MS windows and gnupg

[M.R.]

On 16/09/11 23:20, Robert J. Hansen wrote:
> My question, though, is -- why?  What do the MS compilers give us?
> I can't see any compelling reason to do this.

How about a large user base that already has that tool set at
hand, and has a natural resistance to install another tool set
they are not familiar with and have no use for other than to
build one single application package? MS compilers give ~us~
(you and me, I guess) nothing, but we must not look at the
world through ~our~ keyhole.

I very much believe gnupg should be available to the users of
MS operating systems, and it is not this that our discussion
here is all about. Selection of an operating system is a complex
matter, often influenced by factors outside the user's control,
and it is naive of the application creator to assume that
someone's decision on what OS he chooses will be driven by his 
particular application.

It should also be a matter of craft pride on the part of a
programmer that his clean C shell program will build with
no errors in a simple shell script on all three major platforms
with the most common compiler and link-editor found on it.
Something like that should be especially important with
security applications, where it is advantageous - if not
mandatory - that the end user has the ability to crate his
the executable from the source code.

Mark R.