RE: [Sheflug] Re: TopPage info for Sheffield Linux User Group

[Al Hudson <nospam [at] york.ac.uk>]

On Sat, 20 May 2000, Craig Andrews wrote:

> I just realised what you said here :-)

I think you missed my point though ;))

> Wine isn't anything like vmware. In fact, it's so totally different that
> they can hardly be compared.

I wasn't comparing the two necessarily; I was comparing the fact that in
both cases we're talking about software that runs other software natively
- this is why you don't get vmware or wine for anything other than x86.

> Vmware is a VM, it simulates a machine on which an ACTUAL OS can run, so
> you really are running Windows.

Not quite. It provides a virtual machine, but it doesn't simulate it - it
relies on the hardware to trap certain functions which it then provides
the services for. It doesn't, for example, emulate a CPU - all the code
runs natively.

> Wine, however, is not. With Wine, you use a library which translates Win32
> API calls to X11 equivelants (read the wine README, thats what it
> says!) In actual fact, Wine is not an API. It is a wrapper and a filter.

Wine *isn't* an API, but it *has* an API (i.e., the Win32 API). Yes, it
translates Win32 API to X11 (& others), but the basics are: it is a binary
loader (so that .exes can be loaded into memory), and the Win programs
that run, run natively. 

> You cannot develop Win32 programs under Linux.

Er, yes you can. I know of plenty of people who run mingw32 in
cross-compiler mode; it's not difficult. I think you mean you don't use
Wine to develop win32 binaries; even that's not quite the case.

> You can only run
> precompiled binaries using said wrapper and filter. From every respect you
> look at it, it is not an API. The only time it will become an API is when
> a) kernel support for Windows binaries is available (is it already ?)

All the kernel support needed is there, yes. All non ELF binaries have
moved to MISC, including Java. 

> b) wine can be used as a development library, not just runtime

So Corel didn't port their stuff using Winelib? Wine *isn't* just
runtime..

> c) gcc can compile win32 binaries.

mingw32 ;) gcc can (theoretically) compile *any* binaries - I have gcc
which compiles linux-x86, obviously, but I can also target MIPS/Irix,
68010/RTEMS, and that's just on my personal system.

> Only then will wine be an API 

I still don't agree with that ;)

Cheers,

Alex.

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