC is current
with DMD the need for rapid releases has disappeared and it may be
possible to release quasi-stable binaries.
I'm going to update GDC/MinGW to tip and release a new zip file. If
there are no serious issues and Iain agrees, I'll consider doing a beta
release and making an installer. Mostly it depends on if I feel that
the release can be usable long term. I really have no interest in
maintaining a fourth MinGW installer(mingw, mingw-w64, TDM).
Best Regards,
Daniel Green
