I want to use GNU GCC on Windows so I've downloaded mingw, but the x86_64 fork.
Instead of using cmd, I want to use msys, but msys is designed for the standard 32bits version of minGW. I've moved the bin, lib, libexec etc folders from minGW-64 to the msys folder, combining folder if necessary.
I didn't need to modify my PATH and msys console recognize the gcc executables.
I'm wondering what could be the drawbacks (if any) of using a msys prepared for the 32bits version of minGW. I'm afraid that may be using a not optimized environment and that I could discover that at link time I may be linking 32bits symbols or using 32bits symbols at runtime instead of being full 64.
There a bit of confusing terminology here:
The mingw-w64 project worked on getting 64-bit support on Windows. However, the result of their efforts is both a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version. You should not be using the classic mingw at all, since it is horribly outdated.
Related
I am trying to install MinGW but it's always failing to install.
on windows 7
link of the program:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/latest/download
Tar zips are not generally for windows users the downlink should be a windows installer mingw-get-setup.EXE thus (not a GnuZip)
Also if your trying to unpack 32bit collections the question is which architecture do you need, certainly 32.exe will run on 64, but 64.exe will NOT work on 32.
Current build is 32bit "Although (currently) offering only a 32-bit compiler suite, all of MinGW's software will execute on the 64bit Windows platforms."
get it from official https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/releases/
latest link I got was
https://osdn.net/frs/redir.php?m=liquid&f=mingw%2F68260%2Fmingw-get-0.6.3-mingw32-pre-20170905-1-bin.zip
once you have a valid windows .zip file, right click to "extract" then the exe should be in the bin folder.
Then it's just you on your own, and the myriad of instructions from google.
MinGW is a compiler generating files for the Windows platform, but MinGW itself can also be run on other platforms (like Linux for example).
What you need is are Windows binaries of MinGW.
But MinGW is a bit outdated and only supports 32-bit Windows.
I would really recommend using MinGW-w64.
Standalone build of MinGW-w64 for Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit) are available at https://winlibs.com/ just download the archive and extract it. Then all the tools you need will be in the mingw32/bin or mingw64/bin folder.
If you're not very familiar with command line tools you should really use an IDE. There are some instructions on https://winlibs.com/ on how to use MinGW-w64 with Code::Blocks.
If on the other hand you are very familiar with command line or the Linux shell you should take a look at MSYS2 which also allows installing MinGW-w64 with it's pacman tool.
What are the differences between MinGW, MinGW-w64 and MinGW-builds?
And which one should I use to compile c++ 11 source code with the Eclipse IDE on a Windows 8 machine?
MinGW is a GCC-port for Windows. Not all of the Windows API is supported (but for many programs the supported stuff is sufficient) and it´s only for 32bit-Programs (which often can run on 64bit-Windows too, but some can´t, and you can´t compile them as 64bit).
MinGW-w64 is a improved version which supports both 32bit and 64bit, and some more of the WinAPI (still not all, because thats much work, but more than MinGW).
MinGW-w64 only provides their source code, but no binaries to "just use" the compiler.
MinGW-builds is a somewhat separate project to provide binaries in the most useful configurations. To get a specialized build of MinGW-w64, manual compiling is still possible.
Using the MinGW-builds self-installer is the easiest way, if nothing unusual is needed. Also see here for help with the self-installer.
Mingw compiles your code to Windows binaries that run under Windows.
Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL) makes Linux binaries. You can install other Linux programs under WSL, except if you need a graphical interface. You can access the Windows filesystem from WSL, but not vice versa.
Cygwin makes Windows binaries that can run under Windows outside the Cygwin shell, as long as you have the Cygwin DLL. This gives a Linux-like environment that is fully compatible with Windows.
What are the differences between MinGW, MinGW-w64 and MinGW-builds?
And which one should I use to compile c++ 11 source code with the Eclipse IDE on a Windows 8 machine?
MinGW is a GCC-port for Windows. Not all of the Windows API is supported (but for many programs the supported stuff is sufficient) and it´s only for 32bit-Programs (which often can run on 64bit-Windows too, but some can´t, and you can´t compile them as 64bit).
MinGW-w64 is a improved version which supports both 32bit and 64bit, and some more of the WinAPI (still not all, because thats much work, but more than MinGW).
MinGW-w64 only provides their source code, but no binaries to "just use" the compiler.
MinGW-builds is a somewhat separate project to provide binaries in the most useful configurations. To get a specialized build of MinGW-w64, manual compiling is still possible.
Using the MinGW-builds self-installer is the easiest way, if nothing unusual is needed. Also see here for help with the self-installer.
Mingw compiles your code to Windows binaries that run under Windows.
Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL) makes Linux binaries. You can install other Linux programs under WSL, except if you need a graphical interface. You can access the Windows filesystem from WSL, but not vice versa.
