setup-winlibs-action

Install a WinLibs bundle on Windows containing the gcc and optionally clang C/C++ compilers and the headers needed to build native Windows binaries.

Why this one and not setup-cygwin, setup-mingw or just regular chocolatey?

• Speed! WinLibs is a relocatable bundle meaning that this action is just a glorified download the right file and unzip it. No nested package managers. Hence, setup runs in about 15-20 seconds rather than 3-4 minutes.
• Allows you to install clang which produces slightly faster binaries.
• Allows you to install an i686 (a.k.a. a 32 bit) compiler.

Inputs

This action accepts the following inputs:

• tag: A WinLibs release tag such as 11.1.0-12.0.0-9.0.0-r2 . Defaults to the tag with the newest version of gcc which may be referenced with the special name latest.

• with_clang: If true, install with LLVM + clang. If false (the default), don't. Clang produces binaries which are roughly 20% faster than those produced by gcc but the compiler itself is huge and therefore takes longer to install. Please note when also specifying tag that not all releases do include clang builds.

• destination: The location to unpack into. The mingw32 or mingw64 folder will be placed in this folder so that the path to gcc would be $destination/mingw32/bin/gcc.exe. Defaults to the value of $LOCALAPPDATA.

• add_to_path: If true prepend the mingwxx/bin directory to $PATH. Defaults to true.

• architecture: Which architecture to install. Either x86_64 or 64 for 64 bit or i686 or 32 for 32 bit. Defaults to x86_64.

Outputs

And it generates the following outputs:

• root: A full path to the mingw32 or mingw64 folder at the root of the |WinLibs| bundle.

• bin: A full path to the bin directory containing gcc and possibly clang.

Executables Included

A listing of all executables which this action will add. Please consider this as a loose reference rather than guaranteed behaviour as the contents do vary between WinLibs builds.

