Ring2EXE Plus - A Fork with Advanced Packaging

[Youssef Saeed]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to introduce Ring2EXE Plus, a fork of the standard ring2exe tool. This fork builds on Mahmoud Fayed's original work by adding modern packaging options and more compiler control.

Key New Features:

• Generate Native Packages: Easily create .deb, .rpm, and AppImage packages for Linux, .app bundles for macOS, and .pkg packages for FreeBSD using the -dist flag.
• Custom C Compiler: Specify which C compiler to use (e.g., clang, tcc) with the -cc=<compiler> flag.
• Custom Compiler Flags: Pass your own flags to the C compiler with -cflags="...".
• Custom Output Name: Set the final executable name with the -output=<name> flag.
• FreeBSD Support: Full support for building and distributing on FreeBSD.

More features are planned for future releases!

Installation:

You can install ring2exe-plus via RingPM:

ringpm install ring2exe-plus from ysdragon

Examples:

• Create a RPM package:
  ring2exe myapp.ring -dist -rpm
• Use Clang and name the output file: 
  ring2exe myapp.ring -cc=clang -output=MyCoolApp

The goal is to make distributing Ring applications easier and more flexible.

Your feedback and suggestions are highly welcome.

Best regards,
Youssef

[Mahmoud Fayed]

Hello Youssef

Thank you very much for this wonderful tool and the new features

Added to Ring Website - News Section

Also, added to Ring Website - Resources Page

Keep up the GREAT WORK :D

Greetings,

Mahmoud

[Ka mara]

Hallo Youssef,

The ideas you mention are straight to the point & very much appreciated.

Thanks for your contribution.

Tim

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Ring Programming Language" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ring-lang+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ring-lang/346ba790-a930-4c06-adbc-0ad379ffd741n%40googlegroups.com.

[Youssef Saeed]

Hello Mahmoud,

Thank you for your kind words and for adding the tool to the Ring Website!

Best regards,
Youssef

[Youssef Saeed]

Hello Tim,

Thank you for your kind words!

Best regards,
Youssef

[Mahmoud Fayed]

Hello Youssef

You are welcome :D

Greetings,

Mahmoud

[Mansour Ayouni]

Hello Mahmoud and Youssef,

Is Ring2EXE Plus a compliment or a replacement to the standard Ring2EXE?

In what they differe and what's the value proposition of this new Youssef's tool?

In what it differes from Mounir's MonoRing solution?

Best,

Mandour

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Ring Programming Language" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ring-lang+...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ring-lang/f2584b1f-2d6c-44da-a061-7e46e1ad0bafn%40googlegroups.com.

[Mahmoud Fayed]

Hello Mansour

You could consider it (Ring2EXE) future :D

Youssef could tell you more about his vision for the development & the most interesting features 

Greetings,

Mahmoud

[Mansour Ayouni]

Hello Mahmoud,

Thank you for your useful hint ;)

Waiting for Youssef answer...

Best,

Mansour

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ring-lang/c81c09f0-2ec7-4588-8f27-653c3ddfc196n%40googlegroups.com.

[Mahmoud Fayed]

Hello Mansour

You are welcome :D

Greetings,

Mahmoud

[Youssef Saeed]

Hello Mansour,

Thank you for your questions! And thanks to Mahmoud for the kind words regarding the project's future.

> Is Ring2EXE Plus a compliment or a replacement to the standard Ring2EXE?

Currently it acts as an advanced fork, but as Mahmoud hinted, the vision is for this to eventually become the standard replacement. It builds directly on the original foundation but modernizes the workflow significantly.

> In what they differe and what's the value proposition of this new Youssef's tool?

The standard tool focuses on compilation (Source -> Executable). Ring2EXE Plus focuses on Distribution (Source -> Product).

Key differences:

1. Packaging: It doesn't just give you an `.exe`. It now supports generating native installers: Flatpak, Snap, AppImage, DEB, and RPM for Linux; MSI, NSIS, and Inno Setup for Windows; DMG and App Bundles for macOS; and PKG for FreeBSD.

2. Flexibility: You are no longer locked into the default compiler logic. You can explicitly choose which C compiler to use (GCC, Clang, TCC, MSVC) and pass your own custom flags, giving you full control over the build process.

3. Automation: It introduces `ring2exe.conf` so you can save project settings (version, icon, license) instead of typing long commands, and adds `-auto-libs` to automatically detect which libraries your code uses (Which could be improved in the future).

4. Optimization: It has built-in support for UPX compression and build presets (like `-release` vs `-size`). In my tests with PWCT2, the compression reduced the executable size from 12MB down to 1.2MB.

> In what it differes from Mounir's MonoRing solution?

MonoRing is an excellent solution for Static Linking (creating a single, portable file that runs anywhere without dependencies).

Ring2EXE Plus focuses on Native Integration. If you want your application to be installed properly on the system (like into `/usr/bin` or `/usr/local/bin`), show up in the OS start menu, or be distributed via system package managers, this is the tool for that scope.

Best regards,
Youssef

[Mansour Ayouni]

Hello Youssef,

A lot of advantages that become clear now ! Thank you very much.

When you have time, please add these details to the readme file on the github repo.

All the best,

Mansour

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ring-lang/29e39521-c04d-44d8-b6f5-8aba0ad976c9n%40googlegroups.com.

[Youssef Saeed]

Hello Mansour,

> When you have time, please add these details to the readme file on the github repo.

Thank you for your suggestion!

Best regards,

Youssef