running .net(mono) application in both linux and windows

Mono compiles down to CIL code and is completely portable to .NET or Mono on other platforms. I can compile my C# code on a Mac and run the resulting EXE on Linux or Windows under either .NET or Mono.

Without the actual error message we can only guess the issue here. That said, in my experience, the most common reasons an application written in Mono on Linux/UNIX would create an error on Windows are pathnames with platform specific path separators or case sensitivity issues. The Windows file system is not case sensitive but they are on Linux/UNIX.

Another possibility is that you are using Mono on one platform and trying to run it on .NET on the other. Mono ships with a number of libraries that are not present in .NET on Windows.

Actually, I guess a final possibility is that GTK# is a common way to produce GUI code on Mono. GTK# relies on the GTK+ C library being present which is very common on Linux but unlikely on Windows unless it has been explicitly installed.

We really need to know what the error message was.

Won't he need to have Mono installed on Windows before he can compile for Mono on Windows?

FrustratedWithFormsDesigner 2010-07-15 17:36:14

I don't think this is true. Mono produces PE files which the mono runtime loads and executes. I believe the same binary works on both platforms.

codekaizen 2010-07-15 17:36:42

@codekaizen: Yeah? Cool. But in that case he'd still need the Mono platform on Windows. It's not even clear if he has that.

FrustratedWithFormsDesigner 2010-07-15 17:45:01

@codekaizen: I looked through the [Mono FAQ](http://www.mono-project.com/FAQ:_Technical), and it appears that "100% .NET" apps generated by MS tools are binary compatible to be run under Mono/Linux. It doesn't mention anything about binaries generated by Mono/Linux being natively usable under Windows. Maybe it's a compile time flag?

Karmastan 2010-07-15 18:17:57

The binary format used by Mono and .NET is the same. However, platforms do have differences - for example, paths hardcoded into strings may not work on all platforms, and the same libraries may not be available everywhere. You can handle usually these things with one binary, using runtime checks for the host platform.

mhutch 2010-07-15 18:47:31

@FrustratedWithFormsDesigner: Yea, he needs to have the Mono framework installed on both platforms, then the binary should work. @mhutch: Right, you still need to abstract platform access. DllImport on Windows DLLs, for example, won't work on Linux.

codekaizen 2010-07-15 19:38:05

You don't have to have the Mono framework installed on Windows if you don't want to. The same binaries will run on Mono for Linux, Mono for Windows, Mono for OSX, or .Net on Windows.

jpobst 2010-07-15 20:46:36

Thanks, it is working. I have created another simple java console project.While double clicking it's exe file,same type of error is coming.Any thing i need to install?

Nikhil K 2010-07-17 03:58:05

I was going to say "Good guess Anthony" but I see the question was updated to provide more info. So, instead I will say "Good answer". :-)

Justin 2010-07-18 17:03:07

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running .net(mono) application in both linux and windows

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