[Lazarus] Alternatives to WinCE (Windows Mobile)

[Sven Barth]

On 01.09.2012 17:09, Bernd wrote:
> 2012/9/1 Sven Barth <pascaldragon at googlemail.com>:
>
>> Those apps then use the APIs
>> provided by WinRT and only those. The operating system can then check
>> whether the application behaves "good" and only uses that APIs and then
>> allows to run it on "locked down" versions of Windows like the ARM version
>> of Windows 8
>
> What about information like this:
> https://forums.embarcadero.com/message.jspa?messageID=484319#484319
>
[snip]
>
> or this one: https://forums.embarcadero.com/message.jspa?messageID=484771#484771
>
[snip]

Thank you for the quotes. This is exactly what I feared.
>
> When reading such things about Delphi's problems I wonder what this
> all means for FPC, Especially the following:
> * will it ever be possible to build any kind of .exe for RT that will work?
> * will it at least be possible to compile a .dll that can be loaded by
> a native RT app?

If you want to make WinRT apps you'll need to add a new target to FPC 
that adheres to the WinRT rules and binds to the RTL DLL mentioned in 
those quotes...

> * what exactly does "Win32" and "Win64" mean in the above quote in the
> context of WinRT/ARM, he is talking about ARM code, isn't he? Would
> the SafeSEH problem affect FPC programs or libraries too?

WinRT is what drives Metro apps. They are used on all three Windows 
platforms (x86, x86_64 and ARM) though on ARM they are the only possible 
way (without hacking Windows) for custom applications.

> * will FPC be usable for anything at all on WinRT?

In it's current state: No.

> * If the answer to the above is no then would it help to implement a
> .NET bytecode target in FPC, would this improve the chances of making
> it usable?

A .NET backend would at least solve the issue to have code written in 
Free Pascal running with WinRT, but you'd have the same problem as with 
the JVM backend: little to no code reuse (and someone would need to step 
up to develop a code generator which is not easy cake either).

It seems that from the perspective of a compiler developer WinRT is more 
tightly locked down than iOS... :(

Regards,
Sven