The compilation works on their system to produce a binary sure but that doesn't mean he can just upload the source tree and it will work for anyone else out of the box.
When I talk about releasing something that "actually works" (as I put it) I mean a simple git clone, make, make install (or equivalent).
Not having to include a readme that explains you need to search and replace the files to remove hardcoded paths, install some old library because my machine wasn't up to date and it doesn't compile with the latest version as I was lazy and hardcoded specific version numbers in places for things as something else didn't work and I didn't want to spend half an hour trying to find some old Windows 2000 DLL, etc.
I am guessing based on my own experience here but developing plugins for Visual C++ 6 on Windows 2000 is a bit of a pain in the ass in 2021. It was a pain in the ass back in the early 2000s when I had access to everything on MSDN.
Sure you could make the point that this tool is designed for people using VC++6 so they must have a copy of that but they may not have any other ancient libraries this tool is built with which is often the biggest obstacle when working with old proprietary software like this.
I support the authors decision to keep things to themselves until they have been able to tidy it up then release something that is easier to build so they're not overwhelmed with "the build isn't working as it says I need x.y.z" issues.
When I talk about releasing something that "actually works" (as I put it) I mean a simple git clone, make, make install (or equivalent).
Not having to include a readme that explains you need to search and replace the files to remove hardcoded paths, install some old library because my machine wasn't up to date and it doesn't compile with the latest version as I was lazy and hardcoded specific version numbers in places for things as something else didn't work and I didn't want to spend half an hour trying to find some old Windows 2000 DLL, etc.
I am guessing based on my own experience here but developing plugins for Visual C++ 6 on Windows 2000 is a bit of a pain in the ass in 2021. It was a pain in the ass back in the early 2000s when I had access to everything on MSDN.
Sure you could make the point that this tool is designed for people using VC++6 so they must have a copy of that but they may not have any other ancient libraries this tool is built with which is often the biggest obstacle when working with old proprietary software like this.
I support the authors decision to keep things to themselves until they have been able to tidy it up then release something that is easier to build so they're not overwhelmed with "the build isn't working as it says I need x.y.z" issues.