Drizzle on Windows - Libdrizzle

lately  I started thinking from a users point of view.
Web developers want to try drizzle. but many of them got windows platform for devleopment.
So they are not able to connect to drizzle server

so started seaching for options. found that i have 3 options.
1. Native compile the source using MinGW.
2. Take the help of cygwin to get posix platform
3. Coss-compile the source from Linux to windows.

Toru, Stewart and Monty responded to my views on drizzle-discuss.
Monty was already trying on libdrizzle for sometime.
and Toru also voted for libdrizzle first.
Monty's approach was to use option 3 with option 1.
(later i realized his approach is better and smart). like:

./configure --build=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --host=i586-mingw32msvc

everybody voted for libdrizzle to be available for windows first.
That voting makes sence because developer in windows should be able to connect to server first.

My step was to get libdrizzle compiled using cygwin.
cygwin gives full Linux system calls in a dll. that is a very big offer for me.
i could not deny that.

as expected everything went smooth in cygwin.
libdrizzle got compiled without any effort. and i am able to verify the connectivity from windows xp box.

Next step is very challenging.
(The step to compile libdrizzle on windows natively without help of cygwin1.dll)
for a non-programmer like me it is a herculean task.
Monty's working branch (lp:~mordred/libdrizzle/mingwport)
gave a kick start because he already done all background work.

after adding few more lines to Monty's work, (drizzle.h and conn.c )
I am able to compile files from mingw

it was bit challenging to figure out that following defines are must have (i added them to common.h)

#define WINVER WindowsXP
#define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0501

(otherwise haunting, "undefined reference to `freeaddrinfo'"and undefined reference to `getaddrinfo'"" like messages will come when you try to link)

My effort is to create static library which can be linked to make executable.
since configure and make are giving me trouble on windows, i tried handweave the compilation.
to see what is happening in the make
logged all commands executed when libdrizzle is getting compiled with cygwin
$>make V=1

more over go a good guidence from:
http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/cpp/gcc/create_lib.html

Step 1. compiling the library files:
all below executed in windows command prompt.

"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\drizzle.c  -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-drizzle.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\conn.c  -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-conn.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\conn_uds.c  -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-conn_uds.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\handshake.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-handshake.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\command.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-command.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\query.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-query.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\result.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-result.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\column.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-column.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\row.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-row.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\field.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-field.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\pack.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-pack.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\state.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-state.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c libdrizzle\sha1.c   -o libdrizzle\libdrizzle_la-sha1.o

Step 2. get the poll implementation on windows
cd libdrizzle\win32
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c poll.c   -o poll.o
cd ..\..

Step 3. Create a single static library (libdrizzle.a)
"C:\MinGW\bin\ar.exe" cru libdrizzle/libdrizzle.a  libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-drizzle.o  libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-conn.o libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-conn_uds.o libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-handshake.o libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-command.o  libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-query.o  libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-result.o  libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-column.o  libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-row.o libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-field.o libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-pack.o libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-state.o libdrizzle/libdrizzle_la-sha1.o libdrizzle/win32/poll.o

Step 4. Compile user program and link to the above created library.
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -I. -I"C:\MinGW\include" -c examples/simple.c   -o examples/simple.o
"C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe" -op -o examples/simple.exe examples/simple.o  ./libdrizzle/libdrizzle.a  -lwsock32 -lws2_32
cd examples

Step 5. Test the user program.
simple.exe -d test -h 10.97.93.243 -q "select * from t1"

I want to thank you Monty for the huge help and guidance i recived.

Resolution to get my hands wet on opensource

I took a resolution month back and it is working perfect for me.
being a open source enthusiast i did not contribute to community much.
so "i should concentrate on something for atleast 1 weeks and if it is interesting, work on that in coming weeks until something materializes". that was the resolution.
this started showing me magics.


First one was that i should work on "Firefox extensions".
That was a grant success inside the company appreciations and patches started flowing.
it automates most of my tasks inside the company.
In-fact, just like any Open Source effort, here also i was trying to scratch on my itch.
later i realized, it is not only solves myown problems, but others too..
I taught me a big lesson, most of us require opensource software to solve over problems
and it works even inside a closed system like a company