Subj : Compile from source
To   : Digital Man
From : Yigael
Date : Sat Apr 06 2024 00:29:31

> Visual Basic isn't used or involved in the building of Synchronet at all.
> Microsoft Visual C++ (which is a component of Visual Studio) is, however.

Oh shoot.. I meant "Visual C++".  Serves me right for typing this at work. :\

> but not the GUI components: sbbsctrl.exe, useredit.exe, chat.exe. Those are
> built using Borland C++Builder 6 (still, yes I know, a very
> old/proprietary/commercial tool).

Borland is a name I haven't heard in a long time. I don't expect to ever mess
with that guy.

> All the required "modules" are in the Git repo. 

Sorry...I was referring to which components in Visual Studio Installer are
actually necessary for what I need. Tick the wrong boxes and you lose dozens of
gigabytes of drive space for no quantifiable reason.

> Since these tools and concepts seem so foreign to you, I'm curious *why* you
> want to build Synchronet for Windows from source? If you're new to Synchronet
> and new to programming, this doesn't sound like a great way path to success.
> Maybe start with a simpler project?

That is a good question.  One day I decided to install Synchronet BBS and start
customizing for no reason. Someday when I get everything working the way I
like, then I'll go live. For now it's the perfect excuse to see what it's like
to compile an open source project. I honestly thought it would be easy. But
getting this Microsoft product set up from scratch with all the necessary
components so it builds without errors is maddening.

Latest attempt:  I tried installing Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools and using
the developer console to msbuild sbbs3.sln, but I just see errors about the
v141_xp toolset being required. The only way to get that deprecated toolset is
use Visual Studio Installer, which leads to installing Visual Studio Community
2022, which leads me into the maze of trying to figure out which workflow and
components to install. Even after selecting practically everything in the list
(thus taking up 86 GB)  opening \src\sbbs3\sbbs3.sln project and clicking Build
it just errors out because it can't find a bunch of .h files (that aren't even
in the git).

There has got to be something I'm missing here.

/Chris

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