Install MinGW Effortlessly on Windows - A 2-Click Setup Guide

easy-mingw-setup-windows

# Introduction
In this blog post, I'm excited to introduce a recent project of mine aimed at simplifying the often intricate process of setting up and configuring the MinGW environment. It's no secret that navigating the complexities of MinGW installation can be daunting, especially for newcomers. Many budding developers find themselves overwhelmed and discouraged at this initial stage. With this project, my goal is to eliminate these barriers by providing a user-friendly MinGW installer. This installer is designed to streamline the process, equipping users with a fully functional environment that includes the latest GCC version and other essential production packages.

# Packages
This installer is bundled with an assortment of essential and commonly used packages, including:
- GCC
- GDB
- MinGW-w64 (linked with ucrt)
- GNU Binutils
- GNU Make
- PExports
- dos2unix
- Yasm
- NASM
- JWasm
- ccache
- CMake
- ninja
- doxygen

**Thread model:** posix
**Runtime library:** UCRT (Windows 10 or higher, or when [Update for Universal C Runtime](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/update-for-universal-c-runtime-in-windows-c0514201-7fe6-95a3-b0a5-287930f3560c) is installed on older Windows versions, not supported on systems older than Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1)

# Installation Guide
  * Download the `exe` file from [github release](https://github.com/ehsan18t/easy-mingw-installer/releases/latest) or [webpage](https://easymingw.pages.dev)
  * Run the downloaded `exe` file.
  * Read `Version Info` (Optional)
  * Click `Next` 
  * Click `Install`.
  
  By following these simple steps, you'll complete the setup process, and your MinGW environment will be ready to use.
  > Thats it. You've successfully completed the setup.

# Verification and Testing
To ensure your newly set up MinGW environment is functioning seamlessly, follow these quick verification steps:
  - Open terminal/cmd
  - Type `gcc -v` and hit `Enter`
  - You will see some texts and versions like below
  ```
  Using built-in specs.
  COLLECT_GCC=C:\MinGW64\bin\gcc.exe
  COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=C:/MinGW64/bin/../libexec/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/13.2.0/lto-wrapper.exe
  OFFLOAD_TARGET_NAMES=nvptx-none
  Target: x86_64-w64-mingw32
  Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/R/winlibs64ucrt_stage/inst_gcc-13.2.0/share/gcc --build=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --enable-offload-targets=nvptx-none --with-pkgversion='MinGW-W64 x86_64-ucrt-posix-seh, built by Brecht Sanders' --with-tune=generic --enable-checking=release --enable-threads=posix --disable-sjlj-exceptions --disable-libunwind-exceptions --disable-serial-configure --disable-bootstrap --enable-host-shared --enable-plugin --disable-default-ssp --disable-rpath --disable-libstdcxx-debug --disable-version-specific-runtime-libs --with-stabs --disable-symvers --enable-languages=c,c++,fortran,lto,objc,obj-c++ --disable-gold --disable-nls --disable-stage1-checking --disable-win32-registry --disable-multilib --enable-ld --enable-libquadmath --enable-libada --enable-libssp --enable-libstdcxx --enable-lto --enable-fully-dynamic-string --enable-libgomp --enable-graphite --enable-mingw-wildcard --enable-libstdcxx-time --enable-libstdcxx-pch --with-mpc=/d/Prog/winlibs64ucrt_stage/custombuilt --with-mpfr=/d/Prog/winlibs64ucrt_stage/custombuilt --with-gmp=/d/Prog/winlibs64ucrt_stage/custombuilt --with-isl=/d/Prog/winlibs64ucrt_stage/custombuilt --disable-libstdcxx-backtrace --enable-install-libiberty --enable-__cxa_atexit --without-included-gettext --with-diagnostics-color=auto --enable-clocale=generic --with-libiconv --with-system-zlib --with-build-sysroot=/R/winlibs64ucrt_stage/gcc-13.2.0/build_mingw/mingw-w64 CFLAGS='-I/d/Prog/winlibs64ucrt_stage/custombuilt/include/libdl-win32 -Wno-int-conversion  -march=nocona -msahf -mtune=generic -O2' CXXFLAGS='-Wno-int-conversion  -march=nocona -msahf -mtune=generic -O2' LDFLAGS='-pthread -Wl,--no-insert-timestamp -Wl,--dynamicbase -Wl,--high-entropy-va -Wl,--nxcompat -Wl,--tsaware'
  Thread model: posix
  Supported LTO compression algorithms: zlib zstd
  gcc version 13.2.0 (MinGW-W64 x86_64-ucrt-posix-seh, built by Brecht Sanders)
  ```
  
> Remember the versions you see might be different from these depending on when you see this post.
> If the output matches above, congratulations! Your MinGW installation/setup is successfully done.