ll_2dslider fails to compile

[burgersmoke]

I did not try under another OS, but ll_2dslider fails to compile under Windows. Here is the code in question (in ll_2dslider.c):

void ll_2dslider_outlet_chars(t_ll_2dslider *x, t_symbol *s, char *array){
    t_atom buf[x->ll_amount];
    short i;
    for(i=0;i<x->ll_amount;i++) atom_setlong(&buf[i], array[i]);
    outlet_anything(x->ll_box.b_ob.o_outlet, s, x->ll_amount, buf);
}

Here are the compilation errors I get when compiling under Visual Studio 2019:

Severity    Code    Description    Project    File    Line    Suppression State
Error    C2057    expected constant expression    ll_2dslider    C:\git\ppooll_externals\ll_2dslider\ll_2dslider.c    862    
Error    C2466    cannot allocate an array of constant size 0    ll_2dslider    C:\git\ppooll_externals\ll_2dslider\ll_2dslider.c    862    
Error    C2133    'buf': unknown size    ll_2dslider    C:\git\ppooll_externals\ll_2dslider\ll_2dslider.c    862  

NOTE: I'm working now on fixing this code so that it can compile on Windows. I'll assign this to myself and push a fix assuming it works at runtime.

[burgersmoke]

I have a fix for this prepared which I think is good, but I currently do not have rights to push into this repo. Could you grant me permissions @klausfilip ?

[burgersmoke]

I just pushed a fix for this with this commit: ce6b3ef

[klausfilip]

thanks!! this sounds like the external should be also recompiled for osx, can you confirm this?

[burgersmoke]

Great question. I was going to ask you this exact question. The reason I am confused is that since these (.mxe and .mxe64) are binary files which require compilation, I was wondering how different OS binaries are used currently.

Specifically, I was looking at the folder that has these for ppool (https://github.com/ppooll-dev/ppooll/tree/main/externals/filip) and I was wondering how this works currently. Since these are binaries, I was somewhat expecting that there might be different folder or naming convention for each OS like Windows and OSX. Instead, I just see .mxe and .mxe64 files.

So if there were to be compilation for OSX, I was not sure where they would go in the repo.

[klausfilip]

hmm there are .mxo builds for osx and .mxe(64) builds for windows.
i was just wondering, that building these for osx did not result in the same error. but i will test this later.

[klausfilip]

as for the other externals, namely ll_number, there was this issue with win10 or win11 with
Error 126 loading external ll_number
i am not sure if this was in 64bit or 32bit architecture.
can we ask sambamate on discord to test already, or do we need a .mxe build?
how is this on windows? is the new max always 64bit there as well?
(.mxo's i can build for all architectures)

[burgersmoke]

hmm there are .mxo builds for osx and .mxe(64) builds for windows. i was just wondering, that building these for osx did not result in the same error. but i will test this later.

OK, I had to go inform myself. I had not found this documentation before, but this makes sense that:

• .mxo is OSX
• .mxe is Windows 32 bit
• .mxe64 is Windows 64 bit

https://cycling74.com/sdk/max-sdk-8.2.0/chapter_platform.html#chapter_platform_mac

So far I have only built Windows 64 bit. Also, when I ran cmake on my machine, it did not create a 32 bit configuration for build. So if we want to build that, I'll see if I might need to provide optional flags.

[burgersmoke]

Meanwhile, as far as these questions

as for the other externals, namely ll_number, there was this issue with win10 or win11 with Error 126 loading external ll_number i am not sure if this was in 64bit or 32bit architecture. can we ask sambamate on discord to test already, or do we need a .mxe build? how is this on windows? is the new max always 64bit there as well? (.mxo's i can build for all architectures)

I don't think sambamate or the other user said if they were on 32 bit or 64 bit Windows, but it's becoming more rare to find anyone running 32 bit Win10 (and Win11 is 64 bit only, thank goodness).

I have a lot of work to do today, but later tonight I'll try to see if I can compile the .mxe files for 32 bit Windows just in case.

Also, since I don't have a OSX machine, I would not be able to compile those, but it seems like it would be a good idea to compile them so that we know that all externals are at parity with each other for the following ppooll releases.

Thank you @klausfilip for being patient with me and teaching me all of this stuff. I am honored to be helping in any small way that I can!

[klausfilip]

i built a new ll_2dslider.mxo with your changed code.
i can do the osx builds of course ;)

[burgersmoke]

Fantastic. Thanks @klausfilip !

[burgersmoke]

@klausfilip As far as the 32 bit issue, I had a vague memory that Cycling 74 discontinued 32 bit support awhile ago. It appears from this post that this is true. This would also make sense why my cmake execution did not allow a 32 bit configuration. It looks like this started with Max 8.x and forward.

Do you think we should remove the .mxe files from externals then? Seems like we could to make things simpler for us.

https://support.cycling74.com/hc/en-us/articles/360050778693-Information-about-64-bit

From the above:

With Max 8, we discontinued 32-bit support. This means that Max 8+ is a 64-bit only application. Max 7 and Max 6 can run as either 32-bit or 64-bit.