mingw_install.md

MinGW Installation/Use

MinGW = Minimalist GNU for Windows

It provides many tools, but this outlines the process to download the GCC or GNU C Compiler.

Installation Instructions

Installer Installation

1. Go to MinGW's home page.
2. Click on the downloads tab.
3. In the package list, click on the show button next to MinGW Installation Manager.
4. In the dropdown, click show on the latest version.
5. Then click on the link to download the executable instructor, mingw-get-setup.exe.

Installing the Compiler

6. Run the downloaded .exe file.
7. Click install.
8. Input the desired path (the default is fine), but make sure it has sufficient permissions.
   1. Make sure that all the options are ticked.
   2. Then click continue.
9. Click Installation and continue.
10. This will open up the MinGW installation manager.
    1. Mark mingw32-gcc-g++-bin for installation.
    2. Go into All Packages on the left and scroll down to find mingw32-gdb-bin and mark it for installation too.
    3. Then in the toolbar, click Installation > Apply Changes.
    4. Click Apply.

Setting System Variables

11. Open up the control panel and search environment variables and click on Edit the system environment variables.
12. Click Environment Variables at the bottom of the dialogue.
13. In System Variables, select PATH and click Edit.
14. Click New and input the installation path for MinGW\bin (ie C:\MinGW\bin).
15. To verify the path, open up a command prompt and run the command, gcc --version.

Execution Instructions

***Note that if you want to run C++ files, simply replace the gcc with g++.

For Running Files

1. Open up the command prompt.
2. Get a list of all the source files involved in your program, you do not need to compile the header files.

gcc main.c file2.c ...
a.exe

For Debugging Programs

1. Open up the command prompt
2. Get a list of all the source files involved in your program, you do not need to compile the header files.

gcc -g main.c file2.c ...
gdb a.exe

3. The GNU Debugger (gdb) has many commands and a comprehensive list can be found here. These are a few of the basic ones:
   1. Running the current program: run arg1 arg2 ...
   2. Adding a breakpoint: break [file_name]:[line_number]
   3. Retargeting the debugger: target exec a.exe
   4. List commands: list
   5. Quit the debugger: quit
4. And during execution (at a breakpoint), here are some other commands:
   1. Print a variable: print i
   2. Continue: c or continue
   3. Next: n or next, executes entire next line as single instruction
   4. Step: s or step, will step into functions
   5. Stop debugging: kill
5. You can also run basic C/C++ commands:
   1. eg. print sizeof(double) will print 8