[Users] 64-bit Claws

[edwardp at linuxmail.org]

On Fri, 17 Mar 2017 08:53:57 +0100
Andrej Kacian <andrej at kacian.sk> wrote:

> On Thu, 16 Mar 2017 20:07:48 -0400
> <edwardp at linuxmail.org> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 16 Mar 2017 08:23:28 +0100
> > Andrej Kacian <andrej at kacian.sk> wrote:
> >   
> > > On Wed, 15 Mar 2017 20:21:47 -0400
> > > <edwardp at linuxmail.org> wrote:
> > >   
> > > > Regarding the 64-bit Windows version of Claws, recognizing that
> > > > it is experimental at present, where I currently have the 32-bit
> > > > version installed, if I uninstall that and install the 64-bit to
> > > > try out, will the 64-bit version automatically see the e-mail
> > > > accounts created with the 32-bit version, or would they need to
> > > > be created anew?    
> > > 
> > > Hello,
> > > 
> > > yes, your entire configuration will be left intact, and the 64-bit
> > > version will use it by default.
> > > 
> > > The configuration is compatible between 32-bit and 64-bit
> > > versions.
> > > 
> > > Regards,  
> > 
> > Hi Andrej,
> > 
> > Confirming it worked as described.  :)
> > 
> > I have gone back to using the 32-bit version, but I noticed under
> > Help/About/Info tab, even under 64-bit Windows (7), that information
> > referenced 'Operating System: Win32', but the e-mail headers
> > referenced 'x86_64-w64-mingw32'. Wasn't sure if the reference to
> > 'Win32' might have been an error/typo of some kind, or what that
> > 'mingw32' actually is.  
> 
> Hi Ed,
> 
> that is called a target triplet, and the only part relevant here is
> the one before first '-', which can be either i686 or x86_64. Rest of
> the triplet is just saying that the program was compiled using build
> suite called Mingw-w64 (a fork of original Mingw32 with added 64-bit
> support).
> 
> Can I ask why you switched back to 32-bit version?
> 
> Regards,

Hi Andrej,

Thank you for that explanation as to the target triplet. :)

The Claws web site references the 64-bit build as experimental, so I
felt there was no harm in at least trying it out. It worked quite well.
As you referenced in a previous message, it indeed picked up all of the
accounts created with the 32-bit version and it was able to send and
receive without any issues. 

I normally do not use beta, pre-beta, or experimental software, but
since this is Claws and as I'm familiar with it, I decided to make an
exception. I am amazed that 64-bit Windows releases have been available
for some time now, yet so little (to my knowledge) has been written to
take advantage of it. The only software I'm presently aware of that is
available for 64-bit Windows, is Firefox, Chrome, Vivaldi, LibreOffice
and now, Claws (experimental). 

I am aware that, in general, early builds of any software
could possibly contain bugs or have unexpected events occurring, like
crashes, or data/profile being corrupted (the latter actually occurred
a few times with stable Mozilla-derived software under (oddly) Linux).
But in using the 64-bit Claws, there were no issues. My PC's aren't set
up for a testing environment.

In Linux (Fedora), I have the 64-bit distribution installed on
both PC's and use the Fedora-supplied x86_64 Claws. 

I have kept the downloaded 64-bit installer on the PC, in case I want to
try it again. I also noticed that 32- and 64-bit software installs in
different directories in Windows 7. Given this, is it actually possible
to have both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Claws installed at the
same time, on the same machine?

Ed