Re: Performance issues on Windows, suggests a MSVC build

[Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso]

On 22 June 2011 07:17, Michael Goffioul <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 11:47 AM, Ole Jacob Hagen
> <address@hidden> wrote:
>> * Linux: File loading + plotting: 3 minutes
>>
>> * Windows XP(MinGw): File loading + plotting: 30-40 minutes.
>>
>> File loading operation eg data = load('myoversizedlogfile.txt') is
>> using 80-90% of total time.

Does your log file have information about its size near the top that
Octave can use? That can speed things up, because otherwise Octave
does two passes through your whole file in order to read it.
Optimising the load() function for text data has been a longtime goal
of mine. Perhaps I will try again now.

>> I've read some discussion whether to support a MSVC build, or at
>> least keep it compilable. But the VC runtime library license  was
>> conflicting with GPL....as I understood it.
>>
>> Why does other GPL software on Windows ships VC run time library
>> with their GPL'ed software?
>
> At the time the issue was raised, the GPL FAQ entry you mention
> didn't exist and the situation was unclear. One CLN/GiNaC developer
> claimed I was violating GPL by distributing MSVC-compiled binaries,
> as the VC++ runtime libs didn't qualify as system libs. The
> situation has been now clarified. However it only concerns the
> linking issue. Shipping VC++ runtime libs is another story and the
> MS license most probably prevents you from doing it (at least when
> not using a commercial version of VC++).

I don't understand this. Are you suggesting that any binary compiled
with VC++ would need to distribute the VC++ runtime and this is
forbidden by VC++'s license?

> In the end, that episode, plus the constant "get yourself a better
> compiler" answer I got when reporting compilation issues with MSVC,
> just removed all the fun I had in providing MSVC binaries for
> octave. So I dropped the whole stuff and continued to support MSVC
> just for myself.

Since you're still compiling with MSVC, what issues are you running
into? We stick fairly close to the ISO C++ standard in general, don't
we? Are we relying too much on GNU extensions that gcc uses?

- Jordi G. H.