Re: NULL user data ...

[Philippe Lhoste <PhiLho@...>]

> Why there is not a word about it on http://www.lua.org/download.html?

Good question, perhaps because it is only a patch, not yet an official
release.

> And why only as a patch?

For fast download? And probably because Lua authors didn't had the time yet
to make a full release. I recall they mentioned their intention to do so.

> It seems a bit confusing to me. Advocating Lua is
> already hard (because of existing "beliefs"), but if I have to explain
> "First download this file, then this other from somewhere else, then find
a
> Unix system, then de-gzip the files in this order, then untar them [try
> explaining this to a Windows user],

? I have a Windows box and have no trouble to handle .tar.gz files.
Actually, I routinely download these files in preference to .zip files
because they are smallers.

Most modern unzippers handle them nicely. I use the UltimateZip freeware and
is happy with it despite some glitches that I put on the beta status. The
only hassle is that .tar.gz are opened, showing a .tar file. I asked the author
to untar it automatically but it is not high on his list of priorities.

Another hassle are .tgz files, where usually the tar file has no extension,
so isn't gracefully handled on Windows. I have to uncompress it, add the .tar
extension and go on.
But I am OT, I fear.

You can find also gzip and tar executables for Windows, there is Cygwin
versions, but I prefer to use those at
http://www.weihenstephan.de/~syring/win32/UnxUtils.html

> then transport them all back on your
> box, fix this incompatibility with the Borland compiler [is it just my
> senile memory?], then compile ignoring those "undefined structure"
> warnings. See? Is was easy"...

Did these warning were reported to the Lua team? They usually are quite
responsive for such problems.

> Please understand that I write this because I like Lua a lot. I am
> _definitely_ not advocating a Windows installer or something of that sort,

(Sigh of relief :-)

> but most people is used to get a .zip file of the latest complete version
> (as an alternative to a tar.gz). Removing a hurdle should do no harm.
> 
>   Enrico

You can fetch Lua binaries from alternative sources, like my site or THLua,
for example. See the Lua distributions on http://lua-users.org/wiki/LuaAddons

Now, perhaps indeed providing a .zip file of the sources can be a good idea,
zlib can be used for that, I think, with little work.

Regards.

-- 
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Philippe Lhoste (Paris -- France)
Professional programmer and amateur artist
http://jove.prohosting.com/~philho/
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