Using Zeus with MinGW C/C++

Post by **jussij** » Thu May 06, 2021 11:19 am

IMPORTANT: While the details on this page are correct, the versions of the compilers installed using this process are out dated.

To get more up to date compiler, a better option would be using MSYS2 to install these compilers as described here: viewtopic.php?t=8303

Another option is to download the compiler packages found here: https://winlibs.com/

For example, the GCC 13.2.0 UCRT Runtime package downloaded from that page reports with the following GCC version:

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c:\mingw32\bin>gcc.exe --version
gcc.exe (MinGW-W64 i686-ucrt-posix-dwarf, built by Brecht Sanders, r5) 13.2.0
Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

OBOLSETE INSTRUCTIONS LEFT HERE FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES ONLY
The steps below describe how to get the MinGW C/C++ compiler up and running on Windows.

Step 1) Visit the MinGW - Minimalist GNU for Windows page to download the MinGW installer software. The file to download is the mingw-get-setup.exe which is attached to the green download button found on that page.

Step 2) Run that installer downloaded from the above step:

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c:\temp\mingw-get-setup.exe

This will bring up the MinGW Installation Manager as shown in the image below:

: mingw.png (148.48 KiB) Viewed 19092 times

To install the software, do the following:
a. Select the packages to be installed by right clicking on the item and marking it for installation.
NOTE: At a minimum select the mingw32-base (C compiler) and mingw32-gcc-g++ (C++ compilers) package options or alternatively select all the packages as shown in the image above.

b. To install the selected packages, use the Installation, Apply Changes menu and hit the Apply button in the resulting dialog as shown below:

: mingw-apply.png (128.51 KiB) Viewed 19088 times

Step 3) When running the installation using the wizard take note of the install folder used. Lets assume the install folder used as shown below:

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C:\Program Files (x86)\mingw32\

Step 3) Once the installation is complete use the Windows Control Panel to open up the System icon and use the Environment Variables button found in the Advanced system settings link to add this bin installation folder to the PATH environment variable.

IMPORTANT: Take extreme care when editing this PATH environment variable. Only add to it. Never delete from it. More details about the PATH can be found here: http://www.zeusedit.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6176

For the installation folder noted earlier, this bin folder will need to be added to the PATH:

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C:\Program Files\mingw32\bin

If the installation folder used had been this:

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C:\mingw32\

Then the bin folder that needs to be added PATH would be as follows:

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C:\mingw32\bin

In either case make sure the bin folder used above exists and contains both the C++ compiler (g++.exe ) and the C compiler (gcc.exe) files.

In the steps that follow it is assumed the GNU C++ compiler is being used, but if the GNU C compiler is required, just replace the g++.exe command with the gcc.exe command.

Step 4) Test the PATH settings using the Windows Start Button and run the cmd executable to bring up a command prompt.

From inside that command prompt type in this C++ compiler command line:

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g++.exe --version

Running this command line should result in the following output:

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g++ (MinGW.org GCC Build-20200227-1) 9.2.0
Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

To test the C compiler use this command line:

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gcc.exe --version

If you don't see output for either of those commands then the PATH has not been correctly configured or the installation has not worked.

Step 5)
Test the compiler by creating a simple c:\temp\test.cpp test file using the C++ code shown below:

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#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    cout << "Hello world..." << endl;
    return 0;
}

From inside the command prompt test the compiler by running the following commands:

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cd c:\temp\
g++.exe test.cpp -o test.exe
dir test.exe

Those commands change to the c:\temp\ folder and then run the C++ compiler to compile and link the c:\temp\test.cpp file to produce the c:\temp\test.exe executable.

Running those commands should produce the following output:

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c:\>cd c:\temp\

c:\Temp>g++.exe test.cpp -o test.exe

c:\Temp>dir test.exe
 Volume in drive D is DATA
 Volume Serial Number is 06EC-1105

 Directory of c:\Temp

21/05/2016  02:30 PM         2,707,662 test.exe
               1 File(s)      2,707,662 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  1,824,970,645,504 bytes free

Running the c:\temp\test.exe executable produced should result in this output:

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Hello world...

Extra Zeus IDE Configuration
To run the compiler from inside the Zeus IDE you will need to make a configuration change to the C/C++ Document Type.

To make this change, use the Zeus Options, Document Types menu, edit the C/C++ Document Type and in the Compiler section define the compiler command line as:

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g++.exe "$fn" -o "$fdd$fb.exe"

This command will compile and link the current file and produce and executable in the same name in the same folder as the current file.

NOTE: The options above are for the GNU C++ compiler. To use the GNU C compiler you need to use the gcc.exe and set the options for that compiler. More details on options for the GNU C compiler refer to this link.

If you only want to syntax check the current file change the command line to be this:

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g++.exe -c "$fn"

To make the compiler always compile as c++, to increase the warning levels and to turn on the C++11 features just change the command line to be this:

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g++.exe -x c++ -Wall -std=c++11 "$fn" -o "$fdd$fb.exe"

To make the compiler treat the file as C code change the command line to be this:

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g++.exe -x c -Wall -std=c90 "$fn" -o "$fdd$fb.exe"

For more compiler options use the Tools, DOS Command Line menu and type in this command line:

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g++.exe --help

To test the compiler settings use the Templates button found on the navigator panel, select the C/C++ Document Type from the list at the top and click on the New File template.

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#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    cout << "Hello world..." << endl;
    return 0;
}

Save the resulting file to c:\temp\test.cpp and then use the Compiler, Compile menu to compile the file.

This will produce a c:\temp\test.exe and again use the DOS Command Line menu to run the executable and you should see this output:

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Hello world...

Running the Executable for Inside Zeus
To make it easier to run the executable for inside Zeus, it comes with a macro that will try to run an executable that corresponds to the name of the currently active file.

By this, it is assumed the compiler configuration is setup to produce an executable in the same directory as the current document and the name the executable being created is using the base name (i.e.$fdd$fb.exe) of the document being compiled, as described earlier.

This allows Zeus to run the executable and capture it's output be using the Macros, Execute menu or the Macros, Execute tab found in the Navigator panel.

NOTE: If the executable runs but does not produce any output refer to the Mysteries of MinGW post for details on how to fix this.

Setting up the Language Server
To setup the C/C++ language server follow the instructions found here: https://www.zeusedit.com/lsp/c_cpp.html

Cheers Jussi