I've also been trying to build Pennmush 1.8.3p6 using MinGW + MSys.
The major point I get stuck on is that I have no socket-related files on my system. In configure there's a call to "-lsocket" which I presume means the system requires something like libsocket.a and associated headers (?)
Does anyone who's successfully built pennmush with MinGW know where I can get the required files from? Is there a port of libsocket for MinGW (In vain I tried an old set from djgpp but it produced numerous errors and google came up with several old, broken links).
Edit: The MinGW instructions don't say anything about moving headers from the /Win32/ folder. Is that right?
When you say mingw, do you mean Cygwin? I am pretty sure it will build without any hassle with Cygwin.
I think with Cygwin all the required files are part of the download, you don't need to copy Windows DLLs from anywhere to anywhere. Bear in mind the default download for Cygwin probably doesn't have developer tools, just make sure you activate things like gcc and make when you download it.
MinGW is a "minimalist GNU for Windows" (www.mingw.org/). It's not the same as Cygwin, though the accompanying MSys environment is Unix-style. I've been trying to avoid MinGW and Cygwin as I'm far more used to Windows than Unix, but have yet to find a free toolkit that I can use that will build pennmush ... so I'm being nudged in that direction :)
There are instructions on the site for compiling with MinGW+MSys, though they make no mention of additional libraries and tools over and above the default install.
btw, looks like MinGW + MSys + ActiveState Perl requires the following additional unmentioned tools and libraries (some of which may be optional, not sure):
not libcrypt outside US (export restrictions)
[mysql]
[openssl]*
gettext (the archives at the MingGW site also provide libintl and libasprintf dlls, and binaries such as msgfmt used by make install), itself requiring libiconv
pcre
zlib
socket library (libsocket?)
libnsl (?)
* Libraries need renaming, according to a site I found, "On Linux and on Macintosh these are: libssl.a and libcrypto.a, while on Windows they are named libeay32.a and ssleay32.a". Configure uses the former: -lssl an -lcrypto.
I would just bite the bullet, download Cygwin (let it run overnight if you have to), and then you are done. It seems pretty reliable to me, and you are most likely to get help with Cygwin rather than Borland, or the other offshoots.
Yes, I'll bite the bullet today, Nick. Thanks for the advice. Need to clear out a lot of clutter from my machine first from previous build attempts :)
Across at the pennmush community, Talvo tells me he found cygwin a lot easier and stopped using MinGW. He found issues with the latest 1.8.3p6 so he suggested trying 1.8.3p5.