Input for Windows Support for Mynewt

[Wanda Chiu <wa...@happycity.com>]

Hello, 
I would like to get some feedback on whether there are currently users building Mynewt applications on Windows (not the docker option),  what development environment you are using or would like to use,  and any experience and input that you would like to share. Please reply to this email with your feedback.  
I am looking to add support for Windows as another development and testing environment for Mynewt applications instead of using the current docker option. One of the goals is to port the simulator that allows Mynewt applications to run on simulated hardware and I am evaluating options for this port. For example, do you have a preference for using a platform like cygwin that supports a POSIX layer, using native Windows API, or some other environment? 
Thanks,
Wanda

Re: Input for Windows Support for Mynewt

[Simon Ratner <si...@proxy.co>]

Yes.

Newt tool and the cross-gcc toolchain -- including gdb -- work quite well
on Windows (I use msys2, which is also what you get with the "Git for
Windows" package). The sim target does not, as you know, so simulated
unittests can't run on Windows right now. See also
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MYNEWT-546. I'd start with that.

As to which approach to take:

1. WSL in Windows 10: The existing sim target *should* just work. I have
not had a chance to try this yet, because WSL isn't quite ready for
full-time dev for other reasons (no USB serial support, although that is
coming in the next release, at which point I will move my workflow over to
WSL:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/wsl/2017/04/14/serial-support-on-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux/).
This is limited to Windows 10.

2. Native port (likely with mwing64/msys2 toolchain), or a portability
layer like cygwin. My preference here would be a native port, since I find
cygwin to be a very clunky environment to work with, and the tools already
work great without cygwin now.

3. Something integrated more closely into Visual Studio. Latest release has
support for external gcc toolchains, including in the Community edition,
which could provide a nice environment with integrated visual debugger etc.
I've played around with getting mynewt running on that, but ran into some
trouble with gdb integration that I didn't have time to resolve. With a bit
more effort (basically, just need to set up the right project template),
and a native port of the sim target, this could be quite a good setup for
many.

So for teams that are ok with Windows 10, I'd just do nothing and switch to
WSL. If you need earlier Windows versions, or want integration with VS, I
think a native port of the sim target is better, as it gives you the most
flexibility of the toolchain and is needed for both #2 and #3 above.

Cheers,
simon



On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 10:39 AM, Wanda Chiu <wa...@happycity.com> wrote:

> Hello,
> I would like to get some feedback on whether there are currently users
> building Mynewt applications on Windows (not the docker option),  what
> development environment you are using or would like to use,  and any
> experience and input that you would like to share. Please reply to this
> email with your feedback.
> I am looking to add support for Windows as another development and testing
> environment for Mynewt applications instead of using the current docker
> option. One of the goals is to port the simulator that allows Mynewt
> applications to run on simulated hardware and I am evaluating options for
> this port. For example, do you have a preference for using a platform like
> cygwin that supports a POSIX layer, using native Windows API, or some other
> environment?
> Thanks,
> Wanda
>