[Cbc] cbc / glpk / gmpl / windows

[ranganaths]

Hello,

	Please look at the link http://scip.zib.de/. As per the information
given here, CBC is at number 2 in terms of performance and GLPK is at the
last. This is the reason I chose CBC rather to GLPK. I am able to compile
the v8 build with a very little modification. 

Regards,
Ranganath S


-----Original Message-----
From: cbc-bounces at list.coin-or.org [mailto:cbc-bounces at list.coin-or.org] On
Behalf Of Lou Hafer
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 10:02 PM
To: cbc at list.coin-or.org
Subject: [Cbc] cbc / glpk / gmpl / windows

Raganath,

	In regard to using the cbc api on windows:

  * The v8 build files are not really maintained; they may get the
occasional
    fix if someone contributes one.  I'm somewhat surprised they work at
all.
    You'll want to upgrade to VS2008 and the v9 or v9alt builds.  The v9
build
    is easier for the casual user.  Coin development will likely shift to
VS2010
    in the near future, but VS2008 will be maintained for a while, I expect.

  * You cannot (yet) build the cbc libraries as dlls.  The build files do
not
    support it.  If you need a DLL, try CoinMP.  If you're knowledgeable
about
    building DLLs with Visual Studio and know how to automatically construct
a
    .def file for C++ without littering the code with __declspec(), I want
to
    talk to you.

  * The cbc API is documented with doxygen.  It should be possible to build
it
    on Windows (doxygen for windows is available).  You can access a
prebuilt
    version from the link on the cbc project page.
    (https://projects.coin-or.org/Cbc)

  * The example code in the examples directory is as good as it gets in
terms of
    documentation for how to use cbc.  There is some additional (rather
dated)
    documentation available from the cbc project page.  To my knowledge,
there
    is no cookbook that will allow you to use the cbc api without actually
    understanding something about cbc.  Someday, maybe.  So far this hasn't
    risen to the top of anyone's priority list.

  * You are correct that you do not need glpk's solver capabilities to use
gmpl.
    Gmpl and glpk come in a bundle.  You'll need to separate them yourself
if
    that's necessary for your application.

  * Check the archives of the glpk mailing list (start from the glpk web
page
    http://www.gnu.org/software/glpk/).  There are prebuilt glpk binaries
for
    most Windows systems.  For that matter, if you were to look in the glpk
    distribution, you would find that there are VS project files there.
    Otherwise, just make a VS project for glpk, as you would any other
Windows
    project.  Then add the resulting library to the link libraries for
    CoinUtils, which is where the gmpl parsing capability resides.  You'll
    likely need to define the symbol (COIN_HAS_GLPK) that indicates glpk is
    present. Modify libCoinUtils.vcproj as needed.

By now you should be getting the picture that automated support for
third-party
software through Visual Studio is nonexistant.  That'd be correct.  It most
certainly can be made to work.  We are primarily Linux developers and
desperately need help from someone who understands the automated
configuration
capabilities of Visual Studio.  To get the advantages of the linux build
automation while still building native windows libraries, try msys / mingw.

  * The Coin third-party project for glpk will currently pull down glpk
4.45.
    Glpk 4.34 will probably also work, provided there are no incompatible
    changes in glpk between 4.34 and 4.45.  (It's a good bet that there will
be
    no problems.)

Let me close with a somewhat radical suggestion:  Why not just use glpk?  It
can
solve 0-1 IPs, it surely supports gmpl much better than coin does, and there
are
people on the glpk mailing list actively interested in integration with
windows
components.  As another alternative, cbc has quite good integration with
ampl.

							Lou

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