[Mono-list] Mono 1.1.13 has been released.

[Miguel de Icaza]

Hello,

> I have an application that works OK under 1.1.9.2 on Windows XP SP2 but
> is not as functional as I'd like because of the limitations of SWF in
> this (now) old version.  However, since 1.1.9.2 each release has failed
> to run the app for one reason or another - all problems reported and
> test cases provided.

Thanks for taking the time to file the bugs.

> I have a couple of questions arising from my trials.  The first is to
> ask whether I am the only Windows user of Mono and, if not, am I alone
> in experiencing problems trying to get applications to run?  It's
> reasonable to ask why someone should be interested in running Mono on
> Windows when the original .NET is available.  My reason is that Mono
> applications can be run without an install.  .NET requires a lengthy
> installation (and a reboot with 1.1 SP) that many administrators (if not
> users) will not consider.  Mono can be copied on (or even run from a
> memory stick).

You are not the only Windows user, but the Windows users of Mono are a
minority;  The major issue is that most of our developers are using
Linux (with a few exceptions).

I did not know that the Mono download was more practical than the .NET
download, that is good to know.   I will work with my team in addressing
the issues that you have though.

> The second is to ask if there is enough testing being on Windows.  The
> error in the trivial example below results from trying to return the
> root folder of the drive on which an assembly is located.  If there is
> no real motivation to support Windows, I'd welcome a statement to that
> effect so that know to look for an alternative solution.  Of course, I'd
> like Windows to be a supported platform but I can understand that it may
> not be priority for Novell.

The major issue is that our test-suite is not as complete as it should
be.  The particular error that you triggered was caused by our push to
fix many of the open bugs that had been lingering on the bug tracking
system and while fixing a bug in this iteration we broke this piece of
code (I believe I just saw a commit to fix this, the comments are at the
bottom here: http://bugzilla.ximian.com/show_bug.cgi?id=76191)

As for Windows support: you are right that it is not the top priority
for Novell products, but it is a priority of our group to keep the
Windows port solid for a number of reasons:

	* Some of the Novell employees working on Mono are still
	  Windows developer.

	* Many Novell employees continue to use Windows to develop,
	  and they need Mono to test their software on Windows.

	* It is an important reference and sanity check for Mono (we
	  actually use this routinely for ensuring that the io-layer
	  implementation is correct).

	* Today you just gave me a new reason to support Mono on 
	  Windows which I had not even thought of.

Am sorry that you had to run into these problems, and we will work to
address those in our next release.

miguel.