[Xorp-users] Announcement: End-of-life on Windows support in XORP community branch

[Bruce Simpson]

Bruce Simpson wrote:
> ...
>     There are no free [1] toolchains available for systems-level C/C++ 
> development on the Windows platform at the moment, apart from MinGW. 
> This is a big factor in this decision.
>
>     Unfortunately, whilst I've personally raised the issue with both the 
> SUA/Interix community, and the Microsoft technical leads for Windows 
> Networking, I have received no replies from either of them. See here:
>     http://www.suacommunity.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=16790
>     http://www.suacommunity.com/forum/Default.aspx
>     
> http://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=BTQe0euUEEB40X_2fdXg5mOtRGmb_2bcU2sVnn6cLg44Qxk_3d
>
> An official announcement about this matter from Microsoft is still pending.
>   

If you check the SUA Community site again now, it seems Microsoft have 
given them something of a reprieve -- for now. Again, for how long 
Microsoft's support of SUA will continue, is undecided and unknown, and 
they have not formalized that commitment beyond what SUA Community 
themselves have heard.

Regardless, our decision to end-of-life Windows support still stands.

It would be ideal if we could get patches pushed back to MinGW, or 
otherwise see the XORP code build with a well-supported C++ compiler on 
the Windows platform.

The work to do this, in community XORP's current state, isn't too 
difficult; it just needs someone to step up and do it. However, it is 
very likely that Windows support will be broken by future changes to the 
XORP stack. Portability is an issue which would have to be revisited by 
any interested party after the refactoring, and ongoing participation 
would be essential to such an effort.

Should a user or client come forward, who is willing to take on the work 
of Windows platform support, or otherwise sponsor or conduct such work, 
then this decision may be re-considered.

thanks,
BMS