I have been using MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows) to build my code for Windows platform. It has changed a bit since I last used it to build a cross compiler for my class. So, I want to keep a note on how I build using latest binaries. The project has moved here.

Installing MinGW:

• Get the 'package manager' from here
  • version 0.6.3 (beta) at the moment
  • I prefer the standalone binary (no setup)
• Pick a location and extract the zip file
  • I choose C:\Users\Public\Tool
  • change the folder name so that we have C:\Users\Public\Tool\mingw\bin\mingw-get.exe
• Prepare to use mingw-get binary
  • cd C:\Users\Public\Tool\mingw\var\lib\mingw-get\data\
  • copy defaults.xml profile.xml
• Open a command prompt and update catalogue
  • cd C:\Users\Public\Tool\mingw\bin\
  • mingw-get.exe update
• Get stuffs (compiler with Unix-like environment) without using GUI
  • mingw-get.exe install gcc g++ gmp mpfr mpc msys msys-wget-bin
• To get GUI interface install mingw-get (apparently, we are NOT running mingw-get! )
  • mingw-get.exe install mingw-get
  • now, a window will come up when you run mingw-get

Note20211207 Current software versions {gcc:9.2.0,binutils:2.32}

Some useful things to do:

• Get helper script(s) - I wrote that for personal use
  • copy everything (except LICENSE, README.md and msys2.vbs) to C:\Users\Public\Tool\mingw
  • allows environment to be used on shared computer (no need for admin account)
• Running msys.vbs (*Hint*: double-click) will install (or remove if already installed) a pop-up context menu entry (MinGW Shell) whenever you right-click on a folder in Windows Explorer
  • edit C:\Users\Public\Tool\mingw\msys\1.0\etc\profile and comment (place '#' at the beginning of) the last line with cd $HOME command
• To have git in MinGW shell, install Git-for-Windows at C:\Users\Public\Tool\Git
  • edit C:\Users\Public\Tool\mingw\msys\1.0\etc\profile and insert PATH=“/c/users/public/tool/git/bin:$PATH” before the block containing an export PATH line(s)
• Running mingw-setup.bat sets up normal command prompt for command-line compilation
  • place mingw-term.bat script in any folder - when executed, it will open a command prompt (with MinGW path properly configured) in that folder
• Running mingw-clear.bat cleans up settings created by mingw-setup.bat

This is what I recommend to my students when developing cross-platform GUI solution. I now compile from source because I can never completely download the pre-built binaries… problem with my uni's network maybe?

Obviously, MinGW must already be installed.

• Get the source file from here
  • since we are compiling on MinGW, get the 'source for Linux…' (I got wxWidgets-3.0.3.tar.bz2)
  • extract (can be done in MinGW shell: tar xf <file>)
• Compile… (note: '$' is the prompt)

  $ ./configure --prefix=/c/Users/Public/Tool/wxwidgets --disable-shared
  $ make
  $ make install

work in progress…