x86_64	i686	x86_64 clang	i686 clang
		FileCheck.exe	FileCheck.exe
		UnicodeNameMappingGenerator.exe	UnicodeNameMappingGenerator.exe
addr2line.exe	addr2line.exe	addr2line.exe	addr2line.exe
ar.exe	ar.exe	ar.exe	ar.exe
as.exe	as.exe	as.exe	as.exe
		bugpoint.exe	bugpoint.exe
c++.exe	c++.exe	c++.exe	c++.exe
c++filt.exe	c++filt.exe	c++filt.exe	c++filt.exe
ccache.exe	ccache.exe	ccache.exe	ccache.exe
		clang++.exe	clang++.exe
		clang-apply-replacements.exe	clang-apply-replacements.exe
		clang-change-namespace.exe	clang-change-namespace.exe
		clang-check.exe	clang-check.exe
		clang-cl.exe	clang-cl.exe
		clang-cpp.exe	clang-cpp.exe
		clang-doc.exe	clang-doc.exe
		clang-extdef-mapping.exe	clang-extdef-mapping.exe
		clang-format.exe	clang-format.exe
		clang-include-fixer.exe	clang-include-fixer.exe
		clang-linker-wrapper.exe	clang-linker-wrapper.exe
		clang-move.exe	clang-move.exe
		clang-nvlink-wrapper.exe	clang-nvlink-wrapper.exe
		clang-offload-bundler.exe	clang-offload-bundler.exe
		clang-offload-packager.exe	clang-offload-packager.exe
		clang-offload-wrapper.exe	clang-offload-wrapper.exe
		clang-pseudo.exe	clang-pseudo.exe
		clang-query.exe	clang-query.exe
		clang-refactor.exe	clang-refactor.exe
		clang-rename.exe	clang-rename.exe
		clang-reorder-fields.exe	clang-reorder-fields.exe
		clang-repl.exe	clang-repl.exe
		clang-scan-deps.exe	clang-scan-deps.exe
		clang-tidy.exe	clang-tidy.exe
		clang.exe	clang.exe
		clangd.exe	clangd.exe
cmake.exe	cmake.exe	cmake.exe	cmake.exe
cmcldeps.exe	cmcldeps.exe	cmcldeps.exe	cmcldeps.exe
		count.exe	count.exe
cpack.exe	cpack.exe	cpack.exe	cpack.exe
cpp.exe	cpp.exe	cpp.exe	cpp.exe
ctest.exe	ctest.exe	ctest.exe	ctest.exe
		diagtool.exe	diagtool.exe
dlltool.exe	dlltool.exe	dlltool.exe	dlltool.exe
dllwrap.exe	dllwrap.exe	dllwrap.exe	dllwrap.exe
dos2unix.exe	dos2unix.exe	dos2unix.exe	dos2unix.exe
doxygen.exe	doxygen.exe	doxygen.exe	doxygen.exe
		dsymutil.exe	dsymutil.exe
elfedit.exe	elfedit.exe	elfedit.exe	elfedit.exe
		find-all-symbols.exe	find-all-symbols.exe
g++.exe	g++.exe	g++.exe	g++.exe
gcc-ar.exe	gcc-ar.exe	gcc-ar.exe	gcc-ar.exe
gcc-nm.exe	gcc-nm.exe	gcc-nm.exe	gcc-nm.exe
gcc-ranlib.exe	gcc-ranlib.exe	gcc-ranlib.exe	gcc-ranlib.exe
gcc.exe	gcc.exe	gcc.exe	gcc.exe
gcov-dump.exe	gcov-dump.exe	gcov-dump.exe	gcov-dump.exe
gcov-tool.exe	gcov-tool.exe	gcov-tool.exe	gcov-tool.exe
gcov.exe	gcov.exe	gcov.exe	gcov.exe
gdb.exe	gdb.exe	gdb.exe	gdb.exe
gdbserver.exe	gdbserver.exe	gdbserver.exe	gdbserver.exe
gendef.exe	gendef.exe	gendef.exe	gendef.exe
genidl.exe	genidl.exe	genidl.exe	genidl.exe
gfortran.exe	gfortran.exe	gfortran.exe	gfortran.exe
gprof.exe	gprof.exe	gprof.exe	gprof.exe
iconv.exe	iconv.exe	iconv.exe	iconv.exe
jwasm.exe	jwasm.exe	jwasm.exe	jwasm.exe
ld.bfd.exe	ld.bfd.exe	ld.bfd.exe	ld.bfd.exe
ld.exe	ld.exe	ld.exe	ld.exe
		ld.lld.exe	ld.lld.exe
		ld64.lld.exe	ld64.lld.exe
		llc.exe	llc.exe
		lld-link.exe	lld-link.exe
		lld.exe	lld.exe
		lldb-argdumper.exe	lldb-argdumper.exe
		lldb-instr.exe	lldb-instr.exe
		lldb-mi.exe	lldb-mi.exe
		lldb-server.exe	lldb-server.exe
		lldb-vscode.exe	lldb-vscode.exe
		lldb.exe	lldb.exe
		lli-child-target.exe	lli-child-target.exe
		lli.exe	lli.exe
		llvm-PerfectShuffle.exe	llvm-PerfectShuffle.exe
		llvm-addr2line.exe	llvm-addr2line.exe
		llvm-ar.exe	llvm-ar.exe
		llvm-as.exe	llvm-as.exe
		llvm-bcanalyzer.exe	llvm-bcanalyzer.exe
		llvm-bitcode-strip.exe	llvm-bitcode-strip.exe
		llvm-cat.exe	llvm-cat.exe
		llvm-cfi-verify.exe	llvm-cfi-verify.exe
		llvm-config.exe	llvm-config.exe
		llvm-cov.exe	llvm-cov.exe
		llvm-cvtres.exe	llvm-cvtres.exe
		llvm-cxxdump.exe	llvm-cxxdump.exe
		llvm-cxxfilt.exe	llvm-cxxfilt.exe
		llvm-cxxmap.exe	llvm-cxxmap.exe
		llvm-debuginfod-find.exe	llvm-debuginfod-find.exe
		llvm-debuginfod.exe	llvm-debuginfod.exe
		llvm-diff.exe	llvm-diff.exe
		llvm-dis.exe	llvm-dis.exe
		llvm-dlltool.exe	llvm-dlltool.exe
		llvm-dwarfdump.exe	llvm-dwarfdump.exe
		llvm-dwarfutil.exe	llvm-dwarfutil.exe
		llvm-dwp.exe	llvm-dwp.exe
		llvm-exegesis.exe	llvm-exegesis.exe
		llvm-extract.exe	llvm-extract.exe
		llvm-gsymutil.exe	llvm-gsymutil.exe
		llvm-ifs.exe	llvm-ifs.exe
		llvm-install-name-tool.exe	llvm-install-name-tool.exe
		llvm-jitlink-executor.exe	llvm-jitlink-executor.exe
		llvm-jitlink.exe	llvm-jitlink.exe
		llvm-lib.exe	llvm-lib.exe
