I think you hit the point here
Crosscompiling should be easier,and even much quicker .

But i could not find any guide , so even if is the best way may become very hard for lack of informations

I know as example how compile Gimp and Gap on Linux for Ubuntu , and the result should work in any Deb
(Well i always did some errors and i often have to ask some help to solve, but at the end is correctly compiled )
but i have no the faintest idea on how adapt that process to crosscompile a Windows version

A pity also because i could even test the result on the real thing (xp and 7) not only in a emulated version...well i could if would be a result to to test.

But the point again may be find some info on crosscompiling, a guide with a language adapted to not_rocket_scientists would be the best

The question is simple, we (more or less) know how compile, then how we could adapt the process to crosscompile for Win xp and/or 7 ?
Answer may be more long a complex then question, but still should be possible in a readable language

I believe there is a difference Linux/Windows, that may confuse who know the process in linux and want adapt to Win

The difference is how Linux and Windows solve dependencies

In linux if 2 or more program use the same library that would be in a lib directory , external to both programs and just linked,in Windows often each has to include its own version, even if version are identical
So in Windows usually will be simply included as dll inside the program folder ,NOT in the general windows dll directory

(Windows program look for dll in Windows "System" or System32 or 64 directory , and in their own folder
So if in System or System 32 or 64 may be shared by other program BUT that usually bring havoc

If where are Dll used by several programs
1) may disappears because unistalled , by the unistaller of the program that added them
2)Or they may be left by unistaller , but in this case no any better for the high risk of conflicts with newer version or other dll that may be added by other programs)

So basically to avoid that dll Hell programs should be build as , or almost as Portable app and carry inside all what needed

And that is why when a Windows program has 2 version one portable
Many mysterious and weird malfunctioning and problems are solved simply switching to the portable version of same SW

Even gimp do this, it install its own GTK without checking is there a GTK used by other program, and all its needed libraries remain in the Gimp program folder, are no added to the chaos of System or System 32, where the risk of conflict with other dll is too high)

And same for less complex program and even for plugin, more self contained less the problems

Rod,

As I was working on this, a thought hit me (ow!): When you installed Gimp on your system, did you already have Perl installed? My reasoning for asking is that I came across some info that indicated that Gimp perl extensions are similar to those for Gimp python. Meaning that if Perl is installed and working when Gimp is installed, then the Gimp installer will automatically add the Perl extensions. If this is the case then maybe you only need to re-run the Gimp installer so it will see your Perl installation.

No i had perl before i installed Gimp, it just doesn't see Perl on windows i don't think. =)
Plus i didnt see any extra box to click for perl-fu when i installed 2.7.1

The configure script to compile gimp see's the perl installation though...go figure!

Python box was there to check, but not perl. (not sure if one is in there btw).

Anyways once you get the setup for gimp compile a certain way, it just works.No-one knows why.It's a very big mystery. Creation for Gimp new versions for windows installer are cross compiled i think.

As far as i know. no-one has been able to compile it on windows alone.At least i haven't heard of anyone doing it.

PC is correct, compiling gimp on linux is easy because all the dependencies are save in a perfect directory tree that never changes unless updated. This is exactly the reason windows cannot compile it easily, if at all.
If gimp was installed by source on windows, those dependencies would be saved in a global library for all programs to use system wide. Lib, bin, and dev folders.Also gimp header files and gegl, along with babl.

This is why i say, if you get it to compile, RAR or ZIP the entire directory setup (usr) , and upload it to a website directory i can dl it from...lol

You're probably familiar with all or most of this, but I'll put it down in case I forget.

I have a request for information in with Lightning, the person who said they had instructions on how to compile Gimp in windows, but the instructions were "broken." I understand he is(was?) a Gimp developer also, so perhaps I can get a meaningful response.

I see that PhotoComix and RobA also tried to get info from Lightning and the devs back in April of last year. Reading through some of the posts on the mail archive at gimp-developer, I discovered that Lightning modded his copy of the configure script so that it could find his Perl installation.

This whole thing does seem to be a "very big mystery" indeed. I mean, someone is obviously doing this compile, but they sure aren't publishing much about it - or at least Google doesn't seem to be able to find the info, and I thought they had the goods on everybody

Also, apparently there was at one time a GimpWiki that had compile instructions; however, the links to the wiki all seem to be dead. So, is there such a creature. I may try the Wayback Machine to see what I can find if it is now dead and gone.

