Native Windows GUI Support

Feature requests for the Windows version of Transmission
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aliendude5300
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:17 pm

Native Windows GUI Support

Post by aliendude5300 »

I must be going crazy... not only do I despise Microsoft Windows, I also don't think it would be easy at all to port transmission to Windows. In addition to that, having lots of native Windows code in the source for transmission would make the source code bloated. However, I think it would be great to get Transmission on Microsoft Windows for several reasons:
[*] It has more users than any other platform. Deny it as much as you want, but it's true.
[*] There are no open-source torrent clients on Windows that are better than Transmission. Vuze is incredibly bloated, and Deluge is okay, but I'd rather use Transmission.
[*] Native Windows support would attract more interest in the project, and this would also benefit Linux and Mac users, as there would be more people to find bugs, and more potential developers.
[*] I hate how many developers choose to only support Microsoft Windows, and sometimes Mac as well. Every piece of software should be available to everybody, open-source or proprietary. Not supporting Windows makes Transmission look as bad as them.
[*] With Native Windows support, Transmission mught actually exceed uTorrent's marketshare, making it not only the most popular open-source BitTorrent client, but the most popular torrent client overall.

I respect people's operating system of choice. How would you like it if you had to install a different operating system just to use an application? Most likely you would look for an alternative regardless of how good the application is. This is how Windows users feel about transmission, and it is why Transmission needs to, at some point in time, offer native Windows support.
Rolcol
Posts: 337
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:00 am

Re: Native Windows GUI Support

Post by Rolcol »

Are you signing up for the task? The problem is that the developers would need a lot of help to pull that off.
aliendude5300 wrote:[...] In addition to that, having lots of native Windows code in the source for transmission would make the source code bloated.[..]
The bloat would just be for the source files. Everything that is Windows-only would be removed by the preprocessor on non-Windows platforms before compilation. I've heard of success some have had about compiling the Qt interface on Windows and you may try that. It's not official, however.
aliendude5300
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:17 pm

Re: Native Windows GUI Support

Post by aliendude5300 »

I know a bit about coding, but I don't think I would be able to pull off a port of Transmission to Windows. I'd help if I could, maybe in the future when I get better at coding, I could possible make some patches to get this working.
rb07
Posts: 1400
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2008 3:14 am

Re: Native Windows GUI Support

Post by rb07 »

That's an old topic, see: http://forum.transmissionbt.com/viewtop ... f=1&t=7612

There's even a couple of pages on the Wiki: http://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Building describing several different builds, there's even a GTK+ build I showed in another forum post (and never put in the Wiki).

Try the QTr betas:

I just uploaded version 1.82 http://forum.transmissionbt.com/viewtop ... =15#p37848

Underline on the _beta_ it has been reported once as not working in server mode, I just use it to control a separate server, just like the Web client but with much more functionality.
Jordan
Transmission Developer
Posts: 2312
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 3:39 pm
Location: Titania's Room

Re: Native Windows GUI Support

Post by Jordan »

I agree that Windows support is one step along the way to Transmission's world domination.

However none of the development team even run Windows, and we're already stretched pretty thinly, so this isn't likely to happen from the existing team members anytime soon.

If there's someone out there that wants to make a native Windows GUI that wraps around libtransmission, please let us know. The good news for any potential volunteer is there's already an unofficial Windows binary of the Qt client, which means the backend libtransmission code should be good to go.
Tony49
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 8:20 am

Re: Native Windows GUI Support

Post by Tony49 »

A lot of private trackers are complaining that Azereus/Vuze and Utorrent are turning their backs on the Bittorent specification and on private trackers all together. A Stable Windows port is just what is needed. I know you hate Windoze and I could kill Bill Gates half the time but a port could do so much for Open source and *nix just like FF and Open Office have done. Please guys we may never get a new bittorrent client that works properly.
Jordan
Transmission Developer
Posts: 2312
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 3:39 pm
Location: Titania's Room

Re: Native Windows GUI Support

Post by Jordan »

aliendude5300 wrote:It has more users than any other platform. Deny it as much as you want, but it's true.
Who's denying it?
Tony49 wrote:I know you hate Windoze
I don't hate Windows. I'd rather be using Linux or OS X, but I have no major complaint with Windows 7.

Anyway like I said a Windows port of Transmission would be fine. Someone who wants to do the coding needs to volunteer... none of the current development team even run Windows. Please see my previous post...
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