		llvm-libtool-darwin.exe	llvm-libtool-darwin.exe
		llvm-link.exe	llvm-link.exe
		llvm-lipo.exe	llvm-lipo.exe
		llvm-lto.exe	llvm-lto.exe
		llvm-lto2.exe	llvm-lto2.exe
		llvm-mc.exe	llvm-mc.exe
		llvm-mca.exe	llvm-mca.exe
		llvm-ml.exe	llvm-ml.exe
		llvm-modextract.exe	llvm-modextract.exe
		llvm-mt.exe	llvm-mt.exe
		llvm-nm.exe	llvm-nm.exe
		llvm-objcopy.exe	llvm-objcopy.exe
		llvm-objdump.exe	llvm-objdump.exe
		llvm-opt-report.exe	llvm-opt-report.exe
		llvm-otool.exe	llvm-otool.exe
		llvm-pdbutil.exe	llvm-pdbutil.exe
		llvm-profdata.exe	llvm-profdata.exe
		llvm-profgen.exe	llvm-profgen.exe
		llvm-ranlib.exe	llvm-ranlib.exe
		llvm-rc.exe	llvm-rc.exe
		llvm-readelf.exe	llvm-readelf.exe
		llvm-readobj.exe	llvm-readobj.exe
		llvm-reduce.exe	llvm-reduce.exe
		llvm-remark-size-diff.exe	llvm-remark-size-diff.exe
		llvm-rtdyld.exe	llvm-rtdyld.exe
		llvm-sim.exe	llvm-sim.exe
		llvm-size.exe	llvm-size.exe
		llvm-split.exe	llvm-split.exe
		llvm-stress.exe	llvm-stress.exe
		llvm-strings.exe	llvm-strings.exe
		llvm-strip.exe	llvm-strip.exe
		llvm-symbolizer.exe	llvm-symbolizer.exe
		llvm-tapi-diff.exe	llvm-tapi-diff.exe
		llvm-tblgen.exe	llvm-tblgen.exe
		llvm-tli-checker.exe	llvm-tli-checker.exe
		llvm-undname.exe	llvm-undname.exe
		llvm-windres.exe	llvm-windres.exe
		llvm-xray.exe	llvm-xray.exe
lto-dump.exe	lto-dump.exe	lto-dump.exe	lto-dump.exe
mac2unix.exe	mac2unix.exe	mac2unix.exe	mac2unix.exe
mingw32-make.exe	mingw32-make.exe	mingw32-make.exe	mingw32-make.exe
		modularize.exe	modularize.exe
nasm.exe	nasm.exe	nasm.exe	nasm.exe
ndisasm.exe	ndisasm.exe	ndisasm.exe	ndisasm.exe
ninja.exe	ninja.exe	ninja.exe	ninja.exe
nm.exe	nm.exe	nm.exe	nm.exe
		not.exe	not.exe
		obj2yaml.exe	obj2yaml.exe
objcopy.exe	objcopy.exe	objcopy.exe	objcopy.exe
objdump.exe	objdump.exe	objdump.exe	objdump.exe
		opt.exe	opt.exe
pexports.exe	pexports.exe	pexports.exe	pexports.exe
		pp-trace.exe	pp-trace.exe
ranlib.exe	ranlib.exe	ranlib.exe	ranlib.exe
readelf.exe	readelf.exe	readelf.exe	readelf.exe
		sancov.exe	sancov.exe
		sanstats.exe	sanstats.exe
size.exe	size.exe	size.exe	size.exe
		split-file.exe	split-file.exe
strings.exe	strings.exe	strings.exe	strings.exe
strip.exe	strip.exe	strip.exe	strip.exe
unix2dos.exe	unix2dos.exe	unix2dos.exe	unix2dos.exe
unix2mac.exe	unix2mac.exe	unix2mac.exe	unix2mac.exe
		verify-uselistorder.exe	verify-uselistorder.exe
vsyasm.exe	vsyasm.exe	vsyasm.exe	vsyasm.exe
		wasm-ld.exe	wasm-ld.exe
widl.exe	widl.exe	widl.exe	widl.exe
windmc.exe	windmc.exe	windmc.exe	windmc.exe
windres.exe	windres.exe	windres.exe	windres.exe
		yaml-bench.exe	yaml-bench.exe
		yaml2obj.exe	yaml2obj.exe
yasm.exe	yasm.exe	yasm.exe	yasm.exe
ytasm.exe	ytasm.exe	ytasm.exe	ytasm.exe
x86_64-w64-mingw32-c++.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-c++.exe	x86_64-w64-mingw32-c++.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-c++.exe
x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-g++.exe	x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-g++.exe
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-12.2.0.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-12.2.0.exe	x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-12.2.0.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-12.2.0.exe
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-ar.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-ar.exe	x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-ar.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-ar.exe
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-nm.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-nm.exe	x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-nm.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-nm.exe
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-ranlib.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-ranlib.exe	x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-ranlib.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-ranlib.exe
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc.exe	x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gcc.exe
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gfortran.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gfortran.exe	x86_64-w64-mingw32-gfortran.exe	i686-w64-mingw32-gfortran.exe