NO
I compiled on Windows a previous version of Gimp (was 2.4)
Perl ,( more exactly Active Perl) was required to compile but that was of no any help to run Perl plugin

I believe the Perl gimp module is just broken (maybe because never updated), so may still,( more or less) works in linux but not in other OS

And about compiling don't forgot what i say above:

In Windows all the dependencies should be included in the program folder ( except for few obvious exception as NETframework, Java, Python ) , not linked.
Because that links get easily broken, more store libraries in shared directory usually lead to disasters (for different versions of same libraries creating conflicts) that could made not only the program but the whole OS unusable

This is something very confusing for linux users, (in linux would be something to frown upon, in Windows is simply needed
even if bloat the size of most windows SW)

Search for "Jernej Simoncic".

Here is one for you Bob.I didn't search google though.
http://www.search.com/search?q=Jernej+Simoncic

About the article on the Wiki it may be resurrected from Internet archives, but will be no more useful:
More then explain how to, basically was offering a couple of scripts that were doing everything
Now the scripts cannot be recovered from Internet Archives, and anyway are badly updated.


I believe last update in that Wiki was from Carlo Baldassi ( Liquid Rescale) on wikidot.com, i often thought to contact him to ask if he could give some additional tips, but for some reason i never did

last sh script i used Bob - try this

Bob you may have to change a few things such as MinGW location and Python version path.

Mess with the script a bit and see what you can do with it.

i read somewhere along this topic that you installed MinGw but not MSYS i believe the wiki procedure suppose also MSYS installed

Yes Bob installed camelbox to get the perl install, it came with MinGW.
You will also want to install wget for the above script Bob.You can get it in binary for windows here
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuwin3 ... e/download
and unzip here
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/unzip.htm

The installers will find the MinGW directory on its own at install.

I just re-installed Msysgit and i will try and compile it (Gimp 2.7.2), again using this sh script.
Here we go again! =)

were 2 scripts in the wiki ,that is one, but the other is still missing

Getting an odd error, trying to compile BABL; it is hanging looking for a file C:\babl-0.1.2\babl\base\.deps\babl-base.Tpo which doesn't exist, and I can't seem to figure out which file is calling for it, or what it is supposed to be used for.

Any clues?

What i did was compile BABL on its own then install it into your usr/ directory (it should by default anyways)
The script is looking for files that are not there yet.

If you think that's weird Bob, check this out.
I decided to run the script just to get the dependencies, and then compile BABL, GEGL, and then Gimp-2.7.2 in that order.
Here is what i fell into, and maybe you can find an explanation for what you ask. (moving BABL files around)
Exactly what i was trying to do was create a compile directions sort of speak for Gimp-2.7.2 on Windows XP-
Here they are and the error i finally got which totally stumped me:

*******************************************************************
DISCLAIMER:
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
*******************************************************************
First you will need to do a few things to get the Gimp compile to work.

First - Download the MinGW/Msys package
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/f ... e/download -
Select everything in the install pkg - including all the compilers, and the Msys developers files.
The download, and install will take a while have a cup of coffee, or some pie while it downloads,compiles, and installs everything you will need.It will do this automatically for you.
**********************************************************
install Perl from Activestate into C:\Perl - Note: it should do this by default
Copy your entire C:\Perl folder to - C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin (you will need the modules, and expat)
Install wget from here - http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm into C:\MinGW
Install unzip from here - http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/unzip.htm into C:\MinGW
*****************************
Sadly - The flamingtext.com site no longer hosts the nightly tarballs for BABL, GEGL, nor Gimp 2.7.2
They are selling, or have by now sold their domain.
LUCKILY! - i have them all uploaded to MediaFire here - Download them to your desktop -

BABL - http://download1321.mediafire.com/1af5v ... .2.tar.bz2
GEGL - http://download1081.mediafire.com/vrtmk ... .2.tar.bz2
GIMP 2.7.2 - http://download556.mediafire.com/9k7tp2 ... .2.tar.bz2

Note:I do have GEGL and BABL 0.1.3 versions also if you would rather use those, but they aren't required for compile.
PM me for the links

Unzip them all into your home directory, or wherever you will run your terminal from.
Usually it will be - C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\home\UserName
***********************************
COMPILE DIRECTIONS-

