iojs-v1.0.1-x86.msi and iojs.exe fail in Windows XP SP3

[vsemozhetbyt]

iojs-v1.0.1-x86.msi fails in Windows XP SP3 with this error message:

After this message the instalation is rolled back.

All the install options remained default. Node has been uninstalled manually before io.js install.

[vsemozhetbyt]

If I leave Node.js before io.js instalation, the fail remains the same. But after io.js installation rolls back I have not Node.js anymore — the Node.js uninstalling does not roll back.

However if I uncheck this (while I have not Node.js anymore):

io.js installation is completed successfully.

[vsemozhetbyt]

Well, after this "successfull" installation I can't run the iojs.exe:

The message is "c:\iojs\iojs.exe is not a Win32 application".

[capaj]

I would not be focusing on this, because I think latest visual studio won't install on XP anyway, so even if you managed to install io.js on it, you would lack proper compilers for compiling native npm modules.

[vsemozhetbyt]

So may be you should notify users that Windows XP is not supported by io.js. As opposed to Node.js and node-webkit, since both work well for me. What a pity...

[capaj]

@vsemozhetbyt maintainers are mostly Mac guys I would imagine, so they probably haven't thought about it yet. But good suggestion. No point in supporting an OS which is not even supported by MS.

[rvagg]

We currently have to compile with Visual Studio 2013 Windows Desktop Edition because V8 has moved on to C++11 features--this is one reason that Node 0.11 has stopped short of the V8 upgrade we have done here. We've bitten the C++11 bullet and it's caused a lot of pain and Windows XP isn't on our radar.

I think the only salvation for this may come from clang which is apparently improving Windows support, we may be able to compile for older versions of Windows. However it does add a maintainence burden and we're not supporting "unsupported" operating systems elsewhere (i.e. on Linux we go as low as EL5 which RedHat is still supporting and Ubuntu 10.04 which is the oldest LTS still supported).

[vsemozhetbyt]

Well, Windows XP has 18.26% share, it concedes only to Windows 7.

http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

[AdriVanHoudt]

Well Microsoft itself dropped support for XP and you can't expect state of the art software to keep supporting Windows XP forever at some point you will have to update your 13 year old OS imho

[vsemozhetbyt]

I would not argue about that. I just hope somebody will spare a one fifth of all the users. All the more the node-webkit wants to switch over to io.js, with all the desktop applications for these users.

[AdriVanHoudt]

I did not think about using io.js client side. In that case it would indeed be sad to not have support for all those users. (Although in my personal opinion those users should also update with the biggest reason being security)

[gagle]

Drop the support for XP :)

[bnoordhuis]

Is there anyone willing to step up and work on Windows XP support? If yes, good. If not, we should probably close this issue.

[mikeal]

+1 to @bnoordhuis' plan :)