GENERAL: suggestions that should be implemented as we move to different compilers/OSs

[jonwil]

I think a good first step would be to get it to build with MingW32 (windows GCC port) with w32api (windows SDK headers for MingW).
Obviosuly this is in addition to porting to the .NET compilers.

Its likely that there will need to be some changes to the code to make this work, plus stuff that w32api needs added to it. Also, a new build system (I suggest a set of GNU Make makefiles) will be needed as MingW doesnt handle Visual C++ project files.

Also, I suggest a port from DirectX and MSS32 and so on to "open" libraries like SDL/OpenAL/OpenGL/whatever. Because this will make porting it to other platforms easier.

Once we have ported to MingW and to open libraries, porting to other platforms becomes much easier.

[Keygen]

Wouldn't be wiser to document and fix some bugs first and then port it to different compilers, APIs and operating systems?

I haven't seen much progress in documenting the code...

[Locutus]

I agree porting to other compilers and platforms is important to keep the attention of the open source/Linux/Mac communities, but it's also important to keep the attention of the gaming community by quickly bringing out a patch for the game.

Therefore, I think we should try to work on both issues simultaneously: have some programmers work on porting the game, while others work on bug-fixing of the current code-base. Once the port of the original source to other compiler or platform is complete, it should be easy to incorporate the bug-fixes, assuming the activities of both teams are documented properly.

[Leland]

Suggestion for build system: have a look at program called "jam" (link)which is supposed to be a lot simpler than make. Of course gcc and unix gurus will prefer the gnu make, but if that might be a bit too much of a threshold for VC++ spoiled kids who've never touched makefiles... besides, jam is compatible with gnu build process.