HOW TO MANUALLY INSTALL MINGW IF THE INSTALLER FAILS.


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If you've tried to install the compiler using MinGW's installer and at the end
you get nothing installed or you just want to avoid the installer, read this.

To clear up some things you must know that MinGW isn't really a compiler. In
this case the compiler is GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) and MinGW just provides
a binary version of it for Windows so you won't need to compile it (yes, compile
the compiler).

To get a working system you need different utilities which together get the job
done.

The first utility is the compiler. GCC provides more than one compiler, each one
for a different programming language.

gcc as it is the C compiler and g++ the C++ compiler. There're also versions for
Java, Object-C, Fortran and a few more.

Another utility is in fact a set of utilities. These ones are included in a
package named binutils. Here you will find the assembler and linker and many
other useful utilities needed by GCC.

A third utility is make. In simple words, this program reads files named
Makefiles that instruct it how to build a program or library. The main purpose
of these files is to have the steps required to build a program, including flags
and calling syntax, made of lots of source files, having in mind all their
dependencies. Don't worry about it now, just know it's useful and needed to
compile some libraries and programs, like Allegro.

Well, that's all the basic stuff you'll need.

Now let's see what to download.

Go to http://www.mingw.org/ and follow the link to Download.

Scroll down to "File list" or just click the link at the beginning of that page.

Don't be scared, yet. It can look really creepy but it isn't that difficult to
understand.

In the first column of that table you can find Candidate, Current, Previous,
Proposed and Snapshot.

Candidate refers to the latest versions available which still require some
testing but that should be fine to use.

Current is the version actually supported by MinGW. It's considered to be the
most stable one.

Previous, just like its name, refers to previous versions just in case you get
some problems with Current and/or Candidate and want to try the latest versions.

Proposed are just a few extra utilities which aren't really considered to become
oficially part of MinGW but that you can try.

Snapshot is similar to Candidate. It refers to the development state of an
utility up to a date. They're the most recent ones but haven't been tested
enough.

We're going to focus in Candidate and Current.

The second column names the utility. You can see there're many utilities in
there, but we just want the ones to get a working compiler.

Candidate or Current? You're free to try.

First, find GCC. Those files ending in -src.tar.gz are source files in case you
want to compile the utility. Nevermind them. You can also find some files ending
in -src.diff.gz which are just the differences from one version to another, but
are also source code.

OK, lets get the C compiler. In there it's named gcc-core followed by its
version, release date and optionally if it's the source code. Download the one
that just ends in .tar.gz (without -src). You must have in mind that this file
is also required for every additional compiler you want to get from there. For
example, if you just want the C++ compiler or the Java compiler, you'll also
need to get this file even if you aren't going to use C.

When you click that file a new windows will open. Just choose a mirror and
download it from there.

Now, the C++ compiler (optional but good to have around). It's named gcc-g++
followed by its version, release date and optionally if it's the source code.
Download the one that just ends in .tar.gz (without -src).

Good. Now find binutils and get the one that ends in .tar.gz (without -src).

Finally, find make and get the one that ends in .tar.gz (without -src).

Good, you're almost done.

Now, create a folder in your drive where you'll manually install the compiler.
I'll suppose you choose C:\MinGW.

To install those files just decompress them into the C:\MinGW folder and follow
the instructions in the guide to set it up.

The recommended order to decompress them is: binutils, make, gcc-core, gcc-g++.

Overwrite if asked.

IMPORTANT!!!

You thought you were done? Well, you are NOT!

Some files are still needed so read carefully.

You must also get the MinGW Runtime and Windows API (once again, the .tar.gz
without -src) and decompress them into C:\MinGW.

It's also recommended to get MinGW Utilities and GDB (the GNU Debugger).



-- Ceniza