[vlc-devel] wxUnicode: no support < Win-NT/2000/XP

[· zcot ·]

hi guys,

the latest sources have lost support for Win9x.  Unfortunately wxWidgets 
just bombs that whole scenerio and offers a friendly dialog instead:

wxWidgets Fatal Error:
This program uses Unicode and requires Windows NT/2000/XP.
Program aborted.

I've been messing around trying to figure a way around it. I can imagine a 
few variations but don't quite have the knowledge and experience to 
implement it, or frankly to even attempt to implement it.. O_O

Three solutions I have thought are possible are:

1. don't support win9x.
2. don't use unicode on win9x.
3. use unicode on Win9x.

=======================

#1. http://www.videolan.org/stats/200509/awstats.videolan.osdetail.html

#2. if there were 2 options for the static libs within the contrib then I 
could imagine this working.. -the new existing one with unicode and one as 
before w/o.  But then what happens in configure? and bootstrap maybe? It 
appears from my perspective(of being fairly clueless of all the auto file 
and configurationing etc.) that tweaks could span quite a few files if this 
was to be a viable option.

And I would guess that in some configuration sequence the system would have 
to be checked for version appropriately.. -or maybe that part could be as 
simple as a config opt? --with-win9x or --with-winnt ? who knows..

so that thought involves seeing the 2 variations of systems as different 
with one being able to use unicode and the other not.. -maybe not a great 
design.  And I guess this would mean crazy programming too with alot of 
#ifdef undef !def !labh #b-lah stuff everywhere.

This design seems to have quite a bit of drawback.. -at least from my 
perspective.

However, I've dug out some more info and I do know for a fact that unicode 
programs can run on win9x systems, and apparently it can be done with wx as 
well, though there are some drawbacks here too mainly being that a 3rd party 
dll will be needed(unicows.dll).

/* And then additionally who knows how the wxWidgets lib will develop to 
support this issue? and how and/or when?  I realize that the some of the 
exact same lib calls did not act bad in previous versions and were offering 
forward "limited support" toward unicode, but now those same calls are not 
even non-unicode compatible it seems. wth?! blegh.. */

anyway, #3. use unicode

And I assume in this kind of setup(from the build perspective) it would be a 
matter of using the unicode option as pointed out here:
http://g.yi.org/?f=12666#unicodesettings

and that the vlc codebase would be a much cleaner and more consise 
implementation.. -probably with less needed patchings(due to future changes 
in wx?) and special attention toward 2 variations.

here's an old post from the wxForums from 2 months ago:
http://www.solidsteel.nl/users/wxwidgets/viewtopic.php?t=3514&highlight=win9x+unicode

line 1048 of C:\cygwin\usr\win32\include\wx-2.6\wx\msw\setup0.h:
#ifndef wxUSE_UNICODE_MSLU
    #define wxUSE_UNICODE_MSLU 0
#endif
(so win9x will need to specify `wxUSE_UNICODE_MSLU')

I'm gonna drop this line in the vlc widgets.h and try that:
#define wxUSE_UNICODE_MSLU 1

or maybe better would be:
#ifdef wxUSE_UNICODE_NT
    #define wxUSE_UNICODE_MSLU 0
#elseif wxUSE_UNICODE_9x
    #define wxUSE_UNICODE_MSLU 1
#endif

or actually the best might be getting the autotools to handle a config 
switch:
...? O_O

Here's a potential area I think:
Changeset [12764] by damienf:
I am really clueless on these type of hieroglyphics, but I think something 
could be pushed around there maybe like a mslu flag?
(..and in this scenerio I think no code would need changes, only whatever 
configurationing changes would pull it off properly.. and the contrib 
remains as is.)

Changeset [12762] by courmisch: wx requirements
"Now require wx2.6 with Unicode support".. so these things can move closer 
to that.

geez, I wish I had a better handle here..

in trunk/modules/gui/wxwidgets/wxwidgets.h:
#define wxUSE_UNICODE 0
alone doesn't work I'm guessing since there's no non-unicode static lib 
option(not to mention a configuration that would account for it).

Anyway, I'm going to be trying various things, but of course any direction 
would be quite useful I'm sure since, well, frankly, I am stabbing in the 
dark.

Hopefully some of this is useful.. too bad I can't just work up a changeset, 
but at least I feel I've encapsulated alot of the related points and 
communicated what I've found. :/

zcot

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