7 ms·

I wish open source projects would support MingW or at least not actively blocking it's usage. It's a good compiler that provides an excellent compatibility with

by jezek2 7mo ago

I wish open source projects would support MingW or at least not actively blocking it's usage. It's a good compiler that provides an excellent compatibility without the need of any extra runtime DLLs. I don't understand how open source projects can insist on requiring a proprietary compiler.

quikoa 7mo ago
Agreed I also like to see more support for MingW especially from open source projects. Not even a passing mention in this blog post.
sitzkrieg 7mo ago
if you want to link msvc built libraries (that are external/you dont have source), mingw may not be an option. for an example you can get steamworks sdk to build with mingw but it will crash at runtime
delta_p_delta_x 7mo ago
There are some pretty useful abstractions and libraries that MinGW doesn't work with. Biggest example is the WIL[1], which Windows kernel programmers use and is a massive improvement in ergonomics and safety when writing native Windows platform code. [1]: https://github.com/microsoft/wil https://github.com/microsoft/wil
- vitaminCPP 7mo ago
  I fail to see why this would not work with gcc if it works with clang. The runtime?
  - delta_p_delta_x 7mo ago
    'MinGW' is not GCC; it's an ABI, and from the developer perspective it is also the headers and the libraries. You can have GCC MinGW, Clang MinGW, Rust MinGW, Zig MinGW, C# AOT MinGW. To answer your question, the headers.
forrestthewoods 7mo ago
Eww no. MingW is evil and no project should ever use it. Just use Clang + MSVC STL + WinSDK. Very simple.
- snvzz 7mo ago
  >MingW is evil Care to elaborate?
  - forrestthewoods 7mo ago
    I've been shipping Windows software for 20+ years. Not one project I have ever worked on was based on MinGW. It's a gross hack that is ABI incompatible with the predominate ecosystem. In the year 2026 there is no reason to use MinGW. Just use Clang and target MSVC ABI. Cross-compiling Linux->Windows is very easy. Cross-compiling Windows->Linux is 1000x harder because Linux userspace is a clusterfuck of terrible design choices. If a project "supports Windows" by only way of MinGW then it doesn't really support Windows. It's fundamentally incompatible with how almost all Windows software is developed. It's a huge red flag and a clear indicator that the project doesn't actually care about supporting Windows.
    - jezek2 7mo ago
      I think the issues you're referring to are related to C++ ABI which is inherently incompatible between different compilers (and sometimes versions). This can be sometimes issue for plugins, though sane programs always use C wrappers. I never had issues with C ABI, calling into other DLLs, creating DLLs, COM objects, or whatever. I fail to see what is fundamentally incompatible here.
      - forrestthewoods 7mo ago
        Yes if you go pure C API and write libraries that conform to this and don’t pass owned memory around then sure that works. MSVC is ABI stable since 2015. Many libraries that distribute pre-compiled binaries that rely on this stability. ~None of them include MinGW binaries in their matrix. (Debug/release X MT/MD). Being a good citizen means meeting people where they are. Libraries and programs should expect to be integrated into other build systems and environments. I have literally never ever in my career worked in a Windows dev environment that used MinGW. The ~only reason to use MinGW is because you primarily use Linux and you want to half-ass do the bare minimum.

by jezek2 7mo ago

quikoa 7mo ago

Agreed I also like to see more support for MingW especially from open source projects. Not even a passing mention in this blog post.

sitzkrieg 7mo ago

if you want to link msvc built libraries (that are external/you dont have source), mingw may not be an option. for an example you can get steamworks sdk to build with mingw but it will crash at runtime

delta_p_delta_x 7mo ago

There are some pretty useful abstractions and libraries that MinGW doesn't work with. Biggest example is the WIL[1], which Windows kernel programmers use and is a massive improvement in ergonomics and safety when writing native Windows platform code. [1]: https://github.com/microsoft/wil https://github.com/microsoft/wil

vitaminCPP 7mo ago
I fail to see why this would not work with gcc if it works with clang. The runtime?
- delta_p_delta_x 7mo ago
  'MinGW' is not GCC; it's an ABI, and from the developer perspective it is also the headers and the libraries. You can have GCC MinGW, Clang MinGW, Rust MinGW, Zig MinGW, C# AOT MinGW. To answer your question, the headers.

forrestthewoods 7mo ago

Eww no. MingW is evil and no project should ever use it. Just use Clang + MSVC STL + WinSDK. Very simple.

snvzz 7mo ago
>MingW is evil Care to elaborate?
- forrestthewoods 7mo ago
  I've been shipping Windows software for 20+ years. Not one project I have ever worked on was based on MinGW. It's a gross hack that is ABI incompatible with the predominate ecosystem. In the year 2026 there is no reason to use MinGW. Just use Clang and target MSVC ABI. Cross-compiling Linux->Windows is very easy. Cross-compiling Windows->Linux is 1000x harder because Linux userspace is a clusterfuck of terrible design choices. If a project "supports Windows" by only way of MinGW then it doesn't really support Windows. It's fundamentally incompatible with how almost all Windows software is developed. It's a huge red flag and a clear indicator that the project doesn't actually care about supporting Windows.
  - jezek2 7mo ago
    I think the issues you're referring to are related to C++ ABI which is inherently incompatible between different compilers (and sometimes versions). This can be sometimes issue for plugins, though sane programs always use C wrappers. I never had issues with C ABI, calling into other DLLs, creating DLLs, COM objects, or whatever. I fail to see what is fundamentally incompatible here.
    - forrestthewoods 7mo ago
      Yes if you go pure C API and write libraries that conform to this and don’t pass owned memory around then sure that works. MSVC is ABI stable since 2015. Many libraries that distribute pre-compiled binaries that rely on this stability. ~None of them include MinGW binaries in their matrix. (Debug/release X MT/MD). Being a good citizen means meeting people where they are. Libraries and programs should expect to be integrated into other build systems and environments. I have literally never ever in my career worked in a Windows dev environment that used MinGW. The ~only reason to use MinGW is because you primarily use Linux and you want to half-ass do the bare minimum.