Where do MinGW64 g++.exe and gcc.exe (and other files) Come From?

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ColleenKobe
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Where do MinGW64 g++.exe and gcc.exe (and other files) Come From?

Post by ColleenKobe »

Dear Eran:

I have a question regarding your example in https://docs.codelite.org/settings/build_settings/.

In the example, you show your MinGW executable files reside in a directory called C:\compilers\mingw64\bin. Specifically:

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C:\compilers\mingw64\bin\g++.exe
C:\compilers\mingw64\bin\gcc.exe

What installation program created the "bin" directory above? I've tried installing MinGW64 through two different venues, and neither one gave me any *.exe files.

Here's What I've Already Tried.

The first method I used to try to install MinGW64 was using Msys. I went to https://www.mingw-w64.org/getting-started/msys2/ and followed the directions under "Installation." The installation did not ask me where to install MinGW64. If it had asked, I would have said C:\MinGW64. But it didn't ask.

The installation appeared to run correctly...I'm not sure, I don't know a thing about Msys or why we use it, what it's for or what it's doing...but the installation didn't display any obvious errors.

I looked at my C: drive in Windows Explorer, but there were no new directories. So I opened Agent Ransack and search my entire computer for occurrences of gcc.exe dated today. The only occurrences of gcc are in folders that already existed before I ran the msys commands.

? Where was Msys supposed to install MinGW64?

The second method I tried was going to https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw-w64/ and downloading mingw-w64-v11.0.0.zip. I extracted all files into G:\MinGW64.

Anyway, then I went into Windows explorer. The directory tree resulting from that "MinGW64" installation looked like this:

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g:\MinGW64\mingw-w64-v11.0.0\build-aux                  11/20/24  10:41
g:\MinGW64\mingw-w64-v11.0.0\COPYING.MinGW-w64          11/20/24  10:41
g:\MinGW64\mingw-w64-v11.0.0\COPYING.MinGW-w64-runtime  11/20/24  10:41
g:\MinGW64\mingw-w64-v11.0.0\mingw-w64-crt              11/20/24  10:42
g:\MinGW64\mingw-w64-v11.0.0\mingw-w64-doc              11/20/24  10:42
g:\MinGW64\mingw-w64-v11.0.0\mingw-w64-headers          11/20/24  10:42
g:\MinGW64\mingw-w64-v11.0.0\mingw-w64-libraries        11/20/24  10:42
g:\MinGW64\mingw-w64-v11.0.0\mingw-w64-tools            11/20/24  10:42

Notice no "bin" directory. And no new *.exe files anywhere.

Whereas when I go back to the 32-bit version of MinGW, the 32-bit directory resulting from an install looks like this. It DOES have a "bin" directory...but it's only for C files, not C++.

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c:\MinGW32\bin          5/20/25   8:03
c:\MinGW32\include      5/20/25   8:03
c:\MinGW32\lib          5/20/25   8:03
c:\MinGW32\libexec      5/20/25   8:03
c:\MinGW32\mingw32      5/20/25   8:03
c:\MinGW32\msys         5/20/25   8:02
c:\MinGW32\share        5/20/25   8:03
c:\MinGW32\var          5/20/25   7:58

But all I care about is how to find, download, and run the installation program for 64-bit gcc.exe and related files that will compile C and C++ files. What installation program did you use, and what was the URL?

Colleen Kobe