[Mono-list] Visual Studio and non-Windows deployment

[Jonathan Pryor]

On Wed, 2006-05-10 at 12:35 -0600, Glen Farrell wrote:
> I haven't read it all yet, but it sounds like I can just use VS2003 as 
> normal?

Mostly, yes.  Do be warned that when copying VS.NET-compiled code to
Linux/Mac you need to compile the code as "Release."  "Debug" code won't
always work reliably due to an undocumented data stream that Microsoft
sometimes uses (iirc, it's to speed up relinking).

> And during development I'd really only need the VSPrj2Make 
> add-in for an occasional test with Mono to make sure I'm not doing anything 
> that's not currently supported?

You only need VSPrj2Make if you need to _compile_ your code under Mono.
You don't need it to _run_ your code under Mono.

So the easiest approach is to compile & debug your code under VS.NET,
then XCOPY your compiled program onto Linux and run your program there.

(This is where unit tests are handy, as they allow automated execution
of your program to see if it works without needing to test everything by
hand.)

> And I don't have to worry about make files and NAnt builds until I'm ready 
> to deploy to Mac/Linux?

Compilation != Deployment.  Makefiles and NAnt builds are only needed
for compilation, not deployment (though they _can_ be used for these as
well).

Unless you create lots of new GAC assemblies, an XCOPY "deployment" to
your Mono machine should usually suffice.  (GAC assemblies will require
the use of `gacutil' to install the assembly, which you can do by hand
if necessary.)

 - Jon