[Lazarus] Inno Setup no longer supports Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me

[Sven Barth]

On 03.08.2012 13:30, Marco van de Voort wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 03, 2012 at 01:04:13PM +0200, Reinier Olislagers wrote:
>
>>> (win9x support might be something that will get harder when more unicode
>>> centric releases as fpc/trunk.7.1 come out, though the unicode changes are
>>> glacial at the moment)
>> That does sound like a good plan for FPC trunk.
>>
>> What do we do with Lazarus though?
>> At least the 1.0 code base would presumably need Win9x support.
>
> Note that I don't think it is a /good/ plan. It is IMHO simply the only
> sustainable compromise if win9x must be long term supported in all new
> releases.  (and it is a different question alltogether if we should, IMHO
> not. If I had my way it would have ended with 2.6.0 already)
>
> The only other (and IMHO better) solution is simply branch a FPC and Lazarus
> that still support it, and minimally maintain that ad infinitum.  That means
> maintaining two installs for people that target win9x, but at least it puts
> the burden where the pain is. Not on unsuspected devels that haven't touched
> win9x in ten years or longer.
>
>> http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Lazarus_Development_Process#Lazarus_branches_.2F_version_numbers_around_1.0
>> AFAIU, current trunk is 1.1.
>> We could e.g. branch it off and have a separate Win9x architecture
>> branch based on the (to be created) Win9x branch off FPC trunk in time
>> for 1.2?
>
> I don't know the tradeoffs for Lazarus. Widgetset is another dimension to
> the target platform, so it is an independent choice from what FPC does.
>
> Specially with crucial unicode decisions in limbo it is hard to predict a
> sane course.
>
> That's one other reason I don't like committing to support it. The future
> of FPC/Lazarus must be defined by other things than win95 support
> considerations.
>
> On the other hand, the current situation with nobody doing anything with
> win9x except whining when the release doesn't work (afterwards) is not going
> to continue. At least not with FPC.
>
> I'm not waiting or repacking on win9x issues popping up during release
> process anymore.  If it is going to be a viable target, people must work and
> test with it also between releases and with trunk.
>
> Same goes for Dos and OS/2 btw.

Somehow I have the feeling that we (FPC) have more testers for DOS and 
OS/2 than for 9x ;)

Regards,
Sven