Do older compilers need older IDE versions? lazarus / 34-Windows ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C0m3b4ck · 2026-03-26 16:51 I am making an app intended for Windows 95 to Windows 11, that is why I use the old and clunky Lazarus 1.6.2. My question is - could I just install a newer version, yet port over the old compiler, or is an old IDE required for an older compiler? After all, you can modify and add flags in the IDE that are passed to the compiler, a newer IDE version might not support that. Thank you for your time! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Martin_fr · 2026-03-26 17:05 Any IDE should be able to use (call) any version (at least any older) of the compiler. So, if you have a program that can be compiled with fpc 2.x then you can use any IDE to compile it. But... You may experience codetools (code navigation) not working (though I would not expect any real issues with that. But... That is about the IDE. The LCL is different. If you have the latest LCL, then that will not compile with an much older FPC. You likely work with forms? buttons, etc? Then you use the LCL. And if you need an older LCL you likely need the fitting Lazarus version for the IDE too. In theory (with some workarounds and limits) you may be able to match and mix. But that is a case by case, getting it to work. - if you edit the form, you really want the old Lazarus version => or you get incompatible lfm files - if you have a compiled exe, you could use a newer lazarus version to debug it (but you need to point it to the old LCL, and ideally prevent it from recompiling the exe) ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JuhaManninen · 2026-03-26 17:13 When was Windows 95 support removed? I remember it was much later than Lazarus 1.6.2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dsiders · 2026-03-26 17:23 Quote from: JuhaManninen on March 26, 2026, 06:13:46 pmWhen was Windows 95 support removed? I remember it was much later than Lazarus 1.6.2. According to the release notes, 3.0.0 was the first version where Win95 is unsupported. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JuhaManninen · 2026-03-26 17:40 Ok, I remembered wrong. The Lazarus support ended in 1.6.2 in year 2017. I found a forum thread. https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php?topic=35893.30 The main problem was lack of maintenance and testing. If somebody wanted to maintain Windows 95, it would still be possible. It would be a separate widget set, that's what I understood. It would require a FPC version that supports Windows 95, too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thaddy · 2026-03-27 04:52 FPC officially does not support Win95 since version 3.0.0 and actually since 2.6.X 2.6.4 works, due to a third-party patch. https://wiki.freepascal.org/User_Changes_3.0#Windows_9x_series_unsuppo rted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- marcov · 2026-03-31 08:42 Note that was when the last of win9x was dropped, but that was mostly based on Bart's patches that were only tested on WinME. _All_ windows 9x versions, including original Win95 (with the original comctrls) is a totally different matter.  IIRC only versions that ran IE6 were effectively supported in the end. The IE6 install upgraded the system libs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C0m3b4ck · 2026-05-01 06:30 Quote from: marcov on March 31, 2026, 10:42:08 amNote that was when the last of win9x was dropped, but that was mostly based on Bart's patches that were only tested on WinME. _All_ windows 9x versions, including original Win95 (with the original comctrls) is a totally different matter.  IIRC only versions that ran IE6 were effectively supported in the end. The IE6 install upgraded the system libs. Yes, I noticed that - Windows 95 outright won't support compiled binaries, Windows 98 SE1 has trouble with that, but SE2 seems to be more smooth with its support.