[flac-dev] PATCH for MSVC++ 2005 Express

[lvqcl]

Erik de Castro Lopo <mle+la at mega-nerd.com> wrote:

> Is there not a later free (as in free beer) version?

There are also 2008, 2010 and 2012 versions.

VS2012 Express requires Win7 to run (though it can create programs compatible with WinXP).
VS2010 Express works on WinXP. It is possible to compile x86-64 programs with it, but it requires Platform SDK (also free).
VS2005 and 2008 Express editions cannot create 64-bit apps.

> If there is, it
> makes little sense to keep maintaining project files for the old
> free version.

VS2005 and VS2008 use *.sln and *.vcproj files to store project settings, while 2010 and 2012 use *.sln, *.vcxproj (note x: vc_x_proj) and *.vcxproj.filters files. And it's not possible to easily downgrade project files from VS2010 format to VS2008 format.

I think that moving from VS2005 to VS2010 or 2012 is a good isea, but... for example, Winamp team still uses Visual Studio 2008 to build Winamp and all necessary libraries including libFLAC.dll.