[petsc-dev] Preferred Windows Installation

[Satish Balay]

On Mon, 15 Jun 2020, Jacob Faibussowitsch wrote:

> Currently, from the installation page it seems like Cygwin is the preferred method of installing petsc on windows but if it is this easy to get things up and running with WSL2 (and the above performance qualms are satisfied) then we should consider making it the default. 

BTW: https://www.mcs.anl.gov/petsc/documentation/installation.html#windows says:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Microsoft Windows Installation:
Are you sure you want to use Microsoft Windows? We recommend using Linux if possible [and minimize troubleshooting Microsoft windows related issues].
Installation With GNU gcc/g++/gfortran compilers:
The following configurations are much like regular Linux systems. Our regular [Linux] instructions should work with them. Most externalpackages will also work. The configure option --download-mpich should work for these systems. (These do not support Microsoft/Intel Windows compilers; nor can you use MS-MPI, Intel-MPI or MPICH2).

    Cygwin Unix emulator for Microsoft Windows. See the instructions below for installing Cygwin for PETSc. Be sure to install the GNU compilers, do not use the win32fe script.
    Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WLS2). Untested, let us know your experience.
    Docker for Windows. Untested, let us know your experience.
    Git bash. You must also install the GNU compilers via MinGW. Untested, let us know your experience.
    Linux virtual machine via VirtualBox. One sample tutorial is at https://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/virtualbox. Google can provide more tutorials. Untested, let us know your experience.

Installation With Microsoft/Intel Windows Compilers:
<snip>
<<<<<<<<<<<<


So we do mention all the ways of PETSc on windows *before* the installation instructions with MS Compilers [using Cygwin]

Sure - WSL line can do with updating. One reason its not the first and highly recommended mode is - Some windows users might not be comfortable with the whole linux sys-admin side of things on WSL. But its listed as one of the 5 alternatives [to using MS Compilres]

Satish