Cygwin makes Windows binaries that can run under Windows outside the Cygwin shell, as long as you have the Cygwin DLL. This gives a Linux-like environment that is fully compatible with Windows.
I would like to upgrade my old GCC compiler to v. 4.8.1.
Currently I'm using Code::Blocks IDE (nightly build, svn 8982), and my compiler is GCC 4.4.1.
I downloaded fresh GCC from their site - gcc.gnu.org
From what I've read in documentation, they say that I should first build compiler by myself. Afterwards, they throw something like this:
% mkdir objdir
% cd objdir
% srcdir/configure [options] [target]
However, I completly have no idea what to do with these lines.
And even if I did, afterwards come maaany lines with some additional options, where I am even more lost then before.
I don't know if there is any easy way of installing it, but from what I've read here, I can download MSYS from MinGW and it will do everything(I hope?) for me. However, from what I see there, it says that MinGW comes with already built version of GCC, meaning I won't be able to use mine anyway. Am I right? If yes, what should I do to build and use GCC? If not, then will I be able to easily install GCC after downloading MSYS?
Thanks in advance.
I can download MSYS from MinGW
YOu can.
and it will do everything(I hope?) for me.
It won't. MSys provides environment for building software that requires unix-like environment. To be more precise - autotools. If you aren't familiar with *nix build process (configure script), Mingw won't really help you.
However, from what I see there, it says that MinGW comes with already built version of GCC,
Yes, version 4.7.2 at the moment.
meaning I won't be able to use mine anyway. Am I right?
No. If you don't add Mingw/MSys to your PATH, you can keep multiple different installations on the same machine. It also SHOULD be possible to use multiple different versions of gcc within the same installation of mingw, but things can get messy here. (gcc3 and gcc4 should be able to exist, not sure about 4.7.2 and 4.8.1)
If yes, what should I do to build and use GCC?
You should search for precompiled binaries provided by somebody else. Compiling gcc yourself is possible, but for you (i.e. if you aren't arleady familiar with msys) it might not be worth the effort.
Either you could try http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/ or mingw-nuwen. Mingw provided by nuwen is 32bit only, but is very easy to install. The problem is that standard mingw distribution includes update tool (with "mingw uppdate" and "mingw upgrade" you can upgrade installed packages to their latest version), bug "mingw-nuwen" doesn't have such tool.
Because you say
However, I completly have no idea what to do with these lines.
You should either use precompiled mingw provded by somebody else, or use another compiler. If you don't really need bleeding-edge C++11 support ON WINDOWS, use visual studio express.
I've downloaded MinGW with mingw-get-inst, and now I've noticed that it cannot compile for x64.
So is there any 32-bit binary version of the MinGW compiler that can both compile for 32-bit Windows and also for 64-bit Windows?
I don't want a 64-bit version that can generate 32-bit code, since I want the compiler to also run on 32-bit Windows, and I'm only looking for precompiled binaries here, not source files, since I've spent countless hours compiling GCC and failing, and I've given up for a while. :(
AFAIK mingw targets either 32 bit windows or 64 bit windows, but not both, so you would need two installs. And the latter is still considered beta.
For you what you want is either mingw-w64-bin_i686-mingw or mingw-w64-bin_i686-cygwin if you want to compile for windows 64. For win32, just use what you get with mingw-get-inst.
See http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/mingw-w64/wiki/download%20filename%20structure for an explanation of file names.
I realize this is an old question. However it's linked to the many times the question has been repeated.
I have found, after lots of research that, by now, years later, both compilers are commonly installed by default when installing mingw from your repository (i.e. synaptic).
You can check and verify by running Linux's locate command:
$ locate -r "mingw32.*[cg]++$"
On my Ubuntu (13.10) install I have by default the following compilers to choose from... found by issuing the locate command.
/usr/bin/amd64-mingw32msvc-c++
/usr/bin/amd64-mingw32msvc-g++
/usr/bin/i586-mingw32msvc-c++
/usr/bin/i586-mingw32msvc-g++
/usr/bin/i686-w64-mingw32-c++
/usr/bin/i686-w64-mingw32-g++
/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-c++
/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++
Finally, the least you'd have to do on many systems is run:
$ sudo apt-get install gcc-mingw32
I hope the many links to this page can spare a lot of programmers some search time.
for you situation, you can download multilib (include lib32 and lib64) version for Mingw64:
Multilib Toolchains(Targetting Win32 and Win64)
By default it is compiled for 64bit.You can add -m32 flag to compile for 32bit program.
But sadly,no gdb provided,you ought to add it manually.
Because according to mingw-64's todo list, gcc multilib version is done,but gdb
multilib version is still in progress,you could use it maybe in the future.
Support of multilib build in configure and in gcc. Parts are already present in gcc's 4.5 version by using target triplet -w64-mingw32.
gdb -- Native support is present, but some features like multi-arch support (debugging 32-bit and 64-bit by one gdb) are still missing features.
mingw-64-todo-list