
CYGWIN MINGW CODE
But, this task can be simplified by using cross-platform toolkits or frameworks that allow coding once and having your code compile successfully for any platform.
CYGWIN MINGW SOFTWARE
It may be possible in some cases to use MinGW to compile something that was intended for compiling with Microsoft Visual C++ without too many modifications.Įven though MingW includes some header files and interface code allowing your code to interact with the Windows API, as with the regular standard libraries this doesn't impose licensing restrictions on software you have created.įor any non-trivial software application, such as one that uses a graphical interface, multimedia or accesses devices on the system, you leave the boundary of what Cygwin can do for you and further work will be needed to make your code cross-platform. MinGW is a free and open source alternative to using the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler and its associated linking/make tools on Windows.
CYGWIN MINGW .DLL
dll files, though you could also cross-compile with the right settings, since you are basically using the GNU compiler tools suite. By default, code compiled in MinGW's GCC will compile to a native Windows X86 target, including.

It also includes header files allowing the use of Windows' native API in your code.Īs a result your application needs to specifically be programmed for Windows, using the Windows API, which may mean significant alteration if it was created to rely on being run in a standard Unix environment and use Unix-specific features. It does not attempt to emulate or provide comprehensive compatibility with Unix, other that to provide a version of the GNU Compiler Collection, GNU Binutils and GNU Debugger that can be used natively in Windows. MinGW aims to simply be a port of GNU's development tools for Windows. Even just linking your software with it, but distributing the dll separately, can still impose license restrictions on your code. You may distribute this with your software, but your software will have to comply with its open source license. When you distribute your software, the recipient will need to run it along with the Cygwin run-time environment (provided by the file cygwin1.dll).

If you have existing source code that uses these interfaces, you may be able to compile it for use with Cygwin after making very few or even no changes, greatly simplifying the process of porting simple IO based Unix code for use on Windows. Compile something in Cygwin and you are compiling it for Cygwin.Ĭompile something in MinGW and you are compiling it for Windows.Ĭygwin is a compatibility layer that makes it easy to port simple Unix-based applications to Windows, by emulating many of the basic interfaces that Unix-based operating systems provide, such as pipes, Unix-style file and directory access, and so on as documented by the POSIX standards.