***********************************
OK - it's downloaded, installed, and ready to start compiling stuff. ... NO it's not
Time to run the compilegimp.sh script from your home directory in MinGW to get all the other dependencies you need. YES! - you need more. .. Copy the file compilegimp.sh to your MinGW home directory
Open your terminal in your home directory and type
./compilegimp.sh and hit enter.
The script will stop, and or error after the dependencies are downloaded and installed because it will run into a test error for babl files it needs to move..That's ok though.We just want the dependencies from this script.
They will be downloaded to a "gimp-packages-tmp" directory created by the script in your home directory (or wherever the sh script resides).
Copy the BABL-0.1.2, GEGl-0.1.2, and the Gimp-2.7.2 RARs into gimp-packages-tmp folder.
Time for another cup of coffee while these are installed for you
**************************************************
Note: After it's done - you no longer need this folder "gimp-packages-tmp"
Save that gimp-packages-tmp folder full of ZIP files after everything is downloaded for any future uses along with the compilegimp.sh script.Make sure and add the the BABL, Gimp-2.7.2, and GEGL RAR files to the folder also.
Put them somewhere you know you wont delete them ever.
Name it something like "My Gimp Compile Files". Zip the entire thing.
Place it in your safe! .... j/k
**************************************************
Ok the compiler is ready.
The dependencies are downloaded and installed.
We have GEGl, BABL, and Gimp-2.7.2 un-tarred.
Can we compile gimp now?
No - first we need to compile BABL-0.1.2
Open a terminal in your home directory and type-
cd babl-0.1.2
./configure
make
make install

If all goes well your babl libraries will be installed correctly
Find the babl.pc file in your install and make sure it's copied to the pkgconfig folders here -
C:\MinGW\lib\pkgconfig and here C:\MinGW\share\pkgconfig
NOW -
Open a terminal in your home directory and type
cd gegl-0.1.2
./configure
make
Now we need to make sure GEGL has all it's header files to make install correctly -
So - copy the babl folder from here
C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\local\include\babl-0.1
into the gegl folder here
C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\home\Compaq_Owner\gegl-0.1.2
Now that gegl.pc is made copy it to the pkgconfig folders where you put the babl.pc file.-
C:\MinGW\lib\pkgconfig and here C:\MinGW\share\pkgconfig
NOW
Open a terminal and type
make install

You are now faced with this error -

make[2]: Entering directory `/home/Compaq_Owner/gegl-0.1.2/gegl'
CCLD libgegl-0.1.la
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/4.5.2/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lbabl-0.1
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [libgegl-0.1.la] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/Compaq_Owner/gegl-0.1.2/gegl'
make[1]: *** [install-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/Compaq_Owner/gegl-0.1.2/gegl'
make: *** [install-recursive] Error 1

Compaq_Owner@Family-Room ~/gegl-0.1.2
$

So what to do now - -
This is where i got stuck - no lbabl-0.1 file to be found...so i went into my babl-0.1.2 file and found these three files
libbabl-0.1-0.dll
libbabl-0.1.la
libbabl-0.1.dll.a
You need to take these three files (copy them all at once).
Paste them in the C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\home\username\gegl-0.1.2\gegl folder
Then paste them in all folders under this diectory
C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\home\username\gegl-0.1.2\operations
********************************************************
type
make install
This is where i get thrown -
e -IC:/MinGW/include/freetype2 -IC:/MinGW/include -IC:/MinGW/include/libpng12 -IC:/MinGW/incl
ude/babl-0.1 -IC:/MinGW/include/libpng12 -g -O2 -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wmissi
ng-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -Winit-self -Wpointer-arith -Wold-style-definition -mmmx -
msse -c -o gegl-paint.lo gegl-paint.c
libtool: compile: gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.. -I.. -I../gegl -I../gegl -I../gegl/buffer -I../
gegl/buffer -I../gegl/property-types -I../gegl/property-types -I../gegl/buffer -I../gegl/buffer
-I../gegl/operation -I../gegl/operation -I../gegl/module -I../gegl/module -mms-bitfields -IC:/
MinGW/include/glib-2.0 -IC:/MinGW/lib/glib-2.0/include -mms-bitfields -IC:/MinGW/include/gtk-2.
0 -IC:/MinGW/lib/gtk-2.0/include -IC:/MinGW/include/atk-1.0 -IC:/MinGW/include/cairo -IC:/MinGW
/include/pango-1.0 -IC:/MinGW/include/glib-2.0 -IC:/MinGW/lib/glib-2.0/include -IC:/MinGW/inclu
de/freetype2 -IC:/MinGW/include -IC:/MinGW/include/libpng12 -IC:/MinGW/include/babl-0.1 -IC:/Mi
nGW/include/libpng12 -g -O2 -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-
declarations -Winit-self -Wpointer-arith -Wold-style-definition -mmmx -msse -c gegl-paint.c -D
DLL_EXPORT -DPIC -o .libs/gegl-paint.o
In file included from gegl-paint.c:24:0:
util/gegl-view.c: In function 'gegl_view_repaint':
util/gegl-view.c:507:3: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_widget_get_allocation'
/bin/sh ../libtool --mode=link gcc ../gegl/libgegl-0.1.la -LC:/MinGW/lib -lgio-2.0 -lgobject
-2.0 -lgmodule-2.0 -lgthread-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lintl -LC:/MinGW/lib -lgtk-win32-2.0 -lgdk-win32
-2.0 -latk-1.0 -lgio-2.0 -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lpangowin32-1.0 -lgdi32 -lpangocairo-1.0 -lpango-1.0
-lcairo -lgobject-2.0 -lgmodule-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lintl -LC:/MinGW/lib -lbabl-0.1 -LC:/MinGW
/lib -lpng12 -g -O2 -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-decla
rations -Winit-self -Wpointer-arith -Wold-style-definition -mmmx -msse -o gegl-paint gegl-paint
.lo


