Re: [Gretl-devel] Building gretl on Windows
On Mon, 4 Dec 2017, Summers, Peter wrote:
I'm a complete ignoramus when it comes to Linux/Unix/etc, so
please forgive a potentially dumb question: What are the
advantages of building gretl myself instead of using the Windows
version?
Not a dumb question, but I think the answer is this: Suppose you
have an idea for a bug-fix or enhancement, and your preferred
platform is Windows. Then you might want to download the git
sources, make the change you have in mind, recompile and test. Then
if your change works, you submit a patch (or possibly even commit
your change to git directly, if you have the rights to do so).
Up till recently this would not be possible, but now it is.
But for most users of gretl on Windows, you're right; there's no
advantage to building the program yourself if there are up-to-date
snapshots available. It's a bit different if you're a gretl user on
Linux, since the Linux distros only package the official releases,
so if you want a build that's up-to-date with git you have to do it
yourself -- even if you don't intend to make any changes to the
source code.
Allin