compile-windows-mingw.md

Mingw on Windows

QtCreator - simple install

The simplest way to get a working FOSS toolchain is to use Qt6. This way not only you get a useble GCC, but also Ninja and qgood IDE.

1. Qt 6.2.0 or above - just to have an IDE and usable toolchain
   • https://www.qt.io/download-open-source - official server
   • https://github.com/miurahr/aqtinstall - alternative installer (command line based)
2. CMake 3.24 or above:
   • https://cmake.org/download/
3. Python - I get the python from the Microsoft store, seems like the best idea.
4. Ninja - make sure c:\Qt\Tools\Ninja\ is on your path, or copy the ninja.exe so somewhere on your path.
5. Conan - from Windows Terminal write pip install conan==1.64.1

Start QtCreator - and open the CMakeLists.txt for this project. It will probably fail at the cmake step. This is because cmake cannot execute conan.

Fix - add conan to your path

1. Open the Project group.
2. Open your toolkit Build panel
3. Inside Environment look for path and add C:\Users\diego\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.10_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python310\Scripts - or the path that is used on your computer (HOW TO DEDUCT THIS PATH?)

Project should build now.

Note:

This project does not use Qt at all! I recommend Qt just to get a working copmiler easily. All code is pure C++14/17 calling GDI/Win32 to plot the images.

VSCode

I am able to use VSCode to edit, compile and debug the code under Windows 10. You should install the needed toolchain "somehow" (I opted to use the toolchain in QtCreator).

Documentation about installing MinGW indipendently is welcome.