-lcairo -lgobject-2.0 -lgmodule-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lintl -LC:/MinGW/lib -lbabl-0.1 -LC:/MinGW
/lib -lpng12 -g -O2 -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-decla
rations -Winit-self -Wpointer-arith -Wold-style-definition -mmmx -msse -o gegl-paint gegl-paint
.lo
libtool: link: gcc -g -O2 -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-de
clarations -Winit-self -Wpointer-arith -Wold-style-definition -mmmx -msse -o .libs/gegl-paint .
libs/gegl-paint.o ../gegl/.libs/libgegl-0.1.dll.a -LC:/MinGW/lib -L/mingw/lib /home/Compaq_Own
er/gegl-0.1.2/gegl/libbabl-0.1.dll.a -lgthread-2.0 -lgtk-win32-2.0 -lgdk-win32-2.0 -latk-1.0 -l
gio-2.0 -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lpangowin32-1.0 -lgdi32 -lpangocairo-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -lcairo -lgobjec
t-2.0 -lgmodule-2.0 -lglib-2.0 C:/MinGW/lib/libintl.dll.a /mingw/lib/libiconv.dll.a ../gegl/lib
babl-0.1.dll.a -lpng12 -L/usr/local/lib -L/mingw/lib
.libs/gegl-paint.o: In function `gegl_view_repaint':
C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\home\Compaq_Owner\gegl-0.1.2\examples/util/gegl-view.c:507: undefined referen
ce to `gtk_widget_get_allocation'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[3]: *** [gegl-paint] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/Compaq_Owner/gegl-0.1.2/examples'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/Compaq_Owner/gegl-0.1.2/examples'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/Compaq_Owner/gegl-0.1.2'
make: *** [all] Error 2

Compaq_Owner@Family-Room ~/gegl-0.1.2
$

can't figure this out yet so................
****************************************************
I decided to download and compile GLIB (needed for Gimp compile) - go here to get it
ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/glib/2.24/ make sure to choose glib-2.24.1.tar.gz - download and unzip it into your home directory.

Open your terminal and type
cd glib-2.24.1
./configure
make

Go get a cup of coffee, it takes awhile to make GLIB.
BEFORE you make install - remove all traces of GLIB installed from the MinGW installer.(libs and header files)
If you do not, the Gimp configure script will find older headers(2.22.0) for newer libs (2.24.1)
make install
Go get another cup of coffee ..
This is much faster i was just kidding
Copy the glib-2.0.pc file to your pkgconfig folders like your gegl and babl files above.
C:\MinGW\lib\pkgconfig and C:\MinGW\share\pkgconfig

**********************************

There will be more to come stay tuned for further Gimp compile developments!

I am now wondering if i need the libglib-dev files?

Rod,
FWIW, when I decided a few moths ago to compile GIMP for Linux from source (as my distro wasn't offering 2.6.11 in the repos yet), I made a point as I was hunting down dependencies to get the development files for everything.

Of course, one of the nice things about Linux is it has a couple of tools that make this whole process sooo much easier. I am particularly in love with a tool called "auto-apt": when you run configure under auto-apt, it will automatically pull nearly all dependencies from the repositories and install them. Usually, if it misses dependencies, it is because Ubuntu tends to rename some libraries for backwards compatibility - when they get installed links are built so that the libraries can be found under both the old and new names.

So you are up-to-date with my progress - or lack of it - I went through yesterday and purged my XP VM of all development environments and reinstalled the complete MinGW package. I'm hoping a fresh start will give me a new perspective. I did not install the ActiveState Perl. I got my Perl install from the Perl site itself, and the gimp build script seems to find it okay (so far).

I mentioned above in a comment to PC that if I have also considered re-installing my MS Visual Studio, although I have absolutely no idea if it would be a help or not.