Re: [ros-dev] Distinguish between Windows and ReactOS

[Oliver Schneider]

Hi Nick,

On 2018-11-05 18:09, Nick Surfer wrote:
> I am writing a program which needs to know exact environment in which it
> is running. In case of Windows I simply use GetVersionEx and then
> analyze dwMajorVersion + dwMinorVersion which is enough for my case
> (then I know which WIN API calls I should use). But I stuck how to
> recognize that my program runs in ReactOS. I failed to find any docs
> about it. Any help is appreciated. 
For most scenarios this is even wrong for Windows itself. For example in
order to figure out if the ITaskbarList4 COM interface is available you
should NOT check the OS version and then act depending on whatever you
found out. Instead you should attempt to query for the interface and use
it if you succeed. It's trivial to create a shim class that will return
S_FALSE for each method called when the interface could not be queried.

Similarly if you are interested in a function that only exists on, say,
Windows 7, you'd use GetProcAddress() to find if the function you're
interested in exists. If it doesn't you'd use your fallback code path.

Of course if the function you are requesting behaves in a completely
different way than the original you'd be out of luck. But in case of
ReactOS _such_ observation should prompt you to file a ticket for the
defect (unless it's a known one). The point here is that for public and
documented functions there's pretty much a contract, just like for COM
interfaces.

Generally it's a suboptimal idea to use the OS version to conditionally
execute this or that code path. Instead try to check for capabilities
and go by whatever finding that gives you ...

Further reading:


Hope this helps,

Oliver

PS: now if you wanted to tell ReactOS apart from Windows one way would
be to look into the version information resource of one of the
well-known DLLs. kernel32.dll comes to mind. But as I pointed out above,
you likely do NOT want to do this NOR need this for all but a few edge
cases.

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Re: [ros-dev] Distinguish between Windows and ReactOS

[David Quintana (gigaherz)]

It is the policy of ReactOS that we should not provide a direct way to apps
to distinguish ros from Windows, as a means to avoid apps including hacks
that are ReactOS-specific, which would be really bad for the progress of
reactos in trying to become more and more compatible with Windows.

In that spirit, the same thing you do for Windows 2003 sp2, should work in
ros, and if it does not, then we have a compatibility problem in our hands,
that might need an issue report at our JIRA site ( https://jira.reactos.org/
)

On Mon, 5 Nov 2018 at 19:10, Nick Surfer  wrote:

> Hello all.
> Sorry if this mail is off topic of the mail-list, but am not sure which
> one is right for my question.
> I am writing a program which needs to know exact environment in which it
> is running. In case of Windows I simply use GetVersionEx and then analyze 
> dwMajorVersion
> + dwMinorVersion which is enough for my case (then I know which WIN API
> calls I should use). But I stuck how to recognize that my program runs in
> ReactOS. I failed to find any docs about it. Any help is appreciated.
> P.S. I am not well experienced in WIN API, so if someone gives me an
> example it will be great.
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[ros-dev] Distinguish between Windows and ReactOS

[Nick Surfer]

Hello all.
Sorry if this mail is off topic of the mail-list, but am not sure which one is 
right for my question.
I am writing a program which needs to know exact environment in which it is 
running. In case of Windows I simply use GetVersionEx and then analyze 
dwMajorVersion + dwMinorVersion which is enough for my case (then I know which 
WIN API calls I should use). But I stuck how to recognize that my program runs 
in ReactOS. I failed to find any docs about it. Any help is appreciated. 
P.S. I am not well experienced in WIN API, so if someone gives me an example it 
will be great.
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Re: [ros-dev] reports about Win7+ apps

[Dick]

;-) yes but it would make the group of users much smaller. an 
windows-replacement that can run all windows programs, including those of 
windows 10 can be used as a stable replacement for everyone, when the 
target would be xp/2003 most people and most new hardware would not 
benefit from it. but luckily david pointed out also support for newer 
windows versions is planned.


On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, Javier Agustìn Fernàndez Arroyo wrote:


@Dick,

Windows XP/2003 is a great target, those were very stable systems, and
ReactOS can perfectly replace them. Software companies dont support them
because lack of maintenance. But ReactOS has that :)



On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 1:59 PM Dick  wrote:
  When will reactos be usable for daily use? I think reactos
  shoulld support
  also windows 7/10 programs, because when it only supports older
  windows-versions you all are in fact building history, something
  that will
  never be usable for new computers with new software so it would
  never be
  able to replace windows. I realy hoep the day this project is
  suitable for
  daily use comes ever, about 20 yers of work without a full
  functional
  versoin makes me doubt reactos will ever become a fully workign
  replacement for windows. Who knows, maybe everybody had forgoten
  windows
  in 10 years and everybody uses chrome os. so i hope there is a
  plan,
  somethign users can expect. a first beta release for example.
  best regards, Dick

  On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, David Quintana (gigaherz) wrote:

  > Our compatibility layer is very WIP, so reports about those
  apps would be a
  > lot of noise with low value
  >
  > On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, 13:32 Javier Agustìn Fernàndez Arroyo
   wrote:
  >       hello all,
  > im planning to use ReactOS at a foundation here in Madrid,
  which is
  > dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities
  >
  > he point is, they are using mostly Windows 10, so they are
  using Win10
  > apps
  >
  > are bug reports about Win10 apps acceptable?
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  >
  >
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Re: [ros-dev] reports about Win7+ apps