Examples

Minimal

The most basic usage: This will install x86_64 gcc (but not clang) and prepend it to PATH. You can then simply call gcc in subsequent steps. This generally isn't of much use because the Windows CI images come with x86_64 gcc installed already.

- uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1

With clang

Setting the with_clang option to true will install a build which also contains clang and LLVM.

- uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1
  with:
    with_clang: true

With 32 bit

To install a 32-bit compiler:

- uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1
  with:
    architecture: i686

Dual architectures

You can't have both architectures in one WinLibs bundle but you can install one of each in separate steps.

- uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1

- uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1
  with:
    architecture: i686

After doing this, avoid mixing them up by using either full target names (i686-w64-mingw32-gcc for 32 bit, x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc for 64 bit - note that clang lacks such identifiers) or by taking advantage of the workflow outputs:

- uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1
  id: winlibs-64

- uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1
  id: winlibs-32
  with:
    architecture: i686

- name: Compile something in 64 bit mode.
  run: ${{ steps.winlibs-64.outputs.bin }}/gcc some-code.c

- name: Compile something in 32 bit mode.
  run: ${{ steps.winlibs-32.outputs.bin }}/gcc some-code.c

Note that because the 32 bit setup came after the 64 bit setup, its bin dir will come first in PATH so that the 32 executables can be referenced by name rather than full paths.

Usage outside of GitHub Actions

The install.py script in this repo can be used as a stand-alone installer to be ran locally on your home machine or on another CI/CD provider. Provided that you have curl and a reasonably up to date version of Python installed, you can use the following one-liner:

curl -Ls https://github.com/bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action/raw/v1/install.py | python - --add-to-path

All options are available as CLI arguments with the same names but with underscores replaced with hyphens. Below is an example command with most parameters set. Note that the lone hyphen after python and before your options is very important!

curl -Ls https://github.com/bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action/raw/v1/install.py | python - --add-to-path --tag=12.1.0-10.0.0-msvcrt-r1 --with-clang --destination ~/WinLibs

--add-to-path will set the system PATH environment variable if run as a privileged user or the user's PATH if ran as a regular user. In either case, you will need to restart your terminal for the change to take effect.

Versioning

This action will increment:

• The major version for breaking changes. i.e. Something which could possibly break your workflow.
• The minor version for new features, bugfixes, speedups or whatever compatibility patches are needed to keep up with GitHub's ever shifting REST API and runner semantics.

Each release will be tagged with its version number (e.g. v1.2). The v1 branch will point to the latest tag whose major version is 1 so that an action containing uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1 will automatically benefit from subsequent bugfixes and speedups but never upgrade to a version which could break the workflow.

If you really don't like moving parts then pin the exact versions of both this workflow and the WinLibs tag:

uses: bwoodsend/setup-winlibs-action@v1.2
with:
  tag: '11.1.0-12.0.0-9.0.0-r1'