[Javier Agustìn Fernàndez Arroyo]

@Dick,

Windows XP/2003 is a great target, those were very stable systems, and
ReactOS can perfectly replace them. Software companies dont support them
because lack of maintenance. But ReactOS has that :)



On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 1:59 PM Dick  wrote:

> When will reactos be usable for daily use? I think reactos shoulld support
> also windows 7/10 programs, because when it only supports older
> windows-versions you all are in fact building history, something that will
> never be usable for new computers with new software so it would never be
> able to replace windows. I realy hoep the day this project is suitable for
> daily use comes ever, about 20 yers of work without a full functional
> versoin makes me doubt reactos will ever become a fully workign
> replacement for windows. Who knows, maybe everybody had forgoten windows
> in 10 years and everybody uses chrome os. so i hope there is a plan,
> somethign users can expect. a first beta release for example.
> best regards, Dick
>
> On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, David Quintana (gigaherz) wrote:
>
> > Our compatibility layer is very WIP, so reports about those apps would
> be a
> > lot of noise with low value
> >
> > On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, 13:32 Javier Agustìn Fernàndez Arroyo <
> elh...@gmail.com
> > wrote:
> >   hello all,
> > im planning to use ReactOS at a foundation here in Madrid, which is
> > dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities
> >
> > he point is, they are using mostly Windows 10, so they are using Win10
> > apps
> >
> > are bug reports about Win10 apps acceptable?
> > ___
> > Ros-dev mailing list
> > Ros-dev@reactos.org
> > http://www.reactos.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev
> >
> >
> >___
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Re: [ros-dev] reports about Win7+ apps

[David Quintana (gigaherz)]

That is indeed in our plans. That's why the compatibility system was
implemented. It's just a matter of it being inconplete and needing a lot of
man-hours that someone has to volunteer.

On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, 14:01 Dick  When will reactos be usable for daily use? I think reactos shoulld support
> also windows 7/10 programs, because when it only supports older
> windows-versions you all are in fact building history, something that will
> never be usable for new computers with new software so it would never be
> able to replace windows. I realy hoep the day this project is suitable for
> daily use comes ever, about 20 yers of work without a full functional
> versoin makes me doubt reactos will ever become a fully workign
> replacement for windows. Who knows, maybe everybody had forgoten windows
> in 10 years and everybody uses chrome os. so i hope there is a plan,
> somethign users can expect. a first beta release for example.
> best regards, Dick
>
> On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, David Quintana (gigaherz) wrote:
>
> > Our compatibility layer is very WIP, so reports about those apps would
> be a
> > lot of noise with low value
> >
> > On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, 13:32 Javier Agustìn Fernàndez Arroyo <
> elh...@gmail.com
> > wrote:
> >   hello all,
> > im planning to use ReactOS at a foundation here in Madrid, which is
> > dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities
> >
> > he point is, they are using mostly Windows 10, so they are using Win10
> > apps
> >
> > are bug reports about Win10 apps acceptable?
> > ___
> > Ros-dev mailing list
> > Ros-dev@reactos.org
> > http://www.reactos.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev
> >
> >
> >___
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Re: [ros-dev] reports about Win7+ apps

[Dick]

When will reactos be usable for daily use? I think reactos shoulld support 
also windows 7/10 programs, because when it only supports older 
windows-versions you all are in fact building history, something that will 
never be usable for new computers with new software so it would never be 
able to replace windows. I realy hoep the day this project is suitable for 
daily use comes ever, about 20 yers of work without a full functional 
versoin makes me doubt reactos will ever become a fully workign 
replacement for windows. Who knows, maybe everybody had forgoten windows 
in 10 years and everybody uses chrome os. so i hope there is a plan, 
somethign users can expect. a first beta release for example.

best regards, Dick

On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, David Quintana (gigaherz) wrote:


Our compatibility layer is very WIP, so reports about those apps would be a
lot of noise with low value

On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, 13:32 Javier Agustìn Fernàndez Arroyo http://www.reactos.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev


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Re: [ros-dev] reports about Win7+ apps

[David Quintana (gigaherz)]

Our compatibility layer is very WIP, so reports about those apps would be a
lot of noise with low value

On Mon, 5 Nov 2018, 13:32 Javier Agustìn Fernàndez Arroyo  hello all,
>
> im planning to use ReactOS at a foundation here in Madrid, which is
> dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities
>
> he point is, they are using mostly Windows 10, so they are using Win10 apps
>
> are bug reports about Win10 apps acceptable?
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[ros-dev] ReactOS 0.4.10 to be released tomorrow, November 6, 2018 - Press Kit is online!

[Colin Finck]

Hi all!

ReactOS 0.4.10 will be released tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6, 2018!
The download will be officially available around noon (CEST).

A Press Kit for the ReactOS 0.4.10 release is already available:
https://download.reactos.org/reactos/ReactOS/0.4.10/ReactOS-0.4.10-PressKit.zip
Feel free to send it to interested parties to let them know about the
upcoming release in advance.


Best regards,

Colin